About the Audubon CBC
For over 100 years, the Audubon Christmas Bird Count (CBC)
uses volunteers to track bird populations by holding local counts across North
and South America. The Mitchell Count, one of about 2,500, involved volunteers
of all birding levels to count birds in the field and at their feeders.
About the Mitchell CBC
The Mitchell CBC was reinitiated in 2013 after a 46 year
hiatus. This was our fifth consecutive year to hold the count. The count occurred on December 26 with 17
field observers and 4 feeder watchers.
All birds were counted within the count circle. The circle is centered
in Mitchell and is 15 miles in diameter.
The Audubon map of the count circle can be found at https://arcg.is/0mDr0W.
Count Summary
After unseasonably mild temperatures, the days preceding the
count had below zero temperatures that froze all water. On the day of the count
we had clear skies and little wind. Day
time temperatures started at -13 F and only rose to 2 F. There was 4 inches of snow on the ground. There
was no open water. A total of 23 people participated. We had 7 groups of people
who birded in the field but only 4 groups that watched their feeders. Some of our regular participants were out of
town for the holidays.
We had a total of 5,552 birds counted composed of 44 species
and 3 subspecies for the count. There were 2 count week species. The most
abundantly seen bird was the red-winged blackbird.
One new species was added to the count, a white-winged
crossbill. It was seen at a feeder,
proving the fact that feeder watchers are vital to a successful count.
We had high counts for rock pigeons, house finch, and common
redpolls as well as Oregon dark-eyed junco.
Our best birds were the greater prairie-chicken, yellow-rumped
warbler, and of course white-winged crossbill.
Some species that are normally seen but missed include
mallard, mourning dove, brown creeper, golden-crowned kinglet, snow bunting, western
meadowlark, and common grackle.
I’ve composed two tables. One has counts for this year and the other displays data from all count years.
Count Details
The following table contains counts for the year and is ordered
by most abundant to least abundant species.
It’s always interesting and depressing that some of the most abundant birds
are introduced species.
Red-winged Blackbird
|
1230
|
House Sparrow
|
809
|
European Starling
|
689
|
Rock Pigeon
|
631
|
American Tree Sparrow
|
413
|
Horned Lark
|
368
|
Ring-necked Pheasant
|
221
|
Dark-eyed Junco
|
172
|
Cedar Waxwing
|
157
|
American Goldfinch
|
132
|
House Finch
|
128
|
American Robin
|
118
|
Common Redpoll
|
97
|
Lapland Longspur
|
50
|
Eurasian Collared Dove
|
37
|
Blue Jay
|
37
|
Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored)
|
36
|
Wild Turkey
|
30
|
Pine Siskin
|
24
|
Red-tailed Hawk
|
21
|
Northern Cardinal
|
21
|
Downy Woodpecker
|
18
|
Black-capped Chickadee
|
15
|
Rough-legged Hawk
|
11
|
Hairy Woodpecker
|
11
|
American Crow
|
10
|
Bald Eagle
|
8
|
Dark-eyed Junco (Oregon)
|
8
|
Great Horned Owl
|
7
|
Northern Flicker
|
6
|
Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted)
|
6
|
White-breasted Nuthatch
|
6
|
Red-bellied Woodpecker
|
5
|
Greater Prairie Chicken
|
3
|
American Kestrel
|
3
|
Sharp-shinned Hawk
|
2
|
Cooper's Hawk
|
2
|
Eastern Screech Owl
|
2
|
buteo sp.
|
1
|
Merlin
|
1
|
Northern Shrike
|
1
|
Red-breasted Nuthatch
|
1
|
Yellow-rumped Warbler
|
1
|
Song Sparrow
|
1
|
Harris's Sparrow
|
1
|
White-winged Crossbill
|
1
|
Count Details by Year
I think it’s interesting to compare this year to previous
years. Zero denotes count week species.
Species
|
1957
|
1966
|
1967
|
2013
|
2014
|
2015
|
2016
|
2017
|
Snow Goose
|
0
|
0
|
||||||
Canada Goose
|
0
|
50
|
0
|
24
|
0
|
|||
Wood Duck
|
1
|
|||||||
Mallard
|
802
|
43
|
225
|
2
|
||||
Northern Pintail
|
6
|
|||||||
Lesser Scaup
|
3
|
|||||||
Common Merganser
|
1
|
|||||||
Ring-necked Pheasant
|
26
|
37
|
3
|
194
|
137
|
366
|
141
|
221
|
Greater Prairie Chicken
|
10
|
3
|
||||||
Wild Turkey
|
104
|
294
|
88
|
162
|
30
|
|||
Northern Harrier
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
|||||
Sharp-shinned Hawk
|
5
|
2
|
3
|
2
|
2
|
|||
Cooper's Hawk
|
2
|
1
|
3
|
2
|
2
|
|||
Northern Goshawk
|
3
|
1
|
||||||
Bald Eagle
|
8
|
3
|
6
|
6
|
8
|
|||
Red-tailed Hawk
|
15
|
24
|
19
|
28
|
21
|
|||
Red-tailed Hawk (Harlan's)
|
1
|
|||||||
Rough-legged Hawk
|
1
|
16
|
3
|
2
|
20
|
11
|
||
buteo sp.
