Since the nearby DeKalb Christmas Bird Count was on the same day as the Rockford Christmas Bird Count, December 15th, it was one we had to miss. Mike Andrews, compiler for the count, let us know how their day went.
They had 21 people out in the field and 4 feeder watchers this year. There was a White-winged Crossbill in the area earlier in the week (rare!), but it did not make an appearance for the count day. It’s not fair!
Photo taken at Northern Illinois University’s Davis Hall in DeKalb, Illinois
The weather matched Rockford, snow, snow snow! They did, however, come up with a record 55 species including a Sandhill Crane, a Northern Mockingbird, Winter Wren, Northern Shrike, and one Brown-headed Cowbird. Missing from the count were Lapland Longspurs, Ring-billed Gulls, Black Ducks, and Snow Geese.
All-in-all, the count went well and we hope they have even more counters for 2008.
How wonderful to have come up with 55 species! I think our count was around 50 species also!
Hey Birdfreak Team, I tagged you guys with a meme. Sorry. 🙂 Happy New Year to all!
Awesome job. 🙂