Every year on the first Saturday of May (give or take a week), Kane County Audubon joins birders across the state to participate in a statewide bird count.  2009 marked the 38^th consecutive year that Kane County Audubon has conducted a Spring Bird Count.  This year, forty-nine birders fanned out to cover the county in 20 groups, attempting to count as many birds as possible on May 9^th.

Over the 38-year history of the Kane County spring count, 453,026 birds have been identified and counted. A record 20,965 birds were counted this year, well above the average of 11,922.

Yet again, the Red-winged Blackbird took honors as the most-counted species with 2,518 birds tallied. Of the record 166 species counted this year, 133 posted numbers above their yearly average. 

An astounding 32 species set new high counts: Northern Shoveler; Great Egret; Cattle Egret; Turkey Vulture; Bald Eagle; Cooper's Hawk; Killdeer; Black Tern; Ruby-throated Hummingbird; Least Flycatcher; Great Crested Flycatcher; Eastern Kingbird; Red-eyed Vireo; Tree Swallow; Northern Rough-winged Swallow; Cliff Swallow; Carolina Wren; Blue-gray Gnatcatcher; Swainson's Thrush; Gray Catbird; Tennessee Warbler; Northern Parula; Blackpoll Warbler; American Redstart; Prothonotary Warbler; Northern Waterthrush; Louisiana Waterthrush; Scarlet Tanager; Eastern Towhee; Clay-colored Sparrow; Song Sparrow; Baltimore Oriole.

The Peregrine Falcon and Caspian Tern were added to the KCA Spring Bird Count list for the first time.

The details for this year's count are presented below. The complete 38 year record in spreadsheet form (.xls) can be downloaded here.