On Saturday December 20th, 2025, Coeur d'Alene Audubon ran its 35th Annual Christmas Bird Count ("CBC") in and around Coeur d'Alene (Kootenai Co.), Idaho. We had a total of thirty-six (36) intrepid folks in the field, plus another six (6) patiently watching their yards and feeders, on twelve (12) teams covering the count circle which includes the north western portion of Lake Coeur d'Alene and stretches north to encompass Hayden Lake and the Rathdrum Prairie. These folks spent almost 300 man-hours counting while covering a combined 440 miles in vehicles and 30 miles on foot - very impressive effort!
Given the exceptionally mild weather leading up to the count, all of this work was needed to produce results that came in just slightly above the 34 year averages for both species seen and total individuals. Most of our regular breeders have long since left the area, while our typical northern and higher elevation visitors have not shown yet, or were in less than typical numbers. This year we recorded seventy-one (71) total species (68 avg) and 7,304 individuals (7,175 avg) during the count. We also added two more species count week for a total of 73 species during the count period.
Now the fun stuff. While most groups seemed to think the day was slow, we did manage to add a new species to the count, a very late LEWIS'S WOODPECKER in Dalton, a great and unexpected find! In addition to the woodpecker, other rarities (<10% of counts) included a PACIFIC LOON downtown on Lake Coeur d'Alene, a SHORT-EARED OWL and SNOW BUNTING (count week) on the Rathdrum Prairie, and six (6) YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERs, including a "Myrtle" race, in two separate locations! The woodpecker, loon, and warblers are definitely indicative of the mild weather - don't know what to tell you about the bunting.
While overall waterfowl numbers were down, we did manage to find a record number of HOODED MERGANSERs (111 vs previous high of 92) during the day. In addition record highs were set for NORTHERN HARRIER (19 vs 10), BALD EAGLE (38 vs 33), TOWNSEND'S SOLITAIRE (21 vs 6), and YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER (6 vs 1).
Of course, we had some misses. Although water was completely ice free, waterfowl variety and numbers were down including zero (0) American Coots reported (300 avg seen on 32 of 34 counts) - guessing they are just not here yet. While tough to pin to the weather, not a single Morning Dove was found (seen 33 of 34 counts), and can't blame the Eurasian Collared-Doves as they were also in below average numbers (57 vs 88 avg).
In conclusion, the 2025 edition of the Coeur d'Alene Christmas Count turned out to be kind of average, but our hard working birders came up with some great highlights, which make this iconic event always fun. Hope you all have found a Christmas Count or two.or more. to participate in to not only contribute to our better understanding of winter bird distributions, but just for the fun to be had.
