Date: 12/19/24 9:57 pm From: Kellie H via groups.io <xxkhaydenxx...> Subject: [NEBirds] DeSoto Christmas Bird Count 2024 Summary
Hi all, please bear with me--if you belong to the Iowa and Nebraska bird
listservs you may get this email more than once.
The DeSoto NWR Christmas Bird Count this year was held on December 15. We
had great coverage with 35 participants in 20 traveling parties and 1
feeder watcher! We had very mixed weather conditions for birding, with
thick fog challenging our viewing conditions in the morning before things
cleared up in the afternoon. In spite of that, over 51,000 birds were
counted and 79 species were represented. This is one more species, and 6k
more birds, than last year!
Notable or missed sightings within our circle:
-
A Loggerhead Shrike was documented for the first time in our circle
during the CBC since 2010, and for only the second time ever (our data goes
back to 1997 for our circle)!
-
Brewer's Blackbirds were spotted for the first time since 2014!
-
Mallards were spotted in record numbers (36k+!)
-
Pileated Woodpeckers, Winter Wrens, American Coots, Ross' Goose, and
White-throated Sparrows are also at a record highs
-
Golden-crowned Kinglets are at their highest count since 2004
-
Bald Eagles this year were at a near-record high, beat out only by 99
sightings in 2018 and 98 sightings in 2017
-
We didn't count any Eurasian Collared Doves, which is an interesting
development given their expansion in recent years
-
We documented no Red-breasted Nuthatches again this year, potentially
beginning an unfortunate trend of this species being absent on our count
for the past 2 years (I hope I'm proven wrong next year!)
-
While not completely absent, Blue Jays were noticeably lower this year
with the lowest count for the species since 2017
-
Black-capped Chickadee sightings were almost halved this year compared
to last year's count of 297
-
Eastern Bluebird numbers tumbled back down from our recent high of 129
last year to only 26 this year
-
American Robin count is also noticeably low with only 70 individuals,
though based on our data their numbers vary widely from one year to the next
Thank you to our volunteers for their participation! This effort really
couldn’t be done without their continued involvement. I included our list
below for those interested.
