The following includes information about the 109th Christmas Bird Count.

Rock Cut Christmas Bird Count Results

2008 was the innaugural year for the Rock Cut CBC [ILRC]. The weather stinked (the technical term for cloudy, windy, and just blah weather) but for a first go-around, we had a good turnout. Nineteen (19) birders came out and covered a lot of great habitat and many miles of trails.

Since this was the first year for this count, all numbers are record highs (and lows) and are the benchmark of what we want to beat for 2009.

Here is the full list of species and the number of individuals for each species:

• Cackling Goose - 16
• Canada Goose - 7,457
• American Black Duck - 15
• Mallard - 806
• duck sp. - 1
• Common Merganser - 2
• Wild Turkey - 49
• Great Blue Heron - 2
• Bald Eagle - 1 (adult)
• Northern Harrier - 1
• Sharp-shinned Hawk - cw [could not relocate the one found the day before]
• Cooper’s Hawk - 5
• Red-tailed Hawk - 31
• American Kestrel - 6
• Ring-billed Gull - 39
• Herring Gull - 16
• Rock Pigeon - 65
• Mourning Dove - 106
• Belted Kingfisher - 1
• Red-bellied Woodpecker - 34
• Downy Woodpecker - 54
• Hairy Woodpecker - 12
• Northern Flicker - 7
• NORTHERN SHRIKE - 4
• Blue Jay - 44
• American Crow - 277
• Horned Lark - 2
• Black-capped Chickadee - 154
• Tufted Titmouse - 10
• Red-breasted Nuthatch - 2
• White-breasted Nuthatch - 32
• Brown Creeper - 21
• Eastern Bluebird - 1
• Hermit Thrush - 1
• American Robin - 20
• European Starling - 1,219
• Cedar Waxwing - 331
• Yellow-rumped Warbler - 3
• American Tree Sparrow - 123
• Song Sparrow - 4
• Swamp Sparrow - 1
• White-throated Sparrow - 4
• Dark-eyed Junco - 336
• Lapland Longspur - cw
• Northern Cardinal - 135
• House Finch - 47
• Pine Siskin - 26
• American Goldfinch - 140
• House Sparrow - 289

Submitted by Eddie Callaway, Rock Cut CBC Compiler