Roosting Barred Owl
Madison's 61st annual Christmas Bird Count (CBC) was held over the weekend. My party of 3 birders endured Saturday's cold weather to find 29 bird species at Pheasant Branch Conservancy. We were very surprised to find 4 Blue-winged Teal hanging out with a group of Mallards at the open water near the big springs. Most songbirds were found along the trail adjacent to the conservancy condos due to the number of bird feeders there. Our list included Pine Siskin, Purple Finch, Swamp Sparrow, White-throated Sparrow, plus many of the expected winter species. We also found a few Red-tailed Hawks at the drumlin and a Bald Eagle flying over the prairie, making its way toward frozen Lake Mendota. Not seeing or hearing Barred Owls through November, it was nice to find one roosting for our CBC count.
Preliminary total for the entire Madison CBC was 82 bird species.
Location: Pheasant Branch
Observation date: 12/18/10
Number of species: 29
Canada Goose ~100
Mallard 24
Blue-winged Teal 4
Ruddy Duck 1
Bald Eagle 1
Cooper's Hawk 1
Red-tailed Hawk 3
Rock Pigeon 20
Mourning Dove 12
Barred Owl 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker 4
Downy Woodpecker 10
Hairy Woodpecker 4
Blue Jay 5
American Crow 12
Black-capped Chickadee 32
Tufted Titmouse 2
White-breasted Nuthatch 11
American Robin 1
European Starling 1
American Tree Sparrow 7
Swamp Sparrow 1
White-throated Sparrow 3
Dark-eyed Junco 15
Northern Cardinal 16
Purple Finch 1
House Finch 12
Pine Siskin 1
American Goldfinch 7
House Sparrow 32
All images © 2010 Mike McDowell