Sunday, December 29, 2019

Mitchell SD 2019 Christmas Bird Count Results

Mitchell SD Christmas Bird Count Results 2019

Cedar Waxwing in Mitchell by Lonnie Wiese

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. Counts are held between December 14 and January 5 and are composed of volunteers of all birding levels to count birds in the field and at their feeders. Volunteers count birds and tally them by species within a 15 mile diameter count circle. 

About the Mitchell CBC

The Mitchell circle is centered at the Corn Palace.  It encompasses parts of Davison and Hanson counties including the cities of Mitchell and Loomis. The Mitchell count circle can be found at https://arcg.is/0mDr0W.

After a 46 year hiatus, the Mitchell CBC was reinstated in 2013.  The first count was executed in 1957. Two more counts were executed in 1966 and 1967.

Count Summary

This year’s count took place on Saturday, December 21, 2019 and was the seventh consecutive year to hold the count since reinstatement.

On the day of the count the skies were partly cloudy. Day time temperatures started at 21° F and rose to 41° F. The maximum wind speed was 9 mph out of the south. Due to high water on the James River and Lake Mitchell, some moving water was open.

A total of 27 people participated. We had 8 groups of people who birded in the field but 12 groups that watched their feeders. Field groups spent 47.5 hours in the field observing birds.  In comparison feeder watchers spent 29 hours watching birds at their feeders.

We had a total of 3,025 birds composed of 51 species for the count day. There were an additional 2 count week species. Count week species are seen 3 days before or after the count day but not on the count day. The most abundant species was the European starling at 832.

We added five new species to the count.  With the open water we added gadwall, redhead, and ruddy ducks.  Two new owl species were added: barred and northern saw-whet. I’d say the barred owl was the best bird of the count as they were not known to exist this far west in the state. Some misses included lapland longspur, common grackle, mourning dove, and Canada geese. The five rare species seen were ruddy duck, belted kingfisher, eastern bluebird, brown-headed cowbird, and rusty blackbird.

I’ve composed the following tables:  Counts for the Year, Participants for the Year, Counts by Year, and Effort by Year.

Counts for the Year

The following table contains counts for the year.  CW designates count week birds.

Species
Total
Gadwall
2
Mallard
40
Redhead
1
Ruddy Duck
2
Ring-necked Pheasant
146
Wild Turkey
215
Rock Pigeon
323
Eurasian Collared-dove
45
Sharp-shinned Hawk
2
Cooper's Hawk
1
Northern Goshawk
2
Bald Eagle
9
Red-tailed Hawk
31
Rough-legged Hawk
6
Eastern Screech-owl
6
Great Horned Owl
14
Barred Owl
1
Northern Saw-whet Owl
1
Belted Kingfisher
1
Red-bellied Woodpecker
13
Downy Woodpecker
34
Hairy Woodpecker
12
Northern Flicker
12
American Kestrel
4
Merlin
3
Prairie Falcon
1
falcon sp.
1
Northern Shrike
3
Blue Jay
73
American Crow
32
Horned Lark
70
Black-capped Chickadee
53
Red-breasted Nuthatch
2
White-breasted Nuthatch
22
Brown Creeper
2
Golden-crowned Kinglet
3
Eastern Bluebird
CW
Townsend's Solitaire
5
American Robin
6
European Starling
832
Cedar Waxwing
140
House Finch
27
Purple Finch
CW
Pine Siskin
17
American Goldfinch
139
Snow Bunting
8
American Tree Sparrow
49
Dark-eyed Junco
123
Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored)
28
Dark-eyed Junco (Oregon)
4
Harris's Sparrow
6
Red-winged Blackbird
106
Brown-headed Cowbird
2
Rusty Blackbird
19
Northern Cardinal
23
House Sparrow
336

Participants for the Year

The count wouldn’t have been possible without the help of all of these volunteers.

Full Name
Field
Feeder
Mavis Anderson

Feeder
Ray Anderson
Field

Carrie Azure
Field

Jan Balcom

Feeder
James Blades

Feeder
Lois Blades

Feeder
Nancy Drilling
Field

Oakley Hague

Feeder
Doug Hansen
Field

Jeff Hansen
Field
Feeder
Rick Hansen
Field

Dee Johnson

Feeder
Dennis Leland

Feeder
Josh Leland

Feeder
Sheri Leland
Field
Feeder
Don Martin

Feeder
Andrea Meyer
Field
Feeder
Scott Meyer
Field
Feeder
Ricky Olson
Field

Barry Parkin
Field

Kelly Preheim
Field

Letha Rowley

Feeder
Sherry Stilley

Feeder
Scott Stolz
Field

Tammy Wheeler

Feeder
Westen White
Field

Lonnie Wiese

Feeder

Counts by Year

This table contains counts by year. Note, zero denotes count week species.
Species
1957
1966
1967
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
Snow Goose





0

0


Canada Goose



0
50
0
24
0


Wood Duck





1




Gadwall









2
Mallard
802

43

225
2



40
Northern Pintail
6









Redhead









1
Lesser Scaup





3




Common Merganser
1









Ruddy Duck









2
Ring-necked Pheasant
26
37
3
194
137
366
141
221
34
146
Greater Prairie-chicken



10



3


Wild Turkey



104
294
88
162
30
168
215
Rock Pigeon



112
495
435
131
631
55
323
Eurasian Collared-dove



68
95
54
179
37
35
45
Mourning Dove



9
1
0
2

0

Northern Harrier
1


1


1

0

Sharp-shinned Hawk



5
2
3
2
2

2
Cooper's Hawk



2
1
3
2
2
1
1
Northern Goshawk



3

1



2
Bald Eagle



8
3
6
6
8
1
9
Red-tailed Hawk



15
24
19
28
21
0
31
Red-tailed Hawk (Harlan's)






1

0

Rough-legged Hawk


1
16
3
2
20
11
1
6
buteo sp.







1
1

Eastern Screech-owl



4
1

1
2

6
Great Horned Owl
2

3
4
10
2
5
7
0
14
Snowy Owl




1





Barred Owl









1
Long-eared Owl




1





Short-eared Owl

1








Northern Saw-whet Owl









1
Belted Kingfisher




1
0



1
Red-bellied Woodpecker



5
9
9
8
5
4
13
Downy Woodpecker
6
11
2
19
30
32
27
18
9
34
Hairy Woodpecker
1


5
17
16
13
11
5
12
Northern Flicker



21
8
20
27
6
9
12
Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted)
6

1




6
5

American Kestrel



3
1
2
6
3

4
Merlin



2


2
1

3
Prairie Falcon





1



1
falcon sp.








1
1
Northern Shrike

2

8
3
2
1
1

3
Blue Jay
12

1
59
37
46
73
37
20
73
American Crow
21
12
90
12
54
57
15
10
17
32
Common Raven




1





Horned Lark
30
27
100
43
255
444
4
368
60
70
Black-capped Chickadee
7
11
6
32
39
34
24
15
11
53
Tufted Titmouse





0




Red-breasted Nuthatch
4


3
3
3
12
1
2
2
White-breasted Nuthatch
2

1
10
17
20
20
6
5
22
Brown Creeper
4
1

8
7
1


0
2
Golden-crowned Kinglet
5
1

2
1
1
4


3
Eastern Bluebird





4
5


0
Townsend's Solitaire






1


5
American Robin
1
14

1746
39
561
261
118
14
6
Brown Thrasher








1

European Starling
14
48
130
1339
286
445
6559
689
47
832
Cedar Waxwing



174
52
153
70
157
84
140
House Finch

1

61
33
108
49
128
38
27
Purple Finch





7
1

0
0
Common Redpoll
14



45
7

97
4

White-winged Crossbill







1


Pine Siskin
42
11

0
16
22

24
12
17
American Goldfinch

7
6
29
57
197
292
132
18
139
Lapland Longspur

1
1200
46
133
32
30
50
20

Snow Bunting



5
1
55



8
American Tree Sparrow
106
230
220
67
52
141
456
413
11
49
Dark-eyed Junco



278
96
136
83
172
50
123
Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored)
62
17
43




36
14
28
Dark-eyed Junco (Oregon)

1
4




8

4
White-crowned Sparrow




2





Harris's Sparrow

4
14


5
1
1

6
Song Sparrow



2
3

1
1


Western Meadowlark



4

3
6



Red-winged Blackbird



5720
597
410
1212
1230
285
106
Brown-headed Cowbird



1





2
Rusty Blackbird





1



19
Common Grackle


13
3
1
2




Yellow-rumped Warbler



3

0

1


Northern Cardinal
2
1
4
14
29
26
27
21
6
23
House Sparrow
200
25
1000
360
292
749
687
809
73
336

Effort by Year

This table contains effort for all years.

Count Date
Count Year
Field People
Field Hours All
Feeder People
Feeder Hours
Count Day Species
Count Week Species
Count Species Total
Bird Total
12/23/1957
1957
2
9.00


25
0
25
1377
12/30/1966
1966
1
9.00


20
0
20
463
12/31/1967
1967
1
9.00


20
0
20
2885
12/26/2013
2013
17
52.50
6
13.25
47
2
49
10639
12/26/2014
2014
9
42.75
11
34.25
49
0
49
3560
12/26/2015
2015
20
37.25
14
29.00
49
6
55
4737
12/26/2016
2016
17
48.00
15
32.75
45
0
45
10682
12/26/2017
2017
17
47.00
4
13.00
42
2
44
5552
12/26/2018
2018
9
10.25
5
21.00
32
6
38
1121
12/21/2019
2019
13
47.50
17
29.00
51
2
53
3058


Thanks to everyone who helped with the count and if you know anyone who would like to help with the count next year, send me their contact information so they can be included in all communications.

Jeff Hansen
CBC Compiler
jeff.hansen.sd@gmail.com
785.806.6917