Despite cold temperatures the absence of wind made Decmber 20 a fine day for counting birds. We also had good results: 68 species (plus a count week Pintail) and 9,745 birds. This was mostly due not to the weather but to the great participants we had both in the field and at homes. Everyone contributed.

There were no real rarities found this year, just lots of "good" birds. One species of note was the Carolina Wren, found at both Jim Bovard's and Faith Sanders’ feeders (a third bird was at a Benzie County feeder but not seen on the Count day). Jim's photo of "his" wren appears at the right (click on the photo for a larger view). Jim also saw our lone Bonaparte's Gull.

Other highlights included the Common Loon, Great Black-backed Gull and Red-necked Grebe spotted by Leonard and Alice, and the Tundra Swan, White-winged Scoter and Long-tailed Duck reported by Brian. Tim found a Brown Thrasher and a Rough-legged Hawk, while Allen Forrester tallied a Belted Kingfisher. John's group found all three species of swans, while the Dreeszen party tallied Redhead, Canvasback and Horned Grebes. Carl's group came up with Bohemian Waxwings and Bluebirds, while Freemans’ feeder provided Song and White-throated Sparrow and a lunch time Cooper's Hawk. The Blizzards' yard was equally productive, producing Purple Finches and our only Pine Siskins. A notable high was the 6 Flickers tallied by several groups.

Some misses were Screech and Great Horned Owl and Great Blue Heron (present in the area until at least the week before the Count). And it was not a "finch" year with Redpoll, Snow Bunting, Crossbills, Pine Grosbeak and Evening Grosbeak all vacationing in Canada.

Below is a complete list of the birds we tallied.