La Crosse 2011 Christmas Bird Count reults

La Crosse 2011 Christmas Bird Count Summary

Saturday, December 17, 2011 Check our CBC page for final results From Dan Jackson on 12/29/2011:Once again, I would like to say thanks for your help with this year’s La Crosse/La Crescent Christmas Bird Count. This year’s count, due in part to warm weather and also in part to a great effort by everyone involved, was one of the most successful in terms of the number of species and the number of birds seen that we have had in recent years. Ninety-eight people helped out with this year’s count. This included 50 people who worked by themselves or as a member of a team to cover the 27 sections of the count circle and also included 48 people who counted at 40 different feeders in the count circle. Our results were great. We saw close to 14,000 birds of 73 species on Saturday 12/17/11 and an additional 5 species were seen during count week (the 3 days before and after the count day). Highlights included seven species of owls (Snowy, Long-eared, Short-eared, Northern Saw-whet, Great Horned, Eastern Screech, and Barred Owls), Chipping and White-crowned Sparrows, a Glaucous Gull, a Merlin, a Northern Harrier, 13 Snow Buntings, a White-winged Crossbill, and a Yellow-rumped Warbler. Thanks to everyone for your help with this year’s count!! It is really great to have that many people involved in this event!! Happy Holidays, Dan Jackson, President Coulee Region Audubon Society La Crosse, Wisconsin A note from Lennie Lichter: I have been working on the tally sheets for the last 7 years and have added that spreadsheet to the "Species Tally Sheets" page (linked from the Christmas Bird Counts page). It looks like an incredible 124 species have been found on Christmas Bird Count days here in the La Crosse area since 1965! A few of the species names have changed during that time and one of them no longer exists as a species. Do you know which one that would be? It's interesting to go back in time to see what species were pretty common here 40 some years ago and are no longer around, as well as seeing what species have just begun to turn up here in the last couple of decades or so. The "Selected Species Charts" page will lead you to examples of both of these trends, and also to some of the common species that have had their ups and downs through the years. The unusual pattern of American Robin numbers that began around 1991 continues with only 36 found this year. For a span of more than 20 years now, we have had few if any Robins on the Count in odd-numbered years while over 100 and sometimes many times that amount have been seen in the even-numbered years. You can see the chart for the Robin (through 2010) under Select Species Chart on the CBC page.