The birds like it here. Annual count finds 52 species.
One of a dozen American ('winter') robins counted among 52 species in this year's bird count. (Photo by Larry Halverson)
Seventy four people counted 3,927 individual birds during the 34th annual Lake Windermere District Christmas bird count. The number of birds is up by 47% from last year. Some of the increase can be attributed to high number Bohemian waxwings and common redpolls. The total of 52 species recorded this year matches the average seen during the last 10 years of the count.
Some of this year’s highlights include a new species for the count. Dean and Bill Nicholson observed two trumpeter swans in the open water at Athalmer. They also spotted a lone hooded merganser, which has only been recorded 5 times in the history of the count.
Many of the feeder watchers commented on the lack of birds however one hot spot was Ron Speta’s yard. He said that in the 25 years of watching his feeder this has been the best! He recorded 16 species.
Troy Rad once again ventured into the high country a found a couple of white-tailed ptarmigan. Elijha and Haley Bowels were delighted to see 8 American Robins in their grandma Luciel Campbell’s yard. Fran Kimpton saw an unusual bird and after some study it turned out to be a partly albino mountain chickadee.
There is also another ‘mystery’ bird in Linda Taylor’s yard. From the description it may be a northern hawk owl but it needs a little further investigation to confirm.
Thanks to Greg Wagner, a visiting birder from High River, whose keen ears found the only northern pygmy owl near Eline Madson School. A couple of birds that were noticeably missing were the great blue heron and common merganser.
The complete list of birds counted is as follows. Birds in bold indicate high counts or equals previously high counts.
Bird — Totals
Tundra Swan — 4
Trumpter Swan — 2
Canada Goose — 138
Mallard — 460
Northern Pintail — 1
Bufflehead — 3
Common Goldeneye — 15
Barrow’s Goldeneye — 6
Hooded Merganser — 1
Duck Sp. — 10
Turkey Vulture — 1
Bald Eagle — 20
Red-tailed Hawk — 1
Hawk sp — 2
Golden Eagle — 2
Merlin — 1
White-tailed Ptarmigan — 2
Ruffed Grouse — 7
Wild Turkey — 36
Killdeer — 1
Rock Pigeon — 5
Mourning Dove — 4
Northern Pygmy-Owl — 1
Owl Sp. — 1
Belted Kingfisher — 2
Downy Woodpecker — 20
Hairy Woodpecker — 14
Northern Flicker — 60
Pileated Woodpecker — 19
Gray Jay — 9
Steller’s Jay — 13
Black-billed Magpie — 23
American Crow — 40
Common Raven — 323
Black-capped Chickadee — 111
Mountain Chickadee — 195
Chickadee Sp. — 15
Red-breasted Nuthatch — 115
White-breasted Nuthatch — 3
American Dipper — 1
Townsend’s Solitaire — 18
American Robin — 15
Bohemian Waxwing — 1245
Cedar Waxwing — 2
Northern Shrike — 1
Song Sparrow — 13
Sparrow Sp. — 12
Dark-eyed Junco — 50
Gray-crowned Rosy-finch — 7
Pine Grosbeak — 96
Cassin’s Finch — 9
House Finch — 287
Crossbill Sp. — 12
Common Redpoll — 384
Pine Siskin — 6
Evening Grossbeak — 65
House Sparrow — 18
Total Species — 52
Total Numbers — 3927
Observers — 74
