Date: 5/15/26 8:37 am From: Vic Fondy via groups.io <treasurecreek...> Subject: [sd-birds] WRMC and Whitewood
We birded four days on the West River Migration Count and observed many new birds and large migrations in progress. Chipping and White-crowned Sparrows in Butte County on Brooker Road were too numerous to even get correct numbers. In addition we had lots of new species including Great Egret, Common Loon, Cliff Swallows, Hermit/Swainson's Thrushes, Eastern/Western Kingbirds, and others. Butte County is being hit hard by drought and most roadside ponds were dry. Raptor counts were low and we found no Eagles on either our Butte or Lawrence territories. We recorded 2724 birds in our Butte County areas with high numbers of Blackbirds and 1154 birds in our Lawrence County areas.
Fall River is the only county that has submitted a complete summary report and they recorded 120 species and 1831 birds.
At our feeders 1.5 miles South of Whitewood new species since last report include Black-headed Grosbeaks, Tree Swallows, Western Tanager, and Lazuli Bunting. The Tree Swallows are nesting in one of our bird boxes
