Date: 1/23/26 8:57 am From: Doug Ward via Inland-nw-birders <inland-nw-birders...> Subject: [inland-NW-birders] Indian Mt CBC Summary
INWBirders,
Sorry for the delay in getting you a Christmas Count (CBC) summary to digest, but better late than never - so much for the "reduce procrastination" resolution. Hope you've gotten 2026 off to a good start.
Cheers,
Doug
Indian Mt. CBC Summary (2026)
A small group of us ran the Indian Mt. Christmas Bird Count (CBC) on New Year's Day (1 Jan.'26) to keep this fun count going, kick off the New Year, and get annual year lists off to a good start. This count circle is centered southeast of Harrison, Idaho and encompasses parts of Kootenai and Benewah Counties including the Chain Lakes and lower Coeur d'Alene River, the southern end of Lake Coeur d'Alene and associated St. Joe River delta lakes (Benewah, Chatcolet, .), Heyburn State Park, and the town of St. Maries. The thirteen (13) of us covered a total of 12 miles on foot and another 127 miles in vehicles providing decent coverage for the day.
Our efforts were rewarded with a far better than average day over the 33 year history of this count in both species found (77 vs 66 avg/79 record) and total individuals recorded (14,781 vs ~8,360 avg/~16,590 record). While the near record seventy-seven (77) species was impressive, it came with no new birds for the count, which was surprising given the activity and the number of lingering species this year. As with other counts in the region, the mild weather we've had this winter left behind species which should be further south by now including NORTHERN SHOVELER (26), RUDDY DUCK (7), RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET (1), SPOTTED TOWHEE (2), and BREWER'S BLACKBIRD (26). The other end of this weather situation was the near lack of northern species including well below average numbers of ROUGH-LEGGED HAWKs (2 vs 8 avg), NORTHERN SHRIKE (1 vs 3 avg), with no Bohemian Waxwings nor Redpolls found.
Other species of interest included TRUMPETER SWAN (1), GREATER SCAUP (3), BONAPARTE'S GULL (1), LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL (1), "Thayer's" ICELAND GULL (1), and "Harlan's" RED-TAILED HAWK (1).
With respect to the high number of individual birds counted (14,781), waterfowl made up the lion's share (12,441) as you would expect with most water ice free. Within this number we had record counts of RING-NECKED DUCK (785 vs 698 record), COMMON MERGANSER (820 vs 356), RED-BREASTED MERGANSER (20 vs 4), and Ruddy Duck (7 vs 5). In addition to the ducks, we also managed record numbers for DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANT (4 vs 2), MOUNTAIN CHICKADEE (27 vs 27), WHITE-BRESTED NUTHATCH (10 vs 10), and BREWER'S BLACKBIRD (26 vs 2). Considering all of the activity this year, we oddly ended up with very low counts for EURASIAN COLLARD-DOVE (5 vs 16 avg), MORNING DOVE (4 vs 13), AMERICAN CROW (2 vs 28), and "sadly" EUROPEAN STARLING (23 vs 106). Not sure what is going on with the doves, but we had a similar experience on the Coeur d'Alene CBC a few weeks back.
So again, a pretty good day on a fun count. Hope your CBC season was a good one and you are ready to maybe add one or two more to your schedule next year. Have a great 2026 with lots of good stuff.
