This year's count was a record 73 species well past the prior record of 67. A welcome rain overnight mostly subsided by daybreak and mild temperatures with light wind, some fog and open water on West Lake Okoboji and several other lakes as well as the Little Sioux River and Milford Creek attracted lots of birds. Snow and cold to the north brought a new push of waterfowl migrants and we had 23 species of ducks and geese including, for the first time ever, all five goose species. High counts of 41,340 Canada Geese, 597 Cackling Geese plus six Snow Geese, five Ross' Geese and one Greater White-fronted Goose gave us the quintuple. Other waterfowl singletons were Wood Duck, Gadwall, Am. Wigeon, N. Pintail, and Green-winged Teal. There were eight Trumpeter Swans with one at the north end of West Lake Okoboji and just for Christmas, seven swans a swimming at Miller's Bay.
Other notables were: 33 Greater Scaup 1 Gray Partridge (although I still haven't seen even one this year) 1 Horned Grebe 1 Am White Pelican 1 Double-crested Cormorant 2 Rough-legged Hawks 1 Red-headed Woodpecker at a feeder 2 Northern Shrikes 1 Horned Lark was the only found in the open countryside 3 Harris' Sparrows 1 Yellow-headed Blackbird 37 Common Redpolls (all in the field) 2 and only 2 Pine Siskins from the feeder count The only real misses that could be considered were Am Kestrel, Rusty Blackbird and Song Sparrow. A Common Loon hanging on at Spirit Lake this past week expired as ice covered most of the lake including the loon's location. Thanks to Carole and Wendell at Bird Haven for coordinating the feeder count this year and to the intrepid field parties for braving damp and drizzly conditions to find the good birds that were out there. Merry Christmas to all, and may the birds be with you in 2013!! Lee A. Schoenewe Spencer --- Please contribute your sightings to our list; it is only as good as members make it! --- Birding channel recommendation for FRS/GMRS radio use: Primary selection; channel 5/0 , alternate selection; channel 6/0 --- This mailing list is sponsored by the Iowa Ornithologists' Union. Membership available on-line at http://www.iowabirds.org/iou/PayDues.aspx. ----- You are currently subscribed to ia-bird as: [email protected]
