Even though our recent foot of snow made travel (both on foot and by car) a bit difficult, we recorded 73 species on the Des Moines CBC yesterday. That is the second highest total for the count. An amazing 23 species of waterfowl were reported. Maffitt Reservoir alone had 20 species, including Tundra Swan and Greater Scaup. A Red-shouldered Hawk at Cottonwood was the first one since 1971. They were fairly regular on the count until then, but hadn't been recorded since. Good passerines included: Swamp Sparrow, White-crowned Sparrow, Lapland Longspur, Brown-headed Cowbird (our only Icterid), and Common Redpoll. Big misses were Screech-Owl, Pileated Woodpecker, and Purple Finch.
Once tabulated, I'll post final results to the Des Moines Audubon website. Denny Thompson Johnston --- 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]
