San Luis Valley National Wildlife Refuge Complex                                                         Friends of the SLV NWRC

9383 El Rancho Lane                                                                                                            PO Box 857

Alamosa CO 81101                                                                                                               Monte Vista CO 81101

Phone: 719-589-4021                                                                                                             Phone: 719-589-0988

Fax: 719-587-0595

 

December 31, 2007

                                Results of 50th Monte Vista NWR Christmas Bird Count

 

The Monte Vista National Wildlife Refuge held their annual Christmas Bird Count on December 15, 2007 in the San Luis Valley of south-central Colorado.  Nine people spent a total of 17 party hours and covered over 181 miles on the count.  Weather conditions during the day were frigid with partly clear skies with light and variable winds.  Temperatures ranged from a brisk -20^o F to 16^o F.  Coverage of the count circle was not completely thorough as the mountain roads were covered by drifted snow, but the rest of the count circle was thorough.

 

This year’s numbers were relatively low. A total of 45 species were documented and 4034 individuals. Sixty-three species is still the record. Numbers were down due to the snow coverage of the count circle. Best birds were Wilson’s snipe, large numbers of Horned larks, Peregrine falcon, and Sandhill Cranes.

 

We sent our information to the National Audubon to be included in the National Christmas Bird Count. The website (http://www.audubon.org/bird/cbc/) is easy to access and you can see how we have done in years past as far as the numbers go.

 

 Thank you to all of you who helped with this year’s count, see you next year in December 2008! I encourage all you backyard feeder watchers to participate. Please!

 

The following is a summary list of species and individual numbers of each that were documented during the 2007 event:

 

American coot	10	Dark-eyed junco	106	Northern flicker	2
American crow	87	Downey woodpecker	2	Northern harrier	17
American kestrel	4	Eurasian-collared dove	55	Northern shoveler	4
American robin	3	European Starling	550	Peregrine falcon	1
American Tree Sparrow	10	Great blue heron	3	Prairie falcon	1
Bald eagle	4	Great horned owl	3	Red-tailed Hawk	21
Belted Kingfisher	1	Great-tailed grackle	47	Red-winged blackbird	30
Black-billed Magpie	170	Hairy woodpecker	1	Rock pigeon	148
Black-capped Chickadee	4	Horned lark	1716	Rough-legged hawk	13
Blue jay	1	House finch	122	Sandhill crane	6
Brewer’s blackbird	1	House sparrow	526	Song sparrow	74
Brown creeper	2	Mallard	31	Western Meadowlark	10
Canada goose	150	Mountain bluebird	1	White-breasted nuthatch	5
Common raven	39	Mountain chickadee	27	White-crowned sparrow	50
Cooper’s Hawk	1	Mourning dove	4	Wilson’s snipe	1