Date: 12/24/25 6:43 pm From: Joel Geier <clearwater...> Subject: Hart Mountain CBC final tallies
Hi folks,
Here are the final totals from the Hart Mountain CBC last Wednesday, December 17th.
Hart Mountain National Antelope Refuge is the "sister refuge" to Sheldon NWR. A bit over half of the count circle is on the refuge, while the remainder is in the Warner Valley, including the Warner Valley Wetlands, Hart Lake, and Flagstaff Lake.
This count has a long history, running back to 1973, with 46 years of data (there have been a few cancellations due to severe winter weather, and one due to covid-19).
I think I "undersold" our results when I posted preliminary numbers on Wednesday night. This was truly a spectacular count, despite that we only had 6 volunteers, and we were dealing with 20+ mph winds all day (with gusts over 50 mph just before dawn). It turns out, our count-day total of 51 species is the 3rd highest count on record.
This was the first year in well over a decade when the Warner Valley lakes have been full of water *and* also ice-free. This resulted in some truly spectacular numbers of waterfowl, breaking numerous all-time records. We also had the first-ever count-day grebes for this count -- and not just one grebe species, but four (Western, Clark's, Eared and Horned -- surprisingly this count still hasn't had a Pied-billed).
We also had remarkable access to areas of the circle that often require slogging through snow. The biggest sparrow/junco numbers were along Guano Creek south of Post Meadows, which I doubt anyone has even managed to get to in most years. At Blue Sky, where most of the uniquely isolated patch of ponderosa pine forest burned in the 2024 Warner Peak fire, woodpeckers have moved in, in record-setting numbers.
But some species, particularly songbirds, were hard to find. We were lucky to come up with a single American Robin (seemingly scarce in the whole northern Great Basin this winter). We found just one kinglet, and zero finches.
Here are the full numbers.
Tundra Swan 770 not counting a couple thousand swans just outside the circle on Campbell Lake
Canada Goose 91
Snow Goose 1 first count record, on Flagstaff Lake where most waterfowl were found
Green-winged Teal 24
Mallard 27
Northern Shoveler 25 record high count
Northern Pintail 26 first count-day record (one previous count-week record)
Gadwall 2 first count record
American Wigeon 525 record high count
Canvasback 151 record high count
Lesser Scaup 2
Ring-necked Duck 2
Common Goldeneye 2
Bufflehead 2
Greater Sage-Grouse NONE found (notable miss and not for lack of effort)
California Quail 18
Western Grebe 1 first count record
Clark’s Grebe 1 first count record
Eared Grebe 2 first count-day record (one previous count-week record)
Horned Grebe 1 first count record, rare for region in winter
American Coot 403 record high count
Wilson’s Snipe 4 record high count
Great Blue Heron 1
Northern Harrier 10
Bald Eagle 2
Golden Eagle 4
American Goshawk 1
Red-tailed Hawk 3
Rough-legged Hawk 5
Great Horned Owl 2
Northern Pygmy-Owl
Short-eared Owl cw (seen evening before the count)
Downy Woodpecker 4
Hairy Woodpecker 16 record high count, all at Blue Sky
Black-backed Woodpecker 2 first record for count, at Blue Sky
Northern Flicker 12 record high count
American Kestrel 6
Prairie Falcon 1
Loggerhead Shrike 2
Northern Shrike 1 low count
Black-billed Magpie 4 low count
Common Raven 4 low count
Horned Lark 28
Mountain Chickadee 16
Bewick's Wren 2
Marsh Wren 3 ties previous record
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 1
Townsend's Solitaire 1 low count
American Robin 1 very low count
American Tree Sparrow 1
Song Sparrow 21
Lincoln’s Sparrow 3 ties previous record
White-crowned Sparrow 2
Slate-colored Junco 3 ties previous record, Guano Creek below Post Meadows
Dark-eyed Junco 195 record high count, almost all in Post Meadows area
