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LISLE
ARBORETUM CHRISTMAS BIRD COUNT
The 60th Lisle-Arboretum Christmas Bird Count was held on Sunday, 14 December 2008 as part of the 109th Christmas Bird Count season. Temperatures were frequently below freezing in the week leading up to count day, so that most of the still water in the count circle was frozen on count day itself, though temperatures on count day peaked at nearly 50 degrees after starting at 39 degrees. Streams and rivers were running freely, however. One inconvenience faced by most of the field parties was that much of the ground was covered in ice after a thaw/freeze cycle the night before. The wind was blowing pretty hard (17 to 28 mph) all day, out of the south, bringing in the warmer temperatures. Skies were cloudy both in the morning and the afternoon, but there was no precipitation. The 79 field observers and 11 feeder watchers pulled together a list of 80 species with an additional six species observed during count week (the three days prior to and the three days after count day). This is the fourth time we've had 80+ species on the count. All four times this has happened have been since 2003: we had 80 in 2003 and 2005, and 85 in 2006. The total of 86 species including count week birds ties our best ever, previously achieved in 2006. GOOD BIRDS There were 12 "code 4" species located in the circle, plus one more during count week only. Six Cackling
Geese were found, five in Area 1 and one in Area 6 of the circle.
We are expecting Cackling Geese to occur regularly on the count. They
have been recorded in each of the last five counts, which pretty much
covers the time period since the American Ornithologists Union (the AOU)
elevated this form to full species status.
Whalon Lake Forest Preserve in Will County (situated in Area 2 of the circle) provided a selection of good waterfowl. Seen there by Bob Fisher's group were a Canvasback, a Greater Scaup, and two Ruddy Ducks. Missed on count day but seen by Jeff Smith at this location during count week was a Redhead. The best bird of the count was a Horned Grebe found by Greg Neise at the Lemont Quarries. This is a new species for the count! Many of the other folks in Area 6 also got to see this bird. This is the 152nd species to be recorded on the Lisle count. We set a new count record with nine (!) Bald Eagles tallied for the day. There were three adults and six immature birds recorded between Areas 1, 4, 5 and 6. Glenn Giacinto reported eight Sandhill Cranes in his section of Area 6. These birds are tallied only rarely, with this being just the fourth occurrence. Bob Fisher, Urs Geiser, and Frank Sterrett found a Eurasian Collared-Dove in residential Bolingbrook, and the regular pair of Eurasian Collared-Doves at the Tiffin's feeders in Brookfield brought the total to three. We've recorded this introduced species in five straight years now. Wes Serafin
had a pleasant surprise when he encountered a Barred Owl just
north of Maple Lake in the Palos Forest Preserves. This is only our
fourth count with this species on the list.
Whalon Lake Forest Preserve contributes not only good waterfowl but also good sparrows to the count list. This year both a Vesper Sparrow and a Savannah Sparrow were at this site. The first time we had Savannah Sparrows was in 2005, with a bird at Whalon Lake, and we've had at least one each year since then, making this the fourth year (and fourth year in a row). This year's Savannah Sparrow was located by Dick Young and Margie Busic. The Vesper Sparrow was found by Bob Fisher, Frank Sterret, and Al Busic. It is a rarer find, with this being only the second year we've recorded one. The sole, previous count with a Vesper was back in 1969. The last of
our "code 4" species were the eight White-winged Crossbills
found in the Morton Arboretum by Jenny Vogt's crew. We knew that crossbills
were hanging out at the "Arb" and the pressure was on for the
Area 1 folks to find them on count day. They came through, finally, at
around 2:00pm out on Frost Hill.
HIGH COUNTS We set or tied six record high counts this year, and had some other notably high numbers. The 12
Wood Ducks tied the previous record count from 1973.
We shattered the old record of 151 Common Mergansers from 1990 with our tally of 287 this year. As noted above, we set a new mark with nine Bald Eagles, almost doubling the earlier record of five from 1990. It was another great year for Cooper's Hawks with 28 recorded, tying the mark set in 2005. Our count of nine Rough-legged Hawks was the best since seven in 1991. (The record is 18, tallied in 1971.) We had an amazing 45 Brown Creepers! There have been 10 counts where we recorded at least 30 creepers, most recently with 35 in 2003. The all-time best creeper total prior to this year's was 38 in 1973 and again in 1980. The good count this year provided welcome relief from the pitiful 10 we had last year. Pine Siskin numbers were also quite good with 308 providing the best count since 1989 when 400 were recorded. There are but two larger counts than these: 511 in 1980 and 590 in 1971. LOW NUMBERS We have but a paltry five American Kestrels. This low count follows on the heels of just eight counted last year. From 1985 to 2003 we had consistently tallied at least 20 kestrels, with the exception of seven in 1990. From 2004 forward, the totals have been 11, 17, 26, and then last year's 8 and this year's 5. The Blue Jay count was low with only 54 noted. This is our lowest jay count since 50 in 1990. American Crow numbers were still down, with 72 recorded this year. In the last seven counts we've averaged just 100 crows each year. During the 20 years before that, the average was 850 crows. It is getting harder to find Tufted Titmice in the count circle. This year we had only four of them. Aside from last year's tally of two, this is the lowest count since 1988. The average in the intervening years was 16 titmice. We counted only eight Red-winged Blackbirds. Blackbirds have been getting a little scarcer, but we've still been able to reach double digits in all but three years since 1989. The last time we missed this species completely was in 1988. MISSES Every year we miss a number of "Code 3" species. Last year we missed 11; this year we missed 16. Part of the reason for the increase is that we moved a number of "Code 4" birds into the "Code 3" group, and some of these decided not to be around this year. Indeed, last year's count summary noted that "As we promote more species from Code 4 to Code 3, this number might increase." There were seven misses among the group of 13 species promoted from Code 4 to Code 3: Northern Shoveler, Bufflehead, Killdeer, Northern Saw-whet Owl, Eastern Towhee, Lapland Longspur, and Common Redpoll. However, three of these (Northern Shoveler, Bufflehead, and Eastern Towhee) were seen on count week. "Regular" Code 3 misses were Snow Goose, Mute Swan, Ring-necked Pheasant, Red-shouldered Hawk, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Horned Lark (seen during count week), and Brown-headed Cowbird (also seen during count week). We did not miss any Code 2 species, but this was by virtue of our having moved Red-headed Woodpecker and Common Grackle from Code 2 into Code 3. We missed both of these. This is the first time since 1967-1968 that we have had two consecutive years missing Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. It has now been three years running that we've dipped on grackles and cowbirds. THE TALLY Here are the grand totals. For a breakdown by area, see the 2008 Count Totals sheet (this is a pdf document). In the table below, Code 4 species appear in all-capitals. Code 1 to Code 3 species that we missed are marked as such ("miss" in the comment column). The other comments indicate record high counts, or low or high totals. The notation "cw" in the count column means an observation during count week but not on count day.
THANKS, AND SEE YOU NEXT YEAR! Thanks very much to all the field observers and feeder counters who made this a record-setting CBC this year! Mark your calendars for 20
December 2009: the 61st Lisle-Arboretum Christmas Bird Count.
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modified on 18 January 2016 |
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