San Juan county CBC (sort of)

["L. D. Giddings" <seldom74 at xmission dot com>]

I spent a few days earlier this week in San Juan county conducting an
informal CBC (Christmas bird count). Of course it does not count since
(1.) I took longer than one day, (2.) my count circle had a radius
significantly larger than six miles, and (3.) I didn't really count most
of the individuals as much as make an attempt to see which species were
around. Also I did not register my work with the Audubon society, the
group that sponsors CBCs.

I have to say that I've never seen so many dark-eyed juncoes in my life.
Almost all of the surface water in the county that I checked was either
nearly or completely frozen, with the exceptions of Ken's lake and the
San Juan river, but there were still significant numbers of water fowl,
including one field just east of Bluff that must have had over 500
Canada geese in it Wednesday afternoon. Pleasant surprises included the
Barrow's goldeneyes, white-winged doves, all of the owls, the black
phoebe, American tree sparrows, and evening grosbeaks. My time was spent
mostly from Monticello south to Bluff, and to the east to Montezuma
canyon.These are areas which I previously covered in October.

Lu Giddings

trip list: 67 species
Pied-billed Grebe
Great Blue Heron
Canada Goose
American Wigeon
Mallard
Green-winged Teal
Redhead
Ring-necked Duck
Lesser Scaup
Bufflehead
Common Goldeneye
Barrow's Goldeneye
Common Merganser
Ruddy Duck
Bald Eagle
Northern Harrier
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Cooper's Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Golden Eagle
American Kestrel
Wild Turkey
American Coot
Eurasian Collared-Dove
White-winged Dove
Western Screech-Owl
Great Horned Owl
Northern Saw-whet Owl
Belted Kingfisher
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Black Phoebe
Steller's Jay
Western Scrub-Jay
Pinyon Jay
Black-billed Magpie
American Crow
Common Raven
Horned Lark
Mountain Chickadee
Juniper Titmouse
Red-breasted Nuthatch
White-breasted Nuthatch
Pygmy Nuthatch
Rock Wren
Bewick's Wren
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Western Bluebird
Mountain Bluebird
Townsend's Solitaire
American Robin
European Starling
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Spotted Towhee
American Tree Sparrow
Song Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Red-winged Blackbird
Western Meadowlark
Great-tailed Grackle
House Finch
Red Crossbill
Pine Siskin
American Goldfinch
Evening Grosbeak
House Sparrow

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