Bigfork CBC 2021 Results

by Craig Hohenberger

The 48th annual Bigfork Christmas Bird Count was held Saturday, December 18^th, under cloudy skies and snow throughout the day, with mild SSW winds. Snow depths were about 7 inches at the eastern edges of the count circle and 2-3 inches in the valley; temperatures ranged from 15-26 degrees F.  Lakes and ponds were mostly frozen and Flathead Lake and River were ice free. 

Thirty-four volunteer participants counted 15,322 individual birds of 91 species. Number of birds were up measurably from last year’s totals of 14,005, and the number of species increased by 13 birds to 91. There was one new bird species an Osprey, found on this year’s bird count. Highlights were a Wood Duck, Spotted Towhee, and a Brown-headed Cowbird. 

There were many count week birds including a Cackling Goose, Gyrfalcon, Mew Gull, Snowy Owl, and a Lesser Goldfinch. Trumpeter Swans and Red-tailed (Harlan’s) Hawk were the only species with a high all-time tallies this year.

Thank you to all the incredible participants who helped make the Bigfork CBC count a very enjoyable and a fun experience.

SPECIES	TOTALS	SPECIES	TOTALS	SPECIES	TOTALS
Pied-billed Grebe	1	Rough-legged Hawk	24	Mountain Chickadee	72
Horned Grebe	12	Golden Eagle	1	Chestnut-backed Chickadee	37
Western Grebe	7	American Kestrel	1	Chickadee sp.	9
Great Blue Heron	4	Merlin	2	Red-breasted Nuthatch	35
Canada Goose	2972	Gyrfalcon	cw	White-breasted Nuthatch	8
Cackling Goose	cw	Prairie Falcon	1	Pygmy Nuthatch	26
Double-crested Cormorant	1	Ring-necked Pheasant	37	Brown Creeper	6
Trumpeter Swan	110	Ruffed Grouse	5	Marsh Wren	1
Tundra Swan	21	Wild Turkey	320	American Dipper	4
Swan sp.	7	Gray Partridge	8	Golden-crowned Kinglet	24
Mallard	1278	American Coot	4457	Townsend’s Solitaire	26
Northern Shoveler	2	Mew Gull	cw	American Robin	9
Gadwall	9	Ring-billed Gull	27	European Starling	88
American Wigeon	2	Herring  Gull	13	Bohemian Waxwing	222
Canvasback	15	gull, sp.	73	Cedar Waxwing	90
Redhead	663	Rock Pigeon	20	Spotted Towhee	1
Wood Duck	1	Mourning Dove	118	American Tree Sparrow	20
Ring-necked Duck	1	Eurasian Collared-Dove	102	Song Sparrow	36
Greater Scaup	39	Great Horned Owl	2	Dark-eyed Junco	100
Lesser Scaup	9	Snowy Owl	cw	Red-winged Blackbird	205
Bufflehead	36	Northern Pygmy-Owl	2	Yellow-headed Blackbird	1
Common Goldeneye	244	Belted Kingfisher	4	Brewer’s Blackbird	80
Barrow’s Goldeneye	2	Downy Woodpecker	17	Brown-headed Cowbird	1
Hooded Merganser	26	Hairy Woodpecker	11	Pine Grosbeak	1
Common Merganser	59	Northern Flicker	124	House Finch	355
Duck sp.	1507	Pileated Woodpecker	6	Red Crossbill	16
Osprey	1	Northern Shrike	7	Common Redpoll	93
Bald Eagle	44	Steller’s Jay	2	Cassin’s Finch	2
Northern  Harrier	9	Blue Jay	34	Pine Siskin	78
Sharp-shinned Hawk	2	Black-billed Magpie	105	American Goldfinch	71
Cooper’s Hawk	1	American Crow	277	Evening Grosbeak	30
Northern Goshawk	2	Common Raven	190	Lesser Goldfinch	cw
Red-tailed Hawk	21	Black-capped Chickadee	401	House Sparrow	59
Red-tailed (Harlan’s) Hawk	8
				TOTAL SPECIES	91
				TOTAL # OF BIRDS	15,322

PARTICIPANTS

Rod Wallette      Kathy Ross   Pam Willison   Bob Lee     Bob Smith       Paula Smith     Jake Bramante    Debbie Moon       Leslie Kehoe   Craig Hohenberger     Denny Olson   Linda & John Winnie   Rosemary & John McKinnon  Cory Davis     Pat Jaquith    Dave Manuwal      Michell Tyler    Margaret Parodi   Linda Ramsay DeKort   Will Beyer  Gael Bissell  Michele Tolitz    B J Worth   Dan & Susannah Casey   Lauren Casey   Linette David   Raylene Wall  Shawn Richmond   Lynda Saul    Sally Edwards  Al Johnson   Clancy Cone   Bobby Tilton  Patty Archibald