The 55th annual Waterloo State Rec Area Christmas Bird Count took place on December 16th, 2023. We had 35 participants out in the field and 3 feeder watchers, and ended up with both a record species count and a record individual bird count. The weather for the day was seasonally mild with a low temperature of 39 early in the morning and a high of 47 in the afternoon. Winds were light from the southwest and cloud cover was heavy with a few blue portals in the early morning hours.
The old species record was 72 from 2001. This year our teams counted 81 species. That's 9 more than our previous high count, so that's quite incredible. Two of those 81 species were recorded on the Waterloo Count for the first time: Ross's Goose - two were found in a corn stubble field on Mt. Hope Road near the Grass Lake water tower by Ross Green and Mike Bowen; and a male Baltimore Oriole, reported by Lathe Claflin and Bill and Charity Steere, that had been coming to a private feeder in Waterloo Township for close to a month leading up to the count.
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(Bill&Charity Steere)
Other rare sightings for the CBC (seen on less than 10 counts) were 1 Snow Goose (2), 4 Gadwall (5), 4 Red-breasted Mergansers (4), 13 Bonaparte's Gulls (7), 1 Golden Eagle (7), 3 Short-eared Owls (9), 1 Merlin (7), and 2 Red Crossbills (2). The number in parenthesis is the number of counts on which the species has been reported out of 55.
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(both: Mike Bowen)
Birds seen on 10 to 20 counts included 8 Trumpeter Swan (11), 3 Wood Duck (12), 4 Ring-necked Ducks (12), 30 Bufflehead (15), 2 Common Goldeneye (16), 197 Hooded Mergansers (12), 14 Common Mergansers (10), 1 Ruby-crowned Kinglet (11), 1 Winter Wren (14), 2 Field Sparrows (15), 22 Rusty Blackbirds (17) and 2 Common Redpolls (18). Some other birds of note were 33 American Black Ducks (24), 10 Bald Eagles (21), 1 Yellow-bellied Sapsucker(21), and 3 Hermit Thrushes (23).
The Rusty Blackbirds were part of a mixed group of blackbirds, found along Dalton Road by Joyce Peterson and team, which also included 20 Red-winged Blackbirds, 20 Common Grackles and 30 Brown-headed Cowbirds. The mild temperatures gave us a lot of open water which contributed to our high species count. In addition to the unusual geese mentioned above, 10 species of ducks were found on count day - Wood Duck, Gadwall, American Black Duck, Mallard, Ring-necked Duck, Bufflehead, Common Goldeneye, and all 3 species of Merganser - Hooded, Red-breasted and Common.
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(Great Horned Owl: Mike Bowen)
With the mild weather, most passerines were reported in only average numbers, but we still managed a record count of 13,731 individual birds (The old record was 12,331 in 2020). The non-passerine species with record high numbers were: 4 Gadwall (tied), 33 American Black Duck, 197 Hooded Merganser and 4 Red-shouldered Hawks. The only passerine with a record high count was Carolina Wren with 24 counted. Other high counts, but not records, were Canada Geese - 2312, Great Blue Heron - 10, Bald Eagle - 10, and European Starling - 2625. Sandhill Cranes numbers have remained high in the area into December with 3507 counted, but still well short of the 2020's record of 5508.
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(Red-shouldered hawk: Gary Mason)
One low count that should be noted is that only 2 Wild Turkeys were found in the count circle on count day. This is quite unusual given the number of turkeys that are seen in the Waterloo area throughout the year. Horned Lark was the one big miss for the count with none found this year. That species has been recorded on 45 of the 55 counts. I only have one additional species to add as a count week bird - Pine Siskin. Count Week birds are species not seen or heard during the count, but are found on either the 3 days before or after the count day. Statistically they really don't mean anything for the historical count data, but a fun way to record birds found while scouting that were missed on count day or found after the count was completed.
A big thank you to all of the area leaders and all those who participated to help make this a successful Christmas Bird Count. The date for the 56th Waterloo CBC will be Saturday, December 14th, 2024. We are planning to reinstate the post count dinner and tabulation meeting next year so stay tuned to the Jackson Audubon events page for details.
CBC Compiler,
Don Henise
Full Species List:
Species Total
Snow Goose 1
Ross's Goose 2
Canada Goose 2312
Mute Swan 57
Trumpeter Swan 8
Wood Duck 3
Gadwall 4
American Black Duck 33
Mallard 239
Ring-necked Duck 4
Bufflehead 30
Common Goldeneye 2
Hooded Merganser 197
Common Merganser 14
Red-breasted Merganser 4
duck sp. 5
Ring-necked Pheasant 1
Wild Turkey 2
Great Blue Heron 10
Golden Eagle 1
Northern Harrier 3
Sharp-shinned Hawk 1
Cooper's Hawk 3
accipiter species 1
Bald Eagle 10
Red-shouldered Hawk 4
Red-tailed Hawk 75
Rough-legged Hawk 3
Sandhill Crane 3507
Bonaparte's Gull 4
Ring-billed Gull 320
Herring Gull 15
gull sp. 4
Rock Pigeon 194
Mourning Dove 625
Eastern Screech-Owl 6
Great Horned Owl 7
Barred Owl 3
Short-eared Owl 3
Belted Kingfisher 4
Red-headed Woodpecker 7
Red-bellied Woodpecker 69
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 1
Downy Woodpecker 76
Hairy Woodpecker 27
Northern (Yellow-shafted) Flicker 31
Pileated Woodpecker 12
American Kestrel 6
Merlin 1
Northern Shrike 1
Blue Jay 301
American Crow 335
Black-capped Chickadee 293
Tufted Titmouse 115
Red-breasted Nuthatch 5
White-breasted Nuthatch 129
Brown Creeper 8
Winter Wren 1
Carolina Wren 24
Golden-crowned Kinglet 7
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 1
Eastern Bluebird 144
Hermit Thrush 3
American Robin 309
European Starling 2543
Cedar Waxwing 109
American Tree Sparrow 245
Field Sparrow 2
Dark-eyed (Slate-colored) Junco 402
White-throated Sparrow 4
Song Sparrow 9
Swamp Sparrow 10
Northern Cardinal 117
Red-winged Blackbird 22
Rusty Blackbird 22
Common Grackle 20
Brown-headed Cowbird 30
Baltimore Oriole 1
House Finch 91
Purple Finch 19
Red Crossbill 1
Common Redpoll 2
Pine Siskin cw
American Goldfinch 120
House Sparrow 335
Number of species 81
Number of individuals 13731
cw – count week bird not seen on count day