|
1
|
|||||||
Rock Pigeon
|
112
|
495
|
435
|
131
|
631
|
|||
Eurasian Collared Dove
|
68
|
95
|
54
|
179
|
37
|
|||
Mourning Dove
|
9
|
1
|
0
|
2
|
||||
Eastern Screech Owl
|
4
|
1
|
1
|
2
|
||||
Great Horned Owl
|
2
|
3
|
4
|
10
|
2
|
5
|
7
|
|
Snowy Owl
|
1
|
|||||||
Long-eared Owl
|
1
|
|||||||
Short-eared Owl
|
1
|
|||||||
Belted Kingfisher
|
1
|
0
|
||||||
Red-bellied Woodpecker
|
5
|
9
|
9
|
8
|
5
|
|||
Downy Woodpecker
|
6
|
11
|
2
|
19
|
30
|
32
|
27
|
18
|
Hairy Woodpecker
|
1
|
5
|
17
|
16
|
13
|
11
|
||
Northern Flicker
|
21
|
8
|
20
|
27
|
6
|
|||
Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted)
|
6
|
1
|
6
|
|||||
American Kestrel
|
3
|
1
|
2
|
6
|
3
|
|||
Merlin
|
2
|
2
|
1
|
|||||
Prairie Falcon
|
1
|
|||||||
Northern Shrike
|
2
|
8
|
3
|
2
|
1
|
1
|
||
Blue Jay
|
12
|
1
|
59
|
37
|
46
|
73
|
37
|
|
American Crow
|
21
|
12
|
90
|
12
|
54
|
57
|
15
|
10
|
Common Raven
|
1
|
|||||||
Horned Lark
|
30
|
27
|
100
|
43
|
255
|
444
|
4
|
368
|
Black-capped Chickadee
|
7
|
11
|
6
|
32
|
39
|
34
|
24
|
15
|
Tufted Titmouse
|
0
|
|||||||
Red-breasted Nuthatch
|
4
|
3
|
3
|
3
|
12
|
1
|
||
White-breasted Nuthatch
|
2
|
1
|
10
|
17
|
20
|
20
|
6
|
|
Brown Creeper
|
4
|
1
|
8
|
7
|
1
|
|||
Golden-crowned Kinglet
|
5
|
1
|
2
|
1
|
1
|
4
|
||
Eastern Bluebird
|
4
|
5
|
||||||
Townsend's Solitaire
|
1
|
|||||||
American Robin
|
1
|
14
|
1746
|
39
|
561
|
261
|
118
|
|
European Starling
|
14
|
48
|
130
|
1339
|
286
|
445
|
6559
|
689
|
Cedar Waxwing
|
174
|
52
|
153
|
70
|
157
|
|||
Lapland Longspur
|
1
|
1200
|
46
|
133
|
32
|
30
|
50
|
|
Snow Bunting
|
5
|
1
|
55
|
|||||
Yellow-rumped Warbler
|
3
|
0
|
1
|
|||||
American Tree Sparrow
|
106
|
230
|
220
|
67
|
52
|
141
|
456
|
413
|
Song Sparrow
|
2
|
3
|
1
|
1
|
||||
Harris's Sparrow
|
4
|
14
|
5
|
1
|
1
|
|||
White-crowned Sparrow
|
2
|
|||||||
Dark-eyed Junco
|
278
|
96
|
136
|
83
|
172
|
|||
Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored)
|
62
|
17
|
43
|
36
|
||||
Dark-eyed Junco (Oregon)
|
1
|
4
|
8
|
|||||
Northern Cardinal
|
2
|
1
|
4
|
14
|
29
|
26
|
27
|
21
|
Red-winged Blackbird
|
5720
|
597
|
410
|
1212
|
1230
|
|||
Western Meadowlark
|
4
|
3
|
6
|
|||||
Rusty Blackbird
|
1
|
|||||||
Common Grackle
|
13
|
3
|
1
|
2
|
||||
Brown-headed Cowbird
|
1
|
|||||||
House Finch
|
1
|
61
|
33
|
108
|
49
|
128
|
||
Purple Finch
|
7
|
1
|
||||||
White-winged Crossbill
|
1
|
|||||||
Common Redpoll
|
14
|
45
|
7
|
97
|
||||
Pine Siskin
|
42
|
11
|
0
|
16
|
22
|
24
|
||
American Goldfinch
|
7
|
6
|
29
|
57
|
197
|
292
|
132
|
|
House Sparrow
|
200
|
25
|
1000
|
360
|
292
|
749
|
687
|
809
|
1377
|
463
|
2885
|
10639
|
3560
|
4737
|
10682
|
5552
|
