Christmas Bird Count (Unofficial) Report

The Wichita Falls CBC was yesterday, with three teams scouring the area for birds. The teams met up at the Hoover residence for the traditional pot luck spaghetti dinner to compile the results, where we all ate entirely too much food.

The weather was clear and cool and overall, we had a good count. As in any year, there were birds that we expected to count and didn't, and those we didn't expect to find, and did. The count week continues through Tuesday, so the number of species may change. I am not the compiler, so I did not attempt to track the numbers, but I did try to keep track of the species as each team presented their information. However, once the official results are published, I'll provide a follow-up.

The list below is preliminary, unofficial, list of the specifies seen for the count. I marked with an asterisk the species that we seen by my team, which counted the area around Lake Wichita, including Lakeside City and Holliday. My group started with 4 people in the AM, and did the Lake Wichita Park area, and then I continued on to complete the remainder of the area (so those in my group who see species you don't recall--they were seen in other areas later in the day.)

I was glad to see a few people who attended the bird ID workshop last week came on the count this week.

The list is in the order of the CBC checklist.

Snow Goose*
Canada Goose*
Wood Duck
Gadwall*
American Wigeon*
Mallard*
Blue-winged Teal
Northern Shoveler*
Northen Pintail
Green-winged Teal*
Canvasback*
Redhead
Ring-necked Duck
Bufflehead*
Common Goldeneye*
Common Merganser
Ruddy Duck*
Wild Turkey
Pied-billed Grebe*
American White Pelican*
Double-crested Cormorant*
Great Blue Heron*
Northern Harrier*
Bald Eagle
Swainson's Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk*
American Kestrel*
Virginia Rail*
American Coot*
Sandhill Crane
Killdeer*
Least Sandpiper*
Wilson's Snipe*
Bonaparte's Gull
Ring-billed Gull*
Rock Pigeon*
Eurasian Collared Dove*
White-winged Dove
Mourning Dove*
Inca Dove
Belted Kingfisher
Golden-fronted Woodpecker*
Red-bellied Woodpecker*
Ladder-backed Woodpecker
Northern Flicker*
Eastern Phoebe*
Loggerhead Shrike*
Blue Jay*
American Crow*
Horned Lark
Carolina Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
Carolina Wren
Bewick's Wren*
House Wren
Marsh Wren*
Ruby-crowned Kinglet*
Eastern Bluebird*
American Robin*
Northern Mockingbird*
European Starling*
American Pipit*
Cedar Waxwing*
Orange-crowned Warbler*
Yellow-rumped Warbler*
Spotted Towhee*
Savannah Sparrow*
Harris' Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow*
Song Sparrow*
Dark-eyed Junco*
Lapland's Londspur
Northern Cardinal*
Red-winged Blackbird*
Meadowlark (species)*
Common Grackle
Great-tailed Grackle*
Brown-headed Cowbird*
House Finch*
American Goldfinch*
House Sparrow*

Good birding!