Rochester CBC

I spent Saturday out in the cold (although I was in the car a lot) doing our area's Christmas Bird Count. It was an average year for numbers and, since most of the water was frozen, we only got a few waterfowl. Our total so far is at 51 species. Bloomington's is at 66. St Paul tied their record at 59.

Our Rochester preliminary results:

Participants found 51 species yesterday, and three other species were seen in the previous three days.

Here are the preliminary totals, which do not include feeder reports:
(Bold ones are ones that my team saw)

Canada Goose -- we will use the DNR estimate
Wood Duck -- 1
Mallard -- 366
Common Goldeneye -- 6
Gray Partidge -- count week

Ring-necked Pheasant -- 52
Wild Turkey -- 223

Pied-billed Grebe -- 1
Bald Eagle (adult) -- 18
Bald Eagle (immature) -- 2
Sharp-shinned Hawk -- 3
Cooper's Hawk -- 4
Red-tailed Hawk -- 47
Rough-leggged Hawk -- 7
American Kestrel -- 1

Peregrine Falcon -- count week
Rock Pigeon -- 562
Mourning Dove -- 112
Eastern Screech Owl -- 2
Great Horned Owl -- 5
Barred Owl -- 2
Belted Kingfisher -- 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker -- 40
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker -- 1
Downy Woodpecker -- 134
Hairy Woodpecker -- 26
Northern Flicker -- 6
Pileated Woodpecker -- 9
Northern Shrike -- 5
Blue Jay -- 234
American Crow -- 951
Horned Lark -- 44
Black-capped Chickadee -- 475
Red-breasted Nuthatch -- 7
White-breasted Nuthatch -- 1125
Brown Creeper -- 1

Eastern Bluebird -- 4
American Robin -- 362

Varied Thrush -- 1
European Starling -- 1007
Cedar Waxwing -- 244
American Tree Sparrow -- 134

Fox Sparrow -- count week

Song Sparrow -- 2
White-throated Sparrow -- 2
Dark-eyed Junco -- 472

Lapland Longspur -- 59

Snow Bunting -- 30

Northern Cardinal -- 236
Purple Finch -- 13
House Finch -- 409
Common Redpoll -- 1
American Goldfinch -- 145

Pine Siskin -- 2
House Sparrow -- 1111

Total count of birds was 7707, not including Canada Geese. Two species on the tally yesterday were dropped. The Gray Partidge was dropped because it was not a live bird. But because live birds were seen during the count week period, we can include this as a "count week" bird. Jerry withdrew the report of the Cackling Goose after consulting field guides and web-based resources at home. Some birds we normally find that were missed yesterday were: Black Duck, Common Merganser, Tufted Titmouse. Birds seen in the count circle through Tuesday December 20 may still be counted as "count week" birds, so let me know if you spot anything new.