The Audubon Christmas Bird Count was held for the Brookings Circle on Dec. 14.
The Brookings circle is centered near the intersection of 465th Avenue and 216th Street with a radius of 15 miles. Much of Brookings County is included, along with small portions of Lake and Moody County.
This was started in 1957 by Nelda Holden and has been held annually every year since. The weather was foggy and misty with 10 mph winds and a high of 29 degrees. Nevertheless, we had a great team of observers, and they saw a wide variety of birds. If you want to participate in 2025, the count will likely be on Dec. 20, 2025.
A total of 50 species of birds were observed by 13 observers in the field and at five bird feeder locations. The birds that were seen the most were Canada geese. Strangely missing were bald eagles, which have been observed almost daily in Brookings.
Listed below, alphabetically by common name, are the birds seen during the 2024 Brookings Christmas Bird Count.
Number of birds seen
- American Crow 26
- American Goldfinch 19
- American Kestrel 2
- American Robin 7
- American Tree Sparrow 16
- Belted Kingfisher 1
- Black-capped Chickadee 27
- Blue Jay 33
- Brown Thrasher 1
- Bufflehead 1
- Cackling Goose 20
- Canada Goose >500
- Cedar Waxwing 8
- Common Goldeneye 1
- Common Grackle 1
- Coopers Hawk 2
- Dark-eyed Junco 40
- Double-crested Cormorant 1
- Downy Woodpecker 20
- Eurasian Collared-Dove 105
- European Starling 90
- Golden-crowned Kinglet 6
- Great Horned Owl 2
- Greater White-fronted Goose 1
- Hairy Woodpecker 4
- Horned Lark 165
- House Finch 16
- House Sparrow 28
- Lapland Longspur 55
- Mallard >300
- Mourning Dove 2
- Northern Cardinal 5
- Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted) 4
- Northern Harrier 5
- Northern Shrike 2
- Pine Siskin 1
- Purple Finch 7
- Red-bellied Woodpecker 4
- Red-breasted Nuthatch 2
- Red-tailed Hawk 9
- Red-winged Blackbird 68
- Ring-necked Pheasant 22
- Rock Pigeon 133
- Rough-legged Hawk 8
- Sharp-shinned Hawk 2
- Short-eared Owl 2
- Song Sparrow 2
- White-breasted Nuthatch 6
- White-winged Crossbill 22
- Wild Turkey 31
Leave a Reply