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2007 JUNEAU CHRISTMAS BIRD COUNT RESULTS

The 2007 Juneau

Christmas Bird Count

December 15, 2007

Juneau Christmas Bird Count Report by MARK SCHWAN:

Thanks to everyone who participated. On our count day, Saturday, December 15, we had about 40 volunteers working our count circle. The weather turned out to be agreeable and the tides were in our favor. There was a seemingly above average amount of waterfowl hunting activity on the wetlands, which likely negatively affected our count somewhat.

We found 70 species of birds on count day, about average for over the last 20 years of counts. We counted 10,875 birds, just a little above our average, with our two most abundant species being Mallard and Glaucous-winged Gull. Although our Glaucous-winged Gull count was above average, we found the bulk of the birds outside of the airport and landfill areas (where we traditionally see many), which is likely due to the bird deterrent programs at the two sites, especially at the landfill. We had an all-time low count for Northwestern Crow, only 189 birds, but we had a new high count for Common Raven, at 575 birds. We were below average for Steller's Jay and Golden-crowned Kinglet. Brown Creeper was only a count week bird. Golden-crowned Kinglets and Brown Creepers have been scarce this year after last winter. We had a number of rare birds for this time of year and several casual species for Juneau; highlights included three Wood Ducks in the Mendenhall Valley, one White-throated Sparrow downtown, and one Harris' Sparrow near the airport.

In addition to birds seen on the count day, local birders found an additional 15 species during our count week. This by far exceeded the number of additional count week species seen around any previous count day. However, our total for the week, 85, is not a record, as back in 1987 and 1988, we had record counts on our count days, and with additional species during those count weeks, we had a total of 88 species for the week in both of those years.

Again, thanks to all who helped, and thanks to Gus van Vliet for helping compile the numbers, and a special thanks to Gus, Paul Suchanek, and Patty Rose for locating so many count week birds : ) !!

Species	Count or CW Only
Cackling goose	1
Canada Goose	947
Wood Duck	3
Gadwall	14
Eurasian Wigeon	cw
American Wigeon	169
Mallard	2340
Northern Pintail	cw
Green-winged Teal	13
Greater Scaup	148
Lesser Scaup	cw
Unidentified Scaup	177
Harlequin Duck	114
Surf Scoter	551
White-winged Scoter	255
Black Scoter	cw
Unidentified Scoters	100
Long-tailed Duck	65
Bufflehead	175
Common Goldeneye	191
Barrow's Goldeneye	289
Unidentified Goldeneyes	82
Hooded Merganser	1
Common Merganser	48
Red-breasted Merganser	140
Pacific Loon	43
Common Loon	19
Yellow-billed Loon	cw
Unidentified Loons	10
Horned Grebe	77
Red-necked Grebe	28
Western Grebe	cw
Pelagic Cormorant	26
Great Blue Heron	5
Bald Eagle	132
Sharp-shinned Hawk	1
Northern Goshawk	1
Merlin	cw
Unidentified Falcons	1
Black Turnstone	75
Rock Sandpiper	5
Dunlin	23
Wilson's Snipe	2
Bonaparte's Gull	4
Mew Gull	248
Herring Gull	11
Thayer's Gull	4
Glaucous-winged Gull	2007
Glaucous Gull	cw
Unidentified Gulls	80
Common Murre	33
Pigeon Guillemot	3
Marbled Murrelet	193
Rock Pigeon	7
Northern Pygmy-owl	cw
Short-eared Owl	2
Belted Kingfisher	2
Downy Woodpecker	cw
Northern Shrike	1
Steller's Jay	28
Black-billed Magpie	37
Northwestern Crow	189
Common Raven	575
Chestnut-backed Chickadee	104
Red-breasted Nuthatch	1
Brown Creeper	cw
Winter Wren	3
American Dipper	6
Golden-crowned Kinglet	6
Ruby-crowned Kinglet	cw
Unidentified Kinglets	3
American Robin	cw
European Starling	1
American Pipit	1
Bohemian Waxwing	12
American Tree Sparrow	28
Savannah Sparrow	4
Fox Sparrow*	2
Song Sparrow	16
White-throated Sparrow	1
Harris' Sparrow	1
White-crowned Sparrow	4
Golden-crowned Sparrow	1
Dark-eyed Junco	342
Lapland Longspur	cw
Snow Bunting	25
Red-winged Blackbird	cw
Rusty Blackbird	3
Pine Grosbeak	3
Red Crossbill	150
Common Redpoll	30
Pine Siskin	433