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The Missoula Christmas Bird Count (CBC) was held on Saturday, December 16, 2017.
There were 97 participants in the field and 17 feeder watchers. We identified 85 species on Count Day and had 3 Count Week birds. This is the 7th consecutive year that we have been in the eighties.
The most unusual bird was a Double-crested Cormorant that was seen by Nathan Senner at the gravel pits and by Dick Hutto and Sue Reel who were birding Sleven’s Island. Poody and Joe’s group had the only Ring-necked Ducks, Barrow’s Goldeneyes, Swamp Sparrows, and Northern Saw-whet Owl on Kelly Island, Jim Brown’s group had the only Prairie Falcon, Redhead, Short-eared Owls, and March Wrens in Grass Valley, Denver and his group had 49 Long-eared Owls wet of the airport, Rose Leach and her group had the only Western Meadowlarks along Mullan Road, Rob Holden had the only Canvasback at McCauley Butte, and the author had the only Blue Jay in the Grant Creek area. The feeder watchers also contributed to the Count with a Chestnut-backed Chickadee at the Loehnen’s and a White-throated Sparrow at the Toppins’.
Other group leaders included Brian Williams who birded the Stewart Peak trail, Robin Anderson who birded the University and Greenough Park, Terry Toppins who birded Maclay and Big Flats, Thomas Kallmeyer who covered Butler Creek, Debbie Leick who birded LaValle Creek, Paul Hendricks who birded Marshall Canyon and Woods Gulch, Pat Little who birded the Kim Williams trail and the upper Clark Fork River, Rose Stoudt at the State Nursery and the Tower St. Open Space, Paul Loehnen who birded Council Grove and the Kona Ranch, Nickolas Sly and Cole Wolf who birded Crazy Canyon and South Hills, Zona Lindemann who covered the Target Range area, Will Bebern who birded the Rattlesnake Greenway, Mary Ann Frikazee who hiked Mt. Sentinel, and Joy Earls who hiked along Snowdrift Lane.
The Count Day ended with a potluck at Larry Weeks’ home. My thanks to all the participants who made it a successful Count.
| Missoula Christmas Bird Count 2017 | |||
| Double-crested Cormorant 1 | Wild Turkey 111 | White-breasted Nuthatch 46 | |
| Great Blue Heron 34 | American Coot 8 | Pygmy Nuthatch 51 | |
| Canada Goose 1122 | Killdeer 17 | Brown Creeper 12 | |
| Green-winged Teal 55 | Wilson’s Snipe 14 | Pacific Wren 3 | |
| Mallard 798 | Rock Pigeon 777 | Marsh Wren 3 | |
| Northern Pintail 9 | Eurasian-collared Dove 518 | American Dipper 4 | |
| Gadwall 7 | Mourning Dove 10 | Golden-crowned Kinglet 13 | |
| American Wigeon 45 | Great Horned Owl 29 | Townsend’s Solitaire 31 | |
| Ring-necked Duck 14 | Northern Pygmy Owl 5 | American Robin 21 | |
| Common Goldeneye 218 | Long-eared Owl 49 | Bohemian Waxwing 650 | |
| Barrow’s Goldeneye 7 | Short-eared Owl 2 | Cedar Waxwing 203 | |
| Bufflehead 17 | Northern Saw-whet Owl 1 | Northern Shrike 10 | |
| Hooded Merganser 8 | Belted Kingfisher 27 | European Starling 37 | |
| Common Merganser 61 | Downy Woodpecker 50 | Yellow-rumped Warbler CW | |
| Bald Eagle 47 | Hairy Woodpecker 23 | American Tree Sparrow 30 | |
| Golden Eagle 7 | Northern Flicker 194 | Song Sparrow 59 | |
| Northern Harrier 13 | Pileated Woodpecker 17 | Swamp Sparrow 2 | |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk 10 | Horned Lark 5 | White-throated Sparrow 1 | |
| Cooper’s Hawk 3 | Gray Jay 3 | Harris’ Sparrow 3 | |
| Red-tailed Hawk 125 | Steller’s Jay 20 | Dark-eyed Junco 188 | |
| Rough-legged Hawk 76 | Blue Jay 1 | Red-winged Blackbird 146 | |
| American Kestrel 13 | Clark’s Nutcracker 48 | Western Meadowlark 2 | |
| Merlin 4 | Black-billed Magpie 408 | House Finch 450 | |
| Prairie Falcon 1 | American Crow 136 | Red Crossbill 390 | |
| Redhead 1 | Common Raven 197 | Common Redpoll 239 | |
| Canvasback 1 | Black-capped Chickadee 465 | Pine Siskin 63 | |
| Gray Partridge 39 | Mountain Chickadee 47 | American Goldfinch 86 | |
| Ring-necked Pheasant 18 | Chestnut-backed Chickadee 1 | Evening Grosbeak CW | |
| Dusky Grouse CW | Red-breasted Nuthatch 390 | House Sparrow 582 | |
| Ruffed Grouse 2 | |||
| 85 species | 9720 total birds | ||