This year’s Juneau Christmas Bird Count on Saturday, Dec. 15 tallied 12,183 individual birds, plus 66 different species. An additional 10 species were identified during the count week.
Volunteers and members — 28 total — with the Juneau Audubon Society lucked out with the weather this year, as the prior day was “absolutely miserable.”
Leading up to the count, volunteers didn’t expect a great diversity of birds, as lingering wintery conditions had pushed many remaining birds to the south.
The total count of individual birds was above average, but this was the case only because of a record smashing number of mallards; many species were seen in low numbers. All the common species that have been seen on the previous 39 counts were found once again.
The highlights of count day included a snowy owl, spotted on the Mendenhall Wetlands State Game Refuge, by Nick Hajdukovich and Amy Clark Courtney, and a sooty grouse, spotted by Julie Coghill, near the Treadwell Ditch on Douglas Island. Other highlights included the continued presence of the swamp sparrow near Temsco Helicopters, and a terrific variety of waterfowl on the wetlands and the lower Mendenhall River.
Species 2012 Count
Canada Goose 923
Trumpeter Swan 3
Tundra Swan 1
Gadwall 1
Eurasian Wigeon 1
American Wigeon 205
Mallard 4,868
Northern Shoveler 1
Northern Pintail cw
Green-winged Teal 34
Canvasback 1
Greater Scaup 173
Lesser Scaup 7
Unidentified Scaup 179
Harlequin Duck 71
Surf Scoter 174
White-winged Scoter 114
Black Scoter cw
Long-tailed Duck 29
Bufflehead 169
Common Goldeneye 110
Barrow’s Goldeneye 255
Unidentified Goldeneyes 7
Hooded Merganser 3
Common Merganser 67
Red-breasted Merganser 43
Unidentified Mergansers 3
Sooty Grouse 1
Pacific Loon cw
Common Loon 4
Horned Grebe 16
Red-necked Grebe 7
Pelagic Cormorant 21
Unidentified Cormorants 5
Great Blue Heron 1
Bald Eagle 134
Northern Goshawk 1
Killdeer 2
Black Turnstone cw
Rock Sandpiper 28
Dunlin cw
Wilson’s Snipe cw
Mew Gull 101
Glaucous-winged Gull 1,371
Unidentified Gulls 276
Species 2012 Count
Common Murre 2
Marbled Murrelet 25
Eurasian Collared-Dove 1
Rock Pigeon 136
Snowy Owl 1
Short-eared Owl cw
Belted Kingfisher 3
Hairy Woodpecker 1
Unidentified Woodpeckers 1
Northern Shrike cw
Steller’s Jay 61
Black-billed Magpie 43
Northwestern Crow 915
Common Raven 325
Chestnut-backed Chickadee 130
Red-breasted Nuthatch 6
Pacific Wren 1
American Dipper 5
Golden-crowned Kinglet 22
American Robin 2
Varied Thrush 3
European Starling 1
Bohemian Waxwing 5
American Tree Sparrow 5
Fox Sparrow 1
Song Sparrow 20
Lincoln’s Sparrow cw
Swamp Sparrow 1
White-crowned Sparrow 1
Dark-eyed Junco 294
Snow Bunting 64
Rusty Blackbird 2
Pine Grosbeak 7
Red Crossbill cw
White-winged Crossbill 226
Unidentified Crossbills 40
Common Redpoll 280
Pine Siskin 143
Count Day Species 66
Total Individuals 12,183
Additional CW Species 10
• "cw" indicates that species was counted during the days leading up to and after the official count day on Dec. 15, 2012.
