Great Backyard Bird Count

2010 Kane County Results

This year's count, co-sponsored by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and National Audubon Society, took place on the weekend of February 12th - 15th. Birders throughout the country were asked to submit checklists of all the birds they counted over the weekend period. In Kane County, more checklists were submitted this year (228 as compared to 149 last year), resulting in a substantial increase in the number of birds reported from 10,735 to 20,122 this year. Interestingly, the number of species seen dropped from 70 to 65.

The Canada Goose comprised nearly two-thirds of the birds counted. (Old-timers might recall when they were scarce.) The next five most numerous birds were tightly bunched. The numbers drop off from there.

  1. Canada Goose - 13,015
  2. Mallard - 754
  3. Dark-eyed Junco - 717
  4. House Sparrow - 706
  5. European Starling - 665
  6. Black-capped Chickadee - 651

No bird was reported in all of the 22 communities that submitted checklists, but both the Dark-eyed Junco (717 birds) and the Northern Cardinal (462 birds) were recorded in 21 of the communities.

Unusual sightings include: a Trumpeter Swan in Algonquin; 4 (!) Red-shouldered Hawks, all reported (by the same observer?) from three communities in the north end of the county; a Peregrine Falcon in Bartlett; 4 Eurasian Collared-doves in Big Rock.

The Dundee community submitted the most checklists, 32. Batavia reported the best variety (41 species) and counted the most birds (5,769).

A few words of caution in interpreting this data: This bird count differs significantly from the Spring Bird Count and the Christmas Bird Count. This count covers four days, the others only one. In this count, birders are encouraged to count where ever they want, for as long as they want, and as often as they want. In the Spring and Christmas counts, assigned observers count a prescribed territory only once. This count encourages casual birders to participate. And the methodologies differ: Spring and Christmas birders count all the birds they see; in this count, participants are to record not bird numbers over time but only the highest number of any species they see at any one time.

The deadline for submission of checklists was March 1st. As of March 2nd, the following is an accounting of the results from 22 communities that fall wholly or partially within Kane County.

For more information about the Great Backyard Bird Count, please visit their website.

(The 2008 Kane County GBBC results are available here. 2009 results here.)

 

KANE
COUNTY
TOTALS

   A
L
G
O
N
Q
U
I
N		 A
U
R
O
R
A		 B
A
R
R
R
I
N
G
T
O
N		 B
A
R
T
L
E
T
T

B
A
T
A
V
I
A

B
I
G

R
O
C
K

C
'
V
I
L
L
E

D
U
N
D
E
E

 E
L
B
U
R
N

E
L
G
I
N

F
E
R
M
I
L
A
B

G
E
N
E
V
A

 G
I
L
B
E
R
T
S		 H
A
M
P
S
H
I
R
E		 H
U
N
T
L
E
Y		 M
O
N
T
G
O
M
E
R
Y

N

A
U
R
O
R
A

 P
I
N
G
R
E
E

G
R

S
T

C
H
A
R
L
E
S

 S
O

E
L
G
I
N

S
U
G
A
R
 
G
R
O
V
E

W
A
Y
N
E

Checklists Submitted

228

 13

19

 9 7

15

 1

27

32

 2

30

3

19

 5 1 2 3 8 1

27

 1

2

1

Species Counted

65

 23

21

 25 19

41

 6

30

31

 18

32

33

23

 14 8 1 21 27 10

32

 12

22

9

Birds Counted

20,122

140

537

 495 174

5,769

 19

568

1,169

 220

1,315

1,845

477

 122 20 5 2,372 3,612 65

903

 62

210

23

                       
Snow Goose 4   4                                          

Canada Goose

13,015

 19

145

 23 20 4,798  

212

269

   253

1,355

349

       2,200 3,190 22

143

 2

15

 

Trumpeter Swan

1

  

 

       1                

 

  

American Black Duck

5

           3           2                      

Mallard

754

 1

 

 117   302  

7

 63  

26

3

       109 126  

 

  

 
Redhead 6           3           3                      
Ring-necked Duck 4   2       1           1                      
Common Goldeneye 106           41   2 3                 60          
Hooded Merganser 18           9           2           7          

Common Merganser

54

         18     5       7 21  

3

    
Red-breasted Merganser 2                 2                            
Ring-necked Pheasant 1                                           1  
Wild Turkey 1                                           1  

Great Blue Heron

13

       2  

 

   4         4 3  

 

  

Bald Eagle

9

       1  

3

 1     2       1    

1

  

Sharp-shinned Hawk

7

        

 

  

5

 1             1  

Cooper's Hawk

24

 1

1

 4   4   1 1   1

1

 

 1           5   3

1
Red-shouldered Hawk 4   2           1     1                        

Red-tailed Hawk

67

 2

4

 7 2 6  

13

6

 1 8

8

3

         2 1 3    

 

American Kestrel

1

                     1                        

Peregrine Falcon

1

         1                                    
American Coot 5           2           3                      

Ring-billed Gull

28

           4           5         13 6          
Herring Gull 27           3     7     1 1       1 9   5      

Rock Pigeon

13

                 3   1   6       3    
Eurasian Collared-dove 4             4                                

Mourning Dove

395

 7

36

 22 21

55

  

11

80

 6

61

13

22

 6     7 5 7

32

  

4

 

Great Horned Owl

9

       2       1 1   4 1                      
Belted Kingfisher 3                     2             1          

Red-headed Woodpecker

13

     3 1

4

 

   1 1   1           2

 

Red-bellied Woodpecker

87

 4

7

 11   6  

6

 5 3

10

2

3

 2     1 7  

17

 1

2

 

Downy Woodpecker

210

 7

5

 10 2 26 2

6

 15 3

64

6

4

 7 1   3 17  

24

 2

5

1

Hairy Woodpecker

21

  

2

 5 1 3  

1

5

   14

2

 2 2     2 1   1    

 

Northern Flicker

14

       1     3 6   3

 

 1            

 

Blue Jay

115

  

 

 14 3 9 4

8

 9 8

33

 

 2         1 1 15   8  

American Crow

168

 7 2 12  

10

  

34

 16 6

41

8

           3 8

15

   3 3

Horned Lark

96

       61     35              

Black-capped Chickadee

651

 21

43

 49 17

47

  

39

74

 11

127

36

18

 18     3 37 3

70

 3

32

3

Tufted Titmouse

16

 2 8      

 

   5             1  

 

Red-breasted Nuthatch

101

 7   4   10     4 8 41

10

 4   2   2 1   6   2

 

White-Breasted Nuthatch

106

 7

3

 12 1 5  

7

6

  

25

5

2

 6     2 3  

18

  

4

 

Brown Creeper

17

     2   2   1    

4

  

 

       1 2   4 1

 

Carolina Wren

3

            

 

             3  
Eastern Bluebird 3           1           2                      
Hermit Thrush 1                                       1      

American Robin

36

 1

2

 15  

1

  

1

 2   5   3         4  

2

  

 

European Starling

665

  

18

   20

128

  

7

 200 26

69

76

 

   1   2 70   26 22

 
Cedar Waxwing 23                     12                 7   4  

American Tree Sparrow

260

 3

1

 30 7

26

  

37

 25 8 23

14

 10           38   35

3
Fox Sparrow 13       1       2                           10  

Song Sparrow

27

  

15

 3   1   3 2

 

         3      

 
Swamp Sparrow 2                                         2    

White-throated Sparrow

13

 4

 

   2 2     1  

 

               4

White-crowned Sparrow

13

        

5

     7             1

Dark-eyed Junco

717

 16

91

 22 20

37

 2

37

 93 21

197

5

15

 12 1   2 17 5

102

 5

14

3
Lapland Longspur 220           20           200                      

Northern Cardinal

462

 15

27

 43 4

51

 6

22

78

 8

74

7

7

 22 2   2 11 1

52

 2

22

6

Red-winged Blackbird

2

  

 

     2                    

Common Grackle

5

   3        

 

 1             1    

 

Brown-headed Cowbird

30

           2       28                          

Purple Finch

39

         1     2 2

22

 

3

             8 1

 

House Finch

299

 3

35

 12 1

19

  

19

 65 11 39

3

 

 10     3    

50

   28

1

Pine Siskin

10

       3         1                     6      

American Goldfinch

357

 2

21

 30 39 17  

2

12

 62

51

1

1

 2       1  

109

  

5

2

House Sparrow

706

 3

68

 42 9

30

  

73

 116 6

116

2

 23 23 6 5 6 4 14

134

 20 6

 

 

This page last updated Thursday April 08, 2010. 

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