Christmas Bird Count

Christmas Bird Count

The 110th CBC will be held from December 14th 2009 thru January 5th 2010. Your participation is requested and welcomed! Some of our local counts currently scheduled include the following:

Sioux City CBC=Saturday December 19, 2009. Contact Jerry Probst at: probsthoney@aol.com or 712-258-1296 for information. At 5:00pm we meet at Jerry's house to eat the mandatory chili and other goodies and compile the results. So please come to our Thursday meetings and get signed up or give Jerry a call.

Westfield CBC=Saturday, January 2, 2010. Meet at the Broken Kettle Grasslands Headquarters at 24764 Highway 12 (north of Sioux City) at 8:00 A.M. This is also the home of Scott and Jody Moats. The compilation will also be done here at the end of the day. 'Critter Soup' and other goodies will be included as we tally up the birds seen for the day. Contact Scott Moats at 568-2596 or Jody Moats at: jody.moats@state.sd.us for information.

Ida County CBC=Saturday December 26, 2009. We will be meeting at the Ida County Conservation Board office in Moorehead Park at Ida Grove at 8 a.m. to organize, hand out maps of the count area, and head out. Best ever of Don's chili feed at noon. If you plan on coming to the count, please contact Steve Hummel at shummel@iowatelecom.net or naturalist_idaccb@frontiernet.net, or Don Poggensee at Donp@gomaco.com.

Ponca State Park CBC=Saturday, January 2, 2010.

Meet at the Visitors Resource Center at 7:30 a.m. This event coincides with the Audubon’s Society’s national Christmas Bird Count. Amateur and expert birdwatchers are invited to attend this event. A free Chili feed will be served at noon to all participants at the Resource and Education Center. Contact Jennifer Wolff at: jennifer.wolff@nebraska.gov or 402-755-2284 or Jeff Fields at: Jeff.Fields@nebraska.gov or 402-755-2284 or Bill Huser at: beehive@longlines.com or 494-1657 for information.

All about the Christmas Bird Count:
More than 50,000 observers participate each year in this all-day census of early-winter bird populations. The results of their efforts are compiled into the longest running database in ornithology, representing over a century of unbroken data on trends of early-winter bird populations across the Americas. Simply put, the Christmas Bird Count, or "CBC", is citizen science in action.

How is the Christmas Bird Count (CBC) conducted?
Count volunteers follow specified routes through a designated 15-mile (24-km) diameter circle, counting every bird they see or hear all day. It’s not just a species tally—all birds are counted all day, giving an indication of the total number of birds in the circle that day. If observers live within a CBC circle, they may arrange in advance to count the birds at their feeders and submit those data to their compiler. All individual CBC’s are conducted in the period from December 14 to January 5 (inclusive dates) each season, and each count is conducted in one calendar day.

Loess Hills Audubon Members participate in several CBC's each year and some serve as the count compiler. Listed below are results of some of those counts.

