Mitchell SD 2018 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. 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

The count took place on December 26, 2018 and was the sixth consecutive year to hold the count since reinstatement. There were 9 field observers and 5 feeder watchers.

A winter storm began on the day of the count.  This kept some of our participants from attending. The day started out with snow and visibility was reduced. In the afternoon the snow turned to rain. It was not a good day to be out looking for birds.

On the day of the count we had snow, rain, and wind. Day time temperatures started at 28 F and rose to 36 F. Snow was accumulating in the morning but melted when it began raining. Some moving water was open but most water was frozen. A total of 11 people participated. We had 5 groups of people who birded in the field but 5 groups that watched their feeders. Because of the weather only parts of the circle were covered and only 9.25 hours were spent in the field by our groups.  In comparison feeder watchers spent 21 hours watching their feeders.

We had a total of 1,121 birds composed of 32 species for the count day. There were an additional 6 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 red-winged blackbird at 285.

One new species was added to the count, a Brown Thrasher.  With limited participation it’s not surprising we had no high counts this year and that there were many low counts. Our best bird was the brown thrasher. Our misses for the count included Northern Shrike and Golden-crowned Kinglet. The only rare bird seen was the Brown Thrasher.

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

Counts for the Year

The following table contains counts for the year.

Species	Total
Ring-necked Pheasant	34
Wild Turkey	168
Northern Harrier	CW
Cooper's Hawk	1
Bald Eagle	1
Red-tailed Hawk	CW
Red-tailed Hawk (Harlan's)	CW
Rough-legged Hawk	1
buteo sp.	1
Rock Pigeon	55
Eurasian Collared Dove	35
Mourning Dove	CW
Great Horned Owl	CW
Red-bellied Woodpecker	4
Downy Woodpecker	9
Hairy Woodpecker	5
Northern Flicker	9
Northern Flicker (yellow-shafted)	5
falcon sp.	1
Blue Jay	20
American Crow	17
Horned Lark	60
Black-capped Chickadee	11
Red-breasted Nuthatch	2
White-breasted Nuthatch	5
Brown Creeper	CW
American Robin	14
Brown Thrasher	1
European Starling	47
Cedar Waxwing	84
Lapland Longspur	20
American Tree Sparrow	11
Dark-eyed Junco	50
Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored)	14
Northern Cardinal	6
Red-winged Blackbird	285
House Finch	38
Purple Finch	CW
Common Redpoll	4
Pine Siskin	12
American Goldfinch	18
House Sparrow	73

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
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	34
Greater Prairie Chicken				10				3
Wild Turkey				104	294	88	162	30	168
Northern Harrier	1			1			1		0
Sharp-shinned Hawk				5	2	3	2	2
Cooper's Hawk				2	1	3	2	2	1
Northern Goshawk				3		1
Bald Eagle				8	3	6	6	8	1
Red-tailed Hawk				15	24	19	28	21	0
Red-tailed Hawk (Harlan's)							1		0
Rough-legged Hawk			1	16	3	2	20	11	1
buteo sp.								1	1
Rock Pigeon				112	495	435	131	631	55
Eurasian Collared Dove				68	95	54	179	37	35
Mourning Dove				9	1	0	2		0
Eastern Screech Owl				4	1		1	2
Great Horned Owl	2		3	4	10	2	5	7	0
Snowy Owl					1
Long-eared Owl					1
Short-eared Owl		1
Belted Kingfisher					1	0
Red-bellied Woodpecker				5	9	9	8	5	4
Downy Woodpecker	6	11	2	19	30	32	27	18	9
Hairy Woodpecker	1			5	17	16	13	11	5
Northern Flicker				21	8	20	27	6	9
Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted)	6		1					6	5
American Kestrel				3	1	2	6	3
Merlin				2			2	1
Prairie Falcon						1
falcon sp.									1
Northern Shrike		2		8	3	2	1	1
Blue Jay	12		1	59	37	46	73	37	20
American Crow	21	12	90	12	54	57	15	10	17
Common Raven					1
Horned Lark	30	27	100	43	255	444	4	368	60
Black-capped Chickadee	7	11	6	32	39	34	24	15	11
Tufted Titmouse						0
Red-breasted Nuthatch	4			3	3	3	12	1	2
White-breasted Nuthatch	2		1	10	17	20	20	6	5
Brown Creeper	4	1		8	7	1			0
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	14
Brown Thrasher									1
European Starling	14	48	130	1339	286	445	6559	689	47
Cedar Waxwing				174	52	153	70	157	84
Lapland Longspur		1	1200	46	133	32	30	50	20
Snow Bunting				5	1	55
Yellow-rumped Warbler				3		0		1
American Tree Sparrow	106	230	220	67	52	141	456	413	11
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	50
Dark-eyed Junco (Oregon)		1	4					8
Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored)	62	17	43					36	14
Northern Cardinal	2	1	4	14	29	26	27	21	6
Red-winged Blackbird				5720	597	410	1212	1230	285
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	38
Purple Finch						7	1		0
White-winged Crossbill								1
Common Redpoll	14				45	7		97	4
Pine Siskin	42	11		0	16	22		24	12
American Goldfinch		7	6	29	57	197	292	132	18
House Sparrow	200	25	1000	360	292	749	687	809	73

Effort by Year

This table contains effort for all years.

Count Date	Count Year	Field People	Field Hours	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	1,377
12/30/1966	1966	1	9.00			20	0	20	463
12/31/1967	1967	1	9.00			20	0	20	2,885
12/26/2013	2013	17	52.50	6	13.25	47	2	49	10,639
12/26/2014	2014	9	42.75	11	34.25	49	0	49	3,560
12/26/2015	2015	20	37.25	14	29	49	6	55	4,737
12/26/2016	2016	17	48.00	15	32.75	45	0	45	10,682
12/26/2017	2017	17	47.00	4	13	42	2	44	5,552
12/26/2018	2018	9	10.25	5	21	32	6	38	1,121

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