Banner image copyright 2023 by Marla and Kevin Kerr, used with permission.
GBBC Outing Report – February, 2023
by Bill Huser
The Loess Hills Audubon Society participated in the Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) on Saturday, February 18th. Twenty members and guests surveyed local hotspots such as the Dorothy Pecaut Nature Center; Sioux City’s Bacon Creek and Riverside Parks; Snyder Bend and Little Sioux County Parks; Ponca State Park (NE), Blue Lake and Stone State Parks (IA) and the exotic locations of St. Louis County, MN and Castle Pines, CO.
Our findings were then electronically entered into the eBird database for the GBBC. By doing so, the Chapter participated in one of the largest citizen science projects in the world, one that provides researchers with a huge avian database to analyze for rare sightings, range expansions, population trends and climate change effects, among others.
Local birders recorded 44 species on Saturday the 18th, while wayward members added 6 Minnesota species and 5 Colorado species for a total of 55! The Chapter recorded another 15 species during the other three days of the 4-day GBBC period (Friday, Feb. 17 to Monday, Feb. 20) to total 70 species, in all.
The local highlight was the leading edge of waterfowl migration that included an unprecedented 107 Trumpeter Swans, thousands of Greater White-fronted Geese, Cackling and Snow Geese, Mallards, Northern Pintail, American Wigeon, Green-winged Teal, Redhead and Ring-necked Ducks.
Raptors such as Northern Harriers, Sharp-shinned and Cooper’s Hawks, Rough-legged, Red-tailed and Harlan’s Red-tailed Hawks, Kestrel and Merlin, Golden Eagle and many, many Bald Eagles added to the Count’s excitement.
The even more exotic species of Ruffed Grouse, Common Raven, Canada Jay, Boreal Chickadee, Evening and Pine Grosbeaks and Hoary Redpoll were uncovered at Minnesota’s Sax-Zim Bog by our itinerant Bob Livermore.
Dotty and Bill Zales added Steller’s Jay, Woodhouses’s Scrub-Jay, Black-billed Magpie, Mountain Chickadee and Pygmy Nuthatch during their visit to Castle Pines, CO. What a tally!
And I would like to close with a great big THANK YOU to all you participants who entered your own data through your eBird accounts. Only by each of you doing so is it practical to enter this vast amount of data in a timely manner. Also, such eBird entries record more exact locations for your sightings, something that even the long standing, meticulous Christmas Bird Counts cannot do. So, I, as well as GBBC and Global Big Day organizers, state ornithologists’ union seasonal record reporters and your fellow birders, all urge you to get on board with this universal data gathering program. Not only that, but I think all of you will be very pleased with eBird’s versatile record keeping process for your own personal records and lists, too.
List of participants (35): Bob & Phyllis Nickolson, Katie Hail-Jares, Marla & Kevin Kerr, Bob Livermore, Bill & Dotty Zales, Randy Williams, Jerry Probst, Keith Weaver, Pam Pfautch, Jerry VonEhwegen, Jan Null, Rex Rundquist, Ed Brogie, Bill Huser and 3 Ponca S.P. staff plus 15 of their Breakfast & Birds guests.
Bill Huser, LHAS Vice-President & Outings Coordinator; 712-574-3107 or billfhuser@gmail.com
| BIRD | BIRD | BIRD |
|---|---|---|
| Snow Goose | Red-tailed Hawk (with Harlan's variant) | Red-breasted Nuthatch |
| Greater White-fronted Goose | Golden Eagle | Pygmy Nuthatch (CO) |
| Cackling Goose | Bald Eagle | White-breasted Nuthatch |
| Canada Goose | Belted Kingfisher | Brown Creeper |
| Trumpeter Swan | Great Horned Owl | Carolina Wren |
| Mallard | Red-headed Woodpecker | Eastern Bluebird |
| Green-winged Teal | Red-bellied Woodpecker | American Robin |
| American Wigeon | Downy Woodpecker | Cedar Waxwing |
| Northern Pintail | Hairy Woodpecker | Northern Shrike |
| Common Goldeneye | Northern Flicker | Eurasian Starling |
| Common Merganser | American Kestrel | House Sparrow |
| Redhead | Merlin | House Finch |
| Ring-necked Duck | Horned Lark | Hoary Redpoll (MN) |
| Rock Pigeon | Blue Jay | Pine Grosbeak (MN) |
| Eurasian Collared-Dove | Canada Jay (MN) | Evening Grosbeak (MN) |
| Mourning Dove | American Crow | American Goldfinch |
| Ring-necked Pheasant | Common Raven (MN) | Northern Cardinal |
| Ruffed Grouse (MN) | Stellar's Jay (CO) | Spotted Towhee |
| Wild Turkey | Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay (CO) | American Tree Sparrow |
| Ring-billed Gull (MN) | Black-billed Magpie (CO) | Song Sparrow |
| Northern Harrier | Black-capped Chickadee | Dark-eyed Junco |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk | Mountain Chickadee (CO) | Western Meadowlark |
| Cooper's Hawk | Boreal Chickadee (MN) | Red-winged Blackbird |
| Rough-legged Hawk | . | . |
All above images copyright 2023 by the respective photographers as listed below, use with permission.
Marla and Kevin Kerr
Sharp-shinned Hawk above feeders at DPNC (all the other birds disappeared)
Canada Geese and Cackling Geese - Sioux River Bike Trail
Red-tailed Hawk - Perry Creek Bike Trail
Song Sparrow - Perry Creek Bike Trail
Canada Geese - Perry Creek
Mink in Perry Creek (2 images, from the Bike Trail)
Cedar Waxwings - Stone Park and Talbot Road - they were beautiful! (3 images)
Jan Null
Counting Starlings: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - ….
A Lonely Cardinal
A Regal Eagle
Warming Their Feet
Northern Harrier: Where’s the Prairie?
Good Lunch, Dad!
Off We Go!
Specklebellies (Greater White-fronted Geese)
Randall D. Williams (all images from Little Sioux Park and Union Bridge Trail)
Little Sioux River
Adult Bald Eagle
Immature Bald Eagle
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Below videos copyright 2023 by Jan Null, used with permission.