Mitchell SD 2017 Christmas Bird Count Results

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