2009 was the fifth consecutive year I’ve counted for the Rockford Christmas Bird Count. Birds were low in numbers but some of the highlights were pretty impressive. We still have two counts left to go this season including the second year of the Rock Cut Christmas Bird Count which we created last year. The biggest
Tag: Citizen Science
Gearing Up For Christmas Bird Count Season
December marks the beginning of Christmas Bird Count season and even though we are already pressed for time it is tradition to try and do as many counts as possible. So, we’re signed up for 3 counts including the second year of the Rock Cut Christmas Bird Count which we started last year and coordinate.
Midwest Crane Count 2009
Saturday April 18th was the Midwest Crane Count 2009, an event sponsored by the International Crane Foundation. We were in our same spots as the last two years: part of our group at the Natural Land Institute‘s Nygren Wetlands and the part of us at a privately owned marsh. Our objective was to count Sandhill
The Rusty Blackbird Hotspot Blitz
The Rusty Blackbird Technical Working Group needs the help of birders to locate important wintering grounds of an often looked over bird that is drastically in decline. Starting February 7th and running until the 15th, birders are being sought out (yes, you!) to find gangs of Rusties and report their findings to eBird. Rusty Blackbird
Kishwaukee and Rockford Christmas Bird Counts
Over the past few weeks we participated in two area Christmas Bird Counts, one being the long-running Rockford CBC and the other a newer count along a favorite river corridor, the Kishwaukee. Both were enjoyable but not as birdy as we had hoped. The Rockford count would have been perfect for digiscoping except snow depth
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Rock Cut State Park Christmas Bird Count
Sunday, December 14th, was our first Christmas Bird Count (CBC) of the winter. The Rock Cut State Park CBC [count code ILRC] is a brand new count, covering Rock Cut State Park and much of Boone County Illinois. The Birdfreak Team is completely in charge of creating, organizing and compiling this new count. Groups were
Citizen Science – Rusty Blackbirds
Over the past years there has been an 88-98 percent drop in the population of the Rusty Blackbird (Euphagus carolinus). This lesser-known blackbird was formerly an incredibly abundant bird and this decline in population is one of the most drastic in North America. Last spring, eBird tracked Rusty Blackbird populations during spring migration and found
Big Sit 2008 – Rock Cut State Park – Record Broken!
The Big Sit for 2008 is over and we paid the price for only a couple hours of sleep. But after our third year in a row participating in the Big Sit at Rock Cut State Park, we broke our record and then some! Before we could get our count on, we had to wait
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