December 20, 2009, Christmas Bird Count for Fayetteville, Arkansas

Provided by Joe Neal

Greater White-fronted Goose 3
Ross’s Goose (2 count week; 3rd time on count)
Canada Goose 868
Wood Duck 2
Gadwall 118
American Wigeon 6
Mallard 223
Northern Shoveler 190 (highest for count)
Am. Green-winged Teal 63
Northern Pintail 1
Ring-necked Duck 22
Lesser Scaup 6
Bufflehead 56
Hooded Merganser 2
Common Merganser 1 (5th time on count)
Red-breasted Merganser 2 (3rd time on count)
Ruddy Duck 7
Pied-billed Grebe 19
Great Blue Heron 21
Black Vulture 22
Turkey Vulture 216 (2nd highest for count)
Bald Eagle 10 (mature8; immature 2)
Northern Harrier 4
Sharp-shinned Hawk 4
Cooper's Hawk 8
Red-shouldered Hawk 22 (highest for count)
Red-tailed Hawk: 36
American Kestrel 33
Merlin 1 (only 2nd time on count)
SORA 1 (first for count)
American Coot 148
Killdeer 79
Least Sandpiper 2 (4th time on count)
Wilson’s Snipe 39
Ring-billed Gull 311 (high for count)
Rock Pigeon 311
Eurasian Collared-Dove 84 (high for count)
Mourning Dove 211
Greater Roadrunner 3
Eastern Screech-Owl 1
Great Horned Owl 7
Barred Owl 1
RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRD 1 (first for count)
Belted Kingfisher 14
Red-bellied Woodpecker 51
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 18
Downy Woodpecker 78
Hairy Woodpecker 12
Northern Flicker 46
Pileated Woodpecker 8
Eastern Phoebe 4
Loggerhead Shrike 1
Blue Jay 52
American Crow 636 (count high)
Carolina Chickadee 190
Tufted Titmouse 124
White-breasted Nuthatch 54
Brown Creeper 8
Carolina Wren 122 (count high)
Winter Wren 7
Sedge Wren 6
Marsh Wren 1 (4th time on count)
Golden-crowned Kinglet 10
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 13
Eastern Bluebird 267 (count high)
Hermit Thrush 3
American Robin 90
Northern Mockingbird 108
Brown Thrasher 3
European Starling 12855
American Pipit 39
Cedar Waxwing 63
Yellow-rumped Warbler 100
Field Sparrow 10 (2nd lowest on count)
Savannah Sparrow 123
Le Conte's Sparrow 1
Fox Sparrow 6
Song Sparrow 87
Swamp Sparrow 86
White-throated Sparrow 241
White-crowned Sparrow 107
Dark-eyed Junco 603
Northern Cardinal 308
Red-winged Blackbird 791
Eastern Meadowlark 191
Western Meadowlark 2
Rusty Blackbird 4
Common Grackle 6 (one of lowest on count)
Brown-headed Cowbird 164
Purple Finch 1
House Finch 64
Pine Siskin (3 count week)
American Goldfinch 131
House Sparrow 158
Blackbird species 8050




Total species 94: count day: 92; 2 additional species were identified for the count week (3 days before and 3 days after count day). Notable misses: Several diving duck species (weather too mild), Eastern Towhee, Harris’s Sparrow, etc. We also missed Double-crested Cormorant – first miss since 1996. But still a GREAT day. Good work Fayetteville CBCers!


COMMENTS

So if you were going to pick the weather for your CBC day, what would you want? This year we had warmth & and almost no wind. A perfect day to be out all day.
The great star birds for this year are certainly the Sora found by Jason Luscier’s group
&

Rufous Hummingbird snagged by the Mulholland group at the home of Paul & Ann Johnson in Farmington. They got to the house first thing in the morning and had the bird within 5 minutes. Jacque brown, David Oakley, and others have collected images. I have included one of Jacque’s images of this bird in the report
Both species are firsts for the Fayetteville CBC, dating back to 1961.

Thanks to you 43 PARTICIPANTS (includes 40 in field, 3 at feeder): Douglas James, Andrea Green, Nancy Varvil, Gwen Bennett; Mike Mlodinow, David Chapman, Steve Erwin, Michael Lehmann, Jason Luscier, Christy & Mike Slay; Jeff Kimmons, Maureen McClung; Kim Smith, James Morgan, Warren Fields, Lynn Armstrong; Joanie Patterson, Donald Ouellette; Paige & Mary Bess Mulhollan, Sarah Lehnen, Josh Newman, Sarah King, Kelly Mulhollan; Andrew Scaboo, Brandon Schmidt; Ben Burnette; Joe Neal, Richard Stauffacher, Roseann Barnhill, David Oakley, Jacque Brown, Louise Mann; Joan Reynolds, Stephanie Cribbs, Leigh Helm, Scott Michaud, Jane Purtle, Adam Shaffer. At the feeders: Elizabeth James, Bob & Sara Caulk. Finally, Taylor Long joined several groups taking pictures of the CBC.

Northwest Arkansas Audubon Society generously agreed to donate the $5 per participant fee which goes to National Audubon to organize, store, and make accessible the massive mid-winter bird data so useful to the public and to science. This will be around $200. Thank you NWAAS for helping make this count a roaring success.

Thanks to Doug and Elizabeth James for AGAIN hosting another enjoyable after count tally-up & social gathering at their home. Doug spent all day in the field and Elizabeth spent part of the day observing at feeders, then had all of us over.
Finally, for a hecka of a lot more data, check out & play as you wish, by visiting the CBC section of the National Audubon website. -- Joe Neal