[cobirds] Boulder CBC results, 15 December 2013

Folks- on Sunday, 15 December 33 teams fanned out across the Boulder CBC circle.  The morning delivered lovely, crisp counting conditions but by the afternoon teams were encountering gale force winds.  Most still water bodies were frozen (the Valmont complex had plenty of open water, of course) and nearly any territory with creek or ditch components had significant impacts from our recent flooding.  Despite these challenges we provisionally tallied 104 species for the day, with 4 more coming in on count week.  I still have reports outstanding so perhaps we'll tick another sp. or two in the coming days...

Our highlights include a Northern Cardinal back for another winter (last year was the first occurrence of this species on the Boulder count), Greater Scaup (4th in 72 counts), Great-tailed Grackle (6th occurrence), Lesser Black-backed Gull (7th occurrence), Tundra Swan, Gray Jay, & Lincoln's Sparrow (8th occurrence each.)

Notable misses, seen at least 30 times prior on the Boulder CBC, include White-throated Sparrow (34 prior counts), Red Crossbill (36 prior), Evening Grosbeak (49 prior), and Ring-necked Pheasant (53 prior.)

Count week is still ongoing through tomorrow- if you are in or near Boulder and have a potentially interesting bird to report from 12-18 December let me know.

Thanks to all of our awesome territory leaders and to everyone who participated.  Also big thanks to Petreah Mah and Bill Kaempfer for respectively organizing and hosting our compilation potluck.

Hope everyone enjoys the rest of the CBC season- happy counting!!

-Bill Schmoker, Longmont

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           • Bill Schmoker •

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