LISLE ARBORETUM CHRISTMAS BIRD COUNT
2004 Count Summary

The 55th Lisle-Arboretum Christmas Bird Count was held on Sunday, December 19, 2004. It was a very cold, windy day. Temperatures peaked at 12 degrees, and cold winds blew hard from the northwest for most of the day. These cold conditions started to arrive days before the count and had closed up a lot of the open water that had been present up until count day. Nonetheless, the count participants were able to amass a list of 76 species for the count, the fourth highest total for the whole history of this count circle! Another six species were recorded during "count week," the three days preceding and the three days following count day.

With 54 years of count history behind you, it's hard to find species never before seen on the count. But this year, we added three species! These three new species bring the total number recorded on the Lisle-Arb count to 150. (Another two species have been recorded during count week, but never on count day.)

Perhaps to be expected this year, Cackling Goose was recorded for the first time, since the "white-cheeked geese," formerly known collectively as Canada Goose, were split by the American Ornithologists Union into the separate species Canada Goose and Cackling Goose. The "Richardson's Goose," one of the forms in the Cackling Goose group, occurs regularly in our area. Jim Nachel, Gary Moore and Tom Koz documented seven Cackling Geese at Arbor Lake in the Morton Arboretum, and another two Cackling Geese were described by Dennis Lane at Tampier Lake in the Palos area.

We also recorded Eurasian Collared-Dove for the first time. This species has been colonizing the continent over the last decade, expanding from a base population in Florida. Barb and Michael Tiffin in Brookfield have a pair coming regularly to their feeders. Mike Madsen of Woodridge also has a Eurasian Collared-Dove visiting his feeders on a regular basis, and he recorded that bird during count week.

Wes Serafin and Walter Marcisz discovered the other new species for the count: a young Green Heron located along the I&M Canal. Unfortunately, this bird was not in good shape and could not fly. When Wes and others returned later to attempt a rescue, they found the heron frozen.

Other exciting finds were the following.
  • Two Tundra Swans were at Saganashkee Slough, found by Wes Serafin. This is only the third time this species has been recorded on the count. The other years Tundra Swans were seen are 1994 and 1996.
  • Bufflehead was tallied for only the sixth time. John Duran documented a male and female at the Lemont Quarries.
  • John Duran also documented a female Red-breasted Merganser at the Lemont Quarries, marking only the eighth time this species has been recorded (all since 1990!).
  • This year was the fifth time Merlins have been found on the count, with the other years being 1985, 1991, 2000 and 2001. Liza Gray documented one Merlin that was found by the group on the west side of the Morton Arboretum. Jim Phillips located a second bird near the Little Red Schoolhouse in Palos. The only other time we've had two Merlins on the count was in 2001.
  • Wes Serafin made a special effort to locate Monk Parakeets in the count circle, and he was successful. The bird he staked out in Bridgeview marks only the third time we've recorded Monk Parakeet and only the first time since 1975.
  • This year's Brown Thrasher, a bird noted by the east side group in the Morton Arboretum and documented by Bob Morgan, is only the third in the last 15 years. Brown Thrasher's have now been seen on 14 of the 55 Lisle-Arb counts.
  • Steve Huggins's Lincoln's Sparrow is only the fourth found on a Lisle-Arb count. Other years with Lincoln's Sparrow are 1971, 1976 and 2003.

Aside from species new to the count, we set a new record high count for just one species. The 24 White-crowned Sparrows beat out the previous high of 20 in 1993. The seven Hermit Thrushes tied the record high count set just last year (2003). The 10 Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers fell one short of the record 11 set last year.

Other species with counts well above the recent average were Northern Cardinal (652 versus the average of 413 over the past 15 years) and House Finch (with 276 compared to a 15-year average of 194).

Low numbers were recorded for Blue Jay, American Crow, and Black-capped Chickadee. Perhaps not coincidentally, populations of all three of these species were affected by west nile virus. Numbers in comparison to the average of the last 15 years were 47 versus 213 for Blue Jay, 89 versus 814 for American Crow, and 288 versus 673 for Black-capped Chickadee.

The only "Code 2" bird we missed was Red-headed Woodpecker, likely because of the early influx of very cold weather in our area. Code 2 birds are those that, though possibly less common, we should record in most of the six areas within the circle. Recent patterns suggest that Red-headed Woodpecker be categorized instead as "Code 3," a bird that we stand a good chance of seeing, though not in all areas. Common Grackle, another Code 2 bird, was recorded only as a count week bird. Tim Kuesel reported one at Meadowlark Golf Course two days before the count.

Code 3 birds we missed this year included only Green-winged Teal, Lesser Scaup, Ring-necked Pheasant, Wilson's Snipe, and Horned Lark. Ring-necked Pheasants were missed during 1999 to 2002, but a lone bird at Greene Valley Forest Preserve was noted last year. Are pheasants hanging on, or will they be gone from the count circle in upcoming years? Though Horned Larks have been similarly hard to come by, being seen only on four of the last 15 counts, we may have better chances for recording this species in future years. Green-winged Teal, seen on nine of the last 15 counts, and Lesser Scaup, seen on six, should be easier to tally in warmer years. The same is true for Wilson's Snipe. We missed snipe both this year and last, but have recorded it in 10 of the last 15 counts.

Thanks very much to everyone who braved the cold an contributed to this year's count!

Mark your calendars for December 18, 2005, the date of the next Lisle-Arboretum Christmas Bird Count.


Last modified on 18 January 2016
by Geoffrey A. Williamson