Dennis Main really wanted to find a Sedge Wren for the count. Maybe next year!

Preliminary results indicate that both birds and birders withstood the elements well this year, with the 2023 Venice-Englewood Christmas Bird Count resulting in identification of 140 species, second highest total ever (143 in 2020), and a total of 18,608 birds, down only hundreds from last year's total count.

Top species: Common Grackle (2147), Tree Swallow (1462), White Ibis (1311) and Mourning Dove (979).

Rare birds now in review: Short-tailed Hawk, Bonaparte's Gull, Orange-crowned Warbler, Lark Sparrow and Pomarine Jaeger.

"Onsies" - single bird sightings: Muscovy Duck, Mallard Duck, Reddish Egret, Yellow-crowned Night Heron, Short-tailed Hawk, Sora, Semipalmated Plover, Greater Yellowlegs, Great Horned Owl, Merlin, Brown Thrasher, Orange-crowned Warbler, Black-throated Green Warbler, Lark Sparrow, Savannah Sparrow, Pomarine Jaeger.

We aren't in it for a competition among teams, especially since some areas are more promising for seeing a diversity of species than others. It's always fun, however, to note teams that had the highest number of species. Nancy Edmondson's team topped them all with 80 species, closely followed by Deb Johnson's team with 78. These two teams have a history of excelling at the count, and it should be noted that Nancy is our longest-running volunteer, with more than 25 years of service to our local CBC.

We will await Florida compiler approval on our rare bird sitings before submitting our final tallies, but again, this was a very good year for the count! Special thanks to all of the area leaders, to Rick Cordner for his compilation work, to Tom Litteral for handling rare bird entries, Eileen Gerle for backyard birding, and for Jean Pichler single-handedly taking on hosting our after-count gathering at the Center.

- Bob Clark, Venice-Englewood  Circle Christmas Bird Count Coordinator