Date: 1/3/26 9:33 am From: N Drilling via groups.io <dril0008...> Subject: [sd-birds] Badlands CBC results
The Badlands Christmas Bird Count was held on January 1, with 7 participants enjoying the non-winter-like day (high temp of 48, no snow on the ground). The count had both highlights and lowlights. On the negative side, raptors were really scarce, which resulted in a total species count (26 species) and total individuals count (734) well below our 2011-2024 averages of 34 species and 1424 birds. Notable misses were Rough-legged Hawk, Prairie Falcon (first time ever), Sharp-tailed Grouse (first time ever), Downy Woodpecker, Blue Jay and Western Meadowlark. On the positive side, we had the first ever Northern Saw-whet Owl, and record numbers of Mountain Bluebirds (~106), Cedar Waxwings (~50), and Harris's Sparrow (5). The cedar trees in the area, especially at Cedar Pass/Cliff Shelf trail, are loaded with berries, and thus account for the unusually high numbers of berry-eaters.
The List: Wild Turkey - 43 Rock Pigeon - 47 Eurasian Collared Dove - 18 Bald Eagle - 1 Red-tailed Hawk - 1 Ferruginous Hawk - 1 Golden Eagle - 4 American Kestrel - 5 Great Horned Owl - 2 N. Saw-whet Owl - 1 (first ever) Northern Flicker - 5 Northern Shrike - 1 Black-billed Magpie - 16 American Crow - 74 Horned Lark - 235 Townsend's Solitaire - 1 American Robin - 9 Mountain Bluebird - 106 (record high) Cedar Waxwing - 51 (record high) European Starling - 23 House Sparrow - 19 American Goldfinch - 18 Lapland Longspur - 2 Dark-eyed Junco - 38 American Tree Sparrow - 8 Harris's Sparrow - 5 (record high)