Sioux City CBC 12-14-2008--Compiler Jerry Probst

Snow Goose 5

Ross’s Goose 2

Cackling Goose 1

Canada Goose 801

Wood Duck CW

Gadwall CW

American Wigeon CW

Mallard 6899

Cinnamon Teal 1

Northern Shoveler CW

Northern Pintail 1

Green-wing Teal 3

Canvasback CW

Redhead CW

Ring-necked Duck 1

Common Goldeneye 8

Hooded Merganser CW

Ruddy Duck CW

Ring-necked Pheasant 6

Wild Turkey 96

Bald Eagle 13

Sharp-shinned Hawk 1

Cooper’s Hawk 2

Red-tailed Hawk 18

Rough-legged Hawk 2

American Coot 50

Rock Pigeon 24

Mourning Dove 1

Eastern Screech Owl 1

Great Horned Owl 5

Long-eared Owl 1

Belted Kingfisher 1

Red-bellied Woodpecker 6

Downy Woodpecker 28

Hairy Woodpecker 7

Northern Flicker (Red-shafted) 1

Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted) 16

Northern Shrike CW

Blue Jay 32

American Crow 27

Horned Lark 97

Black-capped Chickadee 47

Red-breasted Nuthatch 1

White-breasted Nuthatch 14

Brown Creeper 2

Carolina Wren CW

Winter Wren 1

Eastern Bluebird 6

American Robin 92

European Starling 260

Cedar Waxwing 12

Spotted Towhee 1

Eastern Towhee 1

American Tree Sparrow 47

Fox Sparrow 1

Song Sparrow 2

Lincoln’s Sparrow CW

White-throated Sparrow CW

Harris’s Sparrow 1

White-crowned Sparrow 6

Dark-eyed Junco 360

Lapland Lonpspur 90

Northern Cardinal 37

Common Grackle 3

Purple Finch 7

House Finch 58

Pine Siskin 48

American Goldfinch 104

House Sparrow 121

CW=Count Week=12

Total Birds Counted 9479

Total Species Counted 56

Ida County CBC 12-27-2008--Compiler Don Poggensee

Canada Goose 49

American Wigeon 1

Mallard 44

Bald Eagle 1

Sharp-shinned Hawk 3

Cooper’s Hawk 3

Red-tailed Hawk 19

Merlin 1

Ring-necked Pheasant 41

Wild Turkey 34

Eurasian Collared-dove 59

Rock Pigeon 160

Mourning Dove 4

Great Horned Owl 3

Barred Owl 1

Long-eared Owl 9

Short-eared Owl 3

Northern Saw-whet Owl 1

Red-Bellied Woodpecker 16

Downy Woodpecker 22

Hairy Woodpecker 9

Northern Flicker 22

Northern Shrike 3

Blue Jay 102

American Crow 58

Horned Lark 72

Black-capped Chickadee 10

Red-breasted Nuthatch 1

White Breasted Nuthatch 27

Brown Creeper 3

American Robin 55

European Starling 1740

Cedar Waxwing 71

American Tree Sparrow 55

Harris’s Sparrow 2

Dark-eyed Junco 364

Lapland Longspur 6

Northern Cardinal 46

Red-winged Blackbird 10

Common Grackle 1

Western Meadowlark 2

Purple Finch 17

House Finch 138

Pine Siskin 10

American Goldfinch 194

House Sparrow 333

Total Birds Counted 3,825
Total Species Counted 46

Ponca State Park CBC 1-03-2009--Compiler Jennifer Wolff

Common Goldeneye                   1
Ring-Necked Pheasant               40
Bald Eagle                                2
Northern Harrier                         1
Sharp-Shinned Hawk                  4
Cooper's Hawk                          1
Red-Tailed Hawk                        8
Rough-Legged Hawk                  4
Merlin                                       1
Rock Pigeon                             10

Great Horned Owl 1

Eastern Screech Owl                 3
Barred Owl                                2
Red-Headed Woodpecker           5
Red-Bellied Woodpecker            17
Downy Woodpecker                   24
Hairy Woodpecker                     7
Northern Flicker (Yellow Sh.)       31
Northern Flicker (Red Sh.)          1
Belted Kingfisher                       1
Northern Shrike                          2
Blue Jay                                    99
Black-Billed Magpie                    5
American Crow                          111
Horned Lark                               72
Black-Capped Chickadee            76
White-Breasted Nuthatch            26
Carolina Wren                            1
Eastern Bluebird                        33
American Robin                       5987
European Starling                      700
Cedar Waxwing                         291
Eastern Towhee                        1
American Tree Sparrow              520
White-Crowned Sparrow             1
Harris's Sparrow                      15
Dark-eyed Junco (Oregon)          1
Dark-Eyed Junco                       309
Northern Cardinal                       28
Red-Winged Blackbird                7

Western Meadowlark 1

Purple Finch                              9
House Finch                              30
Pine Siskin                                29
American Goldfinch                    43
House Sparrow                          84

Total Birds Counted 8,645

Total Species Counted 44

Westfield CBC 1-4-2009--Compiler Bill Zales

Bald Eagle 6

Northern Harrier 1

Red-tailed Hawk 18

Rough-legged Hawk 4

American Kestrel 3

Ring-necked Pheasant 23

Wild Turkey 15

Eurasian Collared-dove 11

Rock Pigeon 127

Mourning Dove 4

Great Horned Owl 2

Red-Bellied Woodpecker 20

Downy Woodpecker 38

Hairy Woodpecker 3

Northern Flicker 19

Northern Shrike 1

Blue Jay 40

Black-billed Magpie 1

American Crow 12

Horned Lark 12

Black-capped Chickadee 37

White Breasted Nuthatch 25

Eastern Bluebird 51

American Robin 35

European Starling 245

Cedar Waxwing 29

American Tree Sparrow 99

Dark-eyed Junco 171

Lapland Longspur 4

Northern Cardinal 13

House Finch 18

Pine Siskin 3

American Goldfinch 183

House Sparrow 170

Total species=34

Total birds counted=1,443