Cheyenne Bottoms Christmas Bird Count

Thu, 20 Dec 2012 | Published in Bird Watch, Latest News, Nature Notes
Thirteen observers conducted the Cheyenne Bottoms CBC on Tuesday December 18th.  The lack of significant water and poor grassland conditions made for a challenging day for birding.  However, the weather conditions were nearly ideal for December. We tallied 76 species and a total of 118,527 individuals with the following notes of interest:   a Brown Thrasher, two Double-crested Cormorants, 135 Northern Harriers, 34 Rough-legged Hawks and three Townsend’s Solitaires which was a new Barton County bird for some folks.  A lot of notable misses, but we actually come up with more species than we predicted, given the tough habitat conditions.
Lunch was provided by The Nature Conservancy and Kansas Wetlands Education Center for all the participants of the Christmas Bird Count.


Dec 18, 2012
Cheyenne Bottoms Christmas Bird Count
75 species

Participants scan for birds

Greater White-fronted Goose  366
Snow Goose  2719
Ross’s Goose  306
Cackling Goose  1576
Canada Goose  1290
Wood Duck  3    
Mallard  45
Northern Shoveler  36
Green-winged Teal  1
Redhead  8
Ring-necked Duck  15
Lesser Scaup  8
Common Goldeneye  41
Ruddy Duck  4
Northern Bobwhite  8
Ring-necked Pheasant  1
Greater Prairie-Chicken  11
Wild Turkey  8
Pied-billed Grebe  10
Double-crested Cormorant  2
Great Blue Heron  1
Northern Harrier  135    
Sharp-shinned Hawk  2
Cooper’s Hawk  2
Bald Eagle  4
Red-tailed Hawk  122     (new high count for Barton County)

Rob Penner compiles data during lunch

Rough-legged Hawk  34  (new high count for CBC)
Ring-billed Gull  1
Rock Pigeon  45
Eurasian Collared-Dove  30
Barn Owl  6
Eastern Screech-Owl  4
Great Horned Owl  6
Short-eared Owl  8
Red-bellied Woodpecker  11
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker  1
Downy Woodpecker  18
Hairy Woodpecker  4
Northern Flicker  50
American Kestrel  19
Merlin  3
Prairie Falcon  2
Loggerhead Shrike  1
Blue Jay  7
American Crow  6
Horned Lark  118
Black-capped Chickadee  4
White-breasted Nuthatch  32    
Brown Creeper  7
Winter Wren  1
Carolina Wren  4
Golden-crowned Kinglet  8
Eastern Bluebird  7
Townsend’s Solitaire  3
American Robin  259
European Starling  1653

Linda preparing lunch for bird count volunteers

Cedar Waxwing  12
Lapland Longspur  73
Yellow-rumped Warbler  11
American Tree Sparrow  244
Savanna Sparrow 1
Fox Sparrow  9
Song Sparrow  2
Harris’s Sparrow  102
White-crowned Sparrow  2
Dark-eyed Junco  163
Northern Cardinal  29
Red-winged Blackbird  102850
Eastern Meadowlark  10
Western Meadowlark  30
Meadowlark sp.  401
Brewer’s Blackbird  9
Brown-headed Cowbird  6
House Finch  95
American Goldfinch  82
House Sparrow  237

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