Snowy Owl
This beautiful Dane County Snowy Owl was outside the Madison Christmas Bird Count circle, but it was a great bird to end the day on. There were other exciting birds earlier in the day. Within my count area, I found two Long-tailed Ducks on the west side of Lake Mendota. They were well out of binocular range and the images below represent the best I could get with my digiscoping rig. This was my first record of Long-tailed Duck for Dane County and a lifer for Mark and Dottie Johnson. I also found a couple flocks of Lapland Longspurs and Horned Larks, but no Snow Buntings. I didn't find the Northern Shrike at Pheasant Branch, but there was one near Dorn Creek, which isn't very far from the conservancy. It might even be the same bird. That's about it! I'm super tired, so I'm calling it a weekend.
Long-tailed Duck
Long-tailed Duck
64th Annual Madison CBC: Area 21
Common Birds (Seen 41-63 years)
Mallard: 24
Canvasback: 1
Ring-necked Duck: 3
Bufflehead: 2
Common Goldeneye: 24
Hooded Merganser: 2
Common Merganser: 34
Red-tailed Hawk: 1
Rough-legged Hawk: 1
Cooper's Hawk: 1
American Kestrel: 2
American Coot: 2
Ring-billed Gull: 1
Herring Gull: 2
Rock Pigeon: 14
Mourning Dove: 6
Great Horned Owl: 1
Barred Owl: 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker: 4
Downy Woodpecker: 6
Hairy Woodpecker: 3
Northern Shrike: 1
Blue Jay: 7
American Crow: 7
Horned Lark: 22
Black-capped Chickadee: 12
Tufted Titmouse: 2
White-breasted Nuthatch: 7
Brown Creeper: 1
American Robin: 23
European Starling: 2
American Tree Sparrow: 26
Song Sparrow: 1
White-throated Sparrow: 2
Dark-eyed Junco: 27
Northern Cardinal: 12
Red-winged Blackbird: 1
American Goldfinch: 8
House Sparrow: 72
Less Common Birds (Seen 11-40 years)
Tundra Swan: 39
Canada Goose < 10:00am: 212
Canada Goose > 10:00am: 244
Long-tailed Duck: 2
Red-breasted Merganser: 3
Ruddy Duck: 2
Bald Eagle: 5
Fox Sparrow: 1
Lapland Longspur: 29
House Finch: 35
All images © 2013 Mike McDowell