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Area Christmas bird counts hit 10-year averagesDec 25, 2010 (The Gazette - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Club's annual participation in the Audubon Christmas Bird Count, but local birding enthusiasts were not particularly surprised to see them. Club members, for the first time in their 60 years of participation in the 111-year-old annual count, found trumpeter swans and Eurasian collared-doves. With the state's increasing population of trumpeters, spurred by a successful reintroduction program, it was inevitable that club members finally find some, said longtime count participant Rick Hollis of North Liberty. The pair of swans were spotted Sunday in open water of the Iowa River at Crandic Park in Iowa City. 'This is one of the deadest counts I have ever participated in,' said Hollis, who led a threeman crew along upper portions of Coralville Lake. Because the lake was frozen, the water fowl that usually make up a large cohort of the group's count were totally absent Sunday. For Hollis, the highlights included six robins, three bluebirds, one winter wren and oven-warm cookies delivered by a sympathetic resident. As for the Eurasian collared-doves, a rapidly expanding immigrant that crossed from the West Indies into Florida about a decade ago, 'we've been expecting to find this species on the count as they've been present in Solon for several years,' said Chris Edwards of Iowa City, who compiles the annual count statistics. In Iowa, he said, they are usually found in small towns, especially where they can feed on grain spilled around elevators. 'So far, there doesn't seem to be any evidence that they are displacing mourning doves or any other native species,' Edwards said. The Cedar Rapids Audubon Society, which conducted its Cedar Rapids-area 2010 Christmas count last Saturday, has yet to count a Eurasian collared-dove, according to Jim Durbin of Marion, who tracks the statistics. The club has recorded the birds near a grain elevator in Alburnett during its northern Linn County count, which this year is scheduled for Wednesday, Durbin said. Last weekend's Cedar Rapids count yielded about 52 species, which compares with 65 species counted by the Iowa City club. Both figures are close to 10-year averages. A species on the decline in both areas is the ring-necked pheasant. The Cedar Rapids club recorded two, which compares with its 10-year-average of 32, and the Iowa City club recorded three, the same number as in the preceding count but down dramatically from a record high of 141 in 2005. Winter waterfowl have been harder to find in Cedar Rapids since 2008, when floodwaters destroyed Alliant Energy's Sixth Street Generating Plant. The plant discharged warm water into Cedar Lake, keeping it largely free of ice most winters, providing a refuge for the two most commonly found bird species duringthe Christmas Bird Count -- Canada geese and mallards. During the past decade, the 10 most commonly counted species in Iowa City have been (in descending order) Canada goose, European starling, mallard, house sparrow, American crow, darkeyed junco, northern cardinal, mourning dove,black-capped chickadee and blue jay. In Cedar Rapids, the top six species are the same, though in a slightly different order, and the rock pigeon and the ringbilled gull come in at number 7 and 8, pushing the chickadee and the blue jay down the list. aEUR" Comments: (319) 934-3172; [email protected] To see more of The Gazette, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.gazetteonline.com. Copyright (c) 2010, The Gazette, Cedar Rapids, Iowa Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For more information about the content services offered by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services (MCT), visit www.mctinfoservices.com. |