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Sunday, December 2, 2018

St Marys Christmas Bird Count Results Jan 1, 2018


Since 1900, the Audubon Christmas Bird Count (CBC) uses volunteers to track bird populations by holding local counts across North and South America. Counts are held between December 14 and January 5 and are composed of volunteers of all birding levels to count birds in the field and at their feeders. Volunteers count birds and tally them by species within a 15 mile diameter count circle.  The St Marys circle is centered at the intersection of K-63 & US-24.  It encompasses parts of Jackson, Pottawatomie, Shawnee, and Wabaunsee counties and includes the cities of Belvue, Delia, Rossville, and St Marys,

After a 61 year hiatus, the St Marys CBC was reinitiated for the 2017-18 season on January 1, 2018.  It was last conducted in St Marys in 1954, 1955, and 1956.  At the time only 2 to 3 people conducted the count.  This season we had 18 people participate.

On the day of the count we had clear skies and little wind.  Day time temperatures started at -9 F and only rose to 13 F.  There was no snow on the ground. Most bodies of water were frozen but some moving water was open. A total of 18 people participated. We had 10 groups of people who birded in the field but only 2 groups that watched their feeders.  We really could use more people to watch their feeders.

We had a total of 57,880 birds counted composed of 88 species and 3 subspecies for the count. There were 10 count week species (seen 3 days before or after the count day but not on count day). The most abundantly seen species was the Snow/Ross’s geese at 38,500. 

A whopping 41 new species were seen on this year’s count that weren’t seen on previous years’ counts.  This can be attributed to habitat changes like the addition of lakes at the Jeffrey Energy Center which gave us many of our waterfowl species. There have also been population increases of birds that were rare back in the 1950s such as bald eagle, wild turkey, and goose species.  Furthermore we had larger participation this year than in the past.

We had high counts for most species on the count as compared to previous counts.  This isn’t surprising as we had more participation.

Our “best” bird was the turkey vulture.  They generally don’t winter in northern Kansas.

Some species that were expected but missed were pine siskin and purple finch.

I’ve composed two tables.  One has counts for this year and the other displays data from all count years.

The following table contains counts for the year.  CW designates species not seen on the count day but seen 3 days before or after the count day.

Species
Total
Snow goose
3711
Ross's goose
CW
Snow/Ross's goose
38500
Greater White-fronted goose
CW
Cackling goose
101
Canada goose
1625
Cackling/Canada goose
2300
Trumpeter swan
14
Tundra swan
CW
Northern shoveler
2
Gadwall
7
American Wigeon
3
Mallard
2023
Northern pintail
1
Green-winged teal
3
Ring-necked duck
13
Greater scaup
CW
Lesser scaup
21
Bufflehead
5
Common goldeneye
562
Hooded merganser
28
Common merganser
49
duck sp.
11
Northern bobwhite
40
Greater prairie-chicken
1
Wild turkey
7
Pied-bill grebe
CW
Great blue heron
2
Turkey Vulture
1
Northern harrier
38
Sharp-shinned hawk
1
Cooper's hawk
3
Sharp-shinned/Cooper's hawk
1
Bald eagle
68
Red-shouldered hawk
5
Red-tailed hawk
130
Red-tailed Hawk (calurus/alascensis)
1
Red-tailed hawk (Harlan's)
1
Rough-legged hawk
3
Buteo sp.
2
Ring-billed gull
CW
Rock pigeon
115
Eurasian collared-dove
43
Mourning dove
76
Great horned owl
CW
Barred owl
3
Belted kingfisher
4
Red-bellied woodpecker
63
Yellow-bellied sapsucker
7
Downy woodpecker
35
Hairy woodpecker
2
Northern flicker
53
Pileated woodpecker
2
American Kestrel
12
Merlin
1
Prairie falcon
2
falcon sp.
1
Loggerhead shrike
CW
Loggerhead/Northern shrike
1
Blue jay
52
American crow
199
Horned lark
145
Black-capped chickadee
58
Tufted titmouse
20
White-breasted nuthatch
12
Brown creeper
2
Winter wren
3
Carolina wren
16
Golden-crowned kinglet
1
Ruby-crowned kinglet
1
Eastern bluebird
90
American robin
183
Northern mockingbird
5
European starling
2113
Cedar waxwing
36
Lapland longspur
401
Yellow-rumped warbler
10
American tree sparrow
1446
Fox sparrow
1
Dark-eyed junco
1064
Dark-eyed Junco (Oregon)
1
White-crowned sparrow
2
Harris's sparrow
208
White-throated sparrow
CW
Savannah sparrow
1
Song sparrow
36
Lincoln's sparrow
2
Spotted towhee
2
Northern cardinal
207
Western/Eastern meadowlark
974
Red-winged blackbird
437
Brown-headed cowbird
CW
Brewer's blackbird
3
Common grackle
6
House finch
80
American goldfinch
88
House sparrow
272
Total
57880

I think it’s interesting to compare this year to previous years. Zero denotes count week species.

Species
1954
1955
1956
2017
Snow goose



3711
Ross's goose



0
Snow/Ross's goose



38500
Greater White-fronted goose



0
Cackling goose



101
Canada goose



1625
Cackling/Canada goose



2300
Trumpeter swan



14
Tundra swan



0
Northern shoveler



2
Gadwall



7
American Wigeon



3
Mallard
0
650
65
2023
Northern pintail



1
Green-winged teal



3
Ring-necked duck



13
Greater scaup



0
Lesser scaup



21
Bufflehead



5
Common goldeneye



562
Hooded merganser



28
Common merganser



49
duck sp.



11
Northern Bobwhite
0
26
50
40
Ring-necked Pheasant


1

Greater Prairie-Chicken
1
55
27
1
Wild turkey



7
Pied-bill grebe



0
Great blue heron



2
Turkey Vulture



1
Northern Harrier
4
2
0
38
Sharp-shinned hawk



1
Cooper's Hawk

1

3
Sharp-shinned/Cooper's hawk



1
Bald eagle



68
Red-shouldered hawk



5
Red-tailed Hawk
11
10
6
130
Red-tailed Hawk (calurus/alascensis)



1
Red-tailed Hawk (Harlan's)
0


1
Rough-legged hawk



3
Buteo sp.



2
Ring-billed gull



0
Rock pigeon



115
Eurasian collared-dove



43
Mourning Dove
36
13
56
76
Great Horned Owl
6
4
1
0
Barred Owl

2
1
3
Belted Kingfisher
2

1
4
Red-headed Woodpecker
1



Red-bellied Woodpecker
19
36
16
63
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker


1
7
Downy Woodpecker
17
25
8
35
Hairy Woodpecker
3
2
3
2
Northern Flicker
3


53
Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted)
36
23
2

Northern Flicker (Red-shafted)
5
1
2

Pileated woodpecker



2
American Kestrel
4
1
2
12
Merlin



1
Prairie falcon



2
falcon sp.



1
Loggerhead Shrike
0
1
2
0
Loggerhead/Northern shrike



1
Blue Jay
9
11
4
52
American Crow
39
32
39
199
Horned Lark
36
40
19
145
Horned Lark (Eastern dark Group)


1

Black-capped Chickadee
103
106
27
58
Tufted Titmouse
19
31
8
20
White-breasted nuthatch



12
Brown Creeper
5
1

2
Winter wren



3
Carolina Wren
4
3
1
16
Golden-crowned Kinglet
0


1
Ruby-crowned kinglet



1
Eastern Bluebird
26
7
2
90
Townsend's Solitaire
1

2

American Robin
194
19
6
183
Brown Thrasher
0



Northern mockingbird



5
European Starling
29
67
53
2113
Cedar waxwing



36
Lapland Longspur
92

300
401
Smith's Longspur
1
0


Yellow-rumped warbler



10
American Tree Sparrow
342
336
270
1446
Field Sparrow
1



Fox sparrow



1
Dark-eyed junco



1064
Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored)
153
93
41

Dark-eyed Junco (Oregon)
3

1
1
Dark-eyed Junco (Pink-sided)

1


White-crowned Sparrow
2
0

2
Harris's Sparrow
186
79
57
208
White-throated sparrow



0
Savannah sparrow



1
Song Sparrow
37
4
6
36
Lincoln's sparrow



2
Spotted Towhee
17

5
2
Northern Cardinal
66
107
87
207
Western Meadowlark
6
1
143

Eastern Meadowlark
4
1


Western/Eastern Meadowlark
29
6
3
974
Red-winged Blackbird

212
1500
437
Brown-headed cowbird



0
Brewer's blackbird



3
Common Grackle

0
0
6
House finch



80
Pine Siskin
18
11


American Goldfinch
41
15
16
88
House Sparrow
79
85
79
272

1690
2120
2914
57880


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