by Craig Hohenberger
The 43rd annual Bigfork Christmas Bird Count was held Saturday, December 17th, under cloudy skies with very cold conditions; temperatures ranged from -16 to 7 above. There was a limited amount of open water (less than 10%), and much of Flathead Lake was plagued by surface fog. Thirty-three volunteer participants counted 12,459 individual birds of 80 species, down from 83 species recorded last year. The overall number of birds was also lower by approximately 2000. While we found no species that were new to the count, however, highlights were nine Snow Geese and one Mew Gull was seen on the north shore of Flathead Lake region, one Golden Eagle in the Mud Lake area, one White-throated Sparrow in Ferndale, one Three-toed Woodpecker in Many Lakes, twenty-eight Snow Buntings in the Creston locale, and both Eared and Western Grebes observed on Flathead Lake. There was one Northern Pygmy-Owl seen during count week. We had a record high of 76 Bald Eagles for the count! Thank you to all the great participants who helped make this a wonderful count! Contact: Craig Hohenberger, asoleado2003@yahoo.com
PARTIPANTS
Patty Archibald Rod Wallette Al Johnson Shawn Richmond Raylene Wall
Lisa Bate Jeanne Carlson Steve Johnson Kathy Ross Jenna Nichols-Pagel
Will Beyer Pete Fisher Bob Lee Bob Rost Bob Smith
Gael Bissell Carol Brewer Jed Petersen Paula Smith Margaret Parodi
Jake Bramante Debbie Moon Pam Richards Betty Kuropat Susannah Casey
Clancy Cone Craig Hohenberger Will Richards Denny Olson
Mitchell Tyler Brittney Fisher B. J. Worth Joshua Covell