by Craig Hohenberger
The 49th annual Bigfork Christmas Bird Count was held Saturday, December 17, under cloudy skies and mild SE winds. Temperatures varied from 19 to 28. Snow depths were about 4 to 6 inches in the valley, and at the eastern edges of the count circle there was up to a foot of snow. Lakes and ponds were mostly frozen, Flathead Lake and River were ice free. Thirty-three volunteer participants counted 22,968 individual birds of 84 species. The number of birds was up measurably from last year’s total of 15,322, and the number of species was down from 90 to 84.
There was one new bird species for the count week, a Varied Thrush! Highlights this year were a Cackling Goose, Snow Goose, Long-eared Owl, Brown-headed Cowbird, and a Rusty Blackbird. Trumpeter Swans and Bald Eagles were recorded at all-time highs this year.
Thank you to all the amazing participants who helped make the Bigfork CBC count a very enjoyable experience.
| SPECIES | TOTALS | SPECIES | TOTALS | SPECIES | TOTALS |
| Pied-billed Grebe | 3 | Gray Partridge | 5 | Brown Creeper | 4 |
| Horned Grebe | 8 | American Coot | 222 | American Dipper | 3 |
| Great Blue Heron | 10 | Wilson’s Snipe | 2 | Golden-crowned Kinglet | 26 |
| Canada Goose | 4840 | Ring-billed Gull | 240 | Townsend’s Solitaire | 23 |
| Cackling Goose | 1 | Herring Gull | 34 | American Robin | 2 |
| Snow Goose | 1 | gull, sp. | 39 | Varied Thrush | cw |
| Trumpeter Swan | 138 | Rock Pigeon | 30 | European Starling | 473 |
| Tundra Swan | 11 | Mourning Dove | 20 | Bohemian Waxwing | 192 |
| Swan sp. | 23 | Eurasian Collared-Dove | 77 | American Tree Sparrow | 71 |
| Mallard | 10771 | Great Horned Owl | 1 | Song Sparrow | 43 |
| Northern Pintail | 5 | Long-eared Owl | 1 | Dark-eyed Junco | 227 |
| Canvasback | 87 | Northern Pygmy-Owl | 2 | Red-winged Blackbird | 64 |
| Redhead | 1170 | Belted Kingfisher | 3 | Brewer’s Blackbird | 181 |
| Gadwall | 49 | Downy Woodpecker | 89 | Brown-headed Cowbird | 1 |
| American Wigeon | 25 | Hairy Woodpecker | 7 | Rusty Blackbird | 1 |
| Ring-necked Duck | 316 | Northern Flicker | 123 | Pine Grosbeak | 2 |
| Greater Scaup | 130 | Pileated Woodpecker | 5 | House Finch | 353 |
| Lesser Scaup | 25 | Northern Shrike | 6 | Red Crossbill | 26 |
| Bufflehead | 82 | Canada Jay | 2 | Pine Siskin | 12 |
| Common Goldeneye | 145 | Steller’s Jay | 15 | American Goldfinch | 4 |
| Barrow’s Goldeneye | 1 | Blue Jay | 51 | Evening Grosbeak | 9 |
| Hooded Merganser | 104 | Clark’s Nutcracker | 3 | House Sparrow | 99 |
| Common Merganser | 284 | Black-billed Magpie | 113 | ||
| Duck sp. | 3 | American Crow | 54 | ||
| Bald Eagle | 87 | Common Raven | 193 | TOTAL SPECIES | 84 |
| Northern Harrier | 3 | Horned Lark | 25 | ||
| Sharp-shinned Hawk | 3 | Black-capped Chickadee | 442 | TOTAL # OF BIRDS | 22,968 |
| Cooper’s Hawk | 2 | Mountain Chickadee | 66 | ||
| Red-tailed Hawk | 42 | Chestnut-backed Chickadee | 51 | ||
| Red-tailed (Harlan’s) Hawk | 5 | Chickadee sp. | 10 | ||
| Rough-legged Hawk | 23 | Red-breasted Nuthatch | 146 | ||
| Buteo sp. | 1 | White-breasted Nuthatch | 9 | ||
| Merlin | 3 | Pygmy Nuthatch | 52 | ||
| Ring-necked Pheasant | 305 | ||||
| Ruffed Grouse | 8 | ||||
| Wild Turkey | 248 | ||||
PARTICIPANTS
Rod Wallette Kathy Ross Pam Willison Bob Lee D. Reeves B. Lancester Jake Bramante Debbie Moon Leslie Kehoe Craig Hohenberger Denny Olson Linda & John Winnie Chris West Darcy Thomas Pat Jaquith Dave Manuwal Matt Applegate Margaret Parodi Dee Baginski Will Beyer Carol Buchan B J Worth Dan & Susannah Casey Raylene Wall Shawn Richmond Sally Edwards Al Johnson Chris Holdhusen Lisa Bate Pete Fisher Daniel Lombardi