Common Goldeneye flock during take-off (photo by Arlene Koziol).
Southern Wisconsin is full of bird enthusiasts. So it’s no surprise that each year, this part of the state turns out a great set of Christmas Bird Counts. In 2024, 12 counts were done within the our chapter area (which encompasses 10 counties), coordinated independently and made possible by dedicated, excellent volunteers. Below are the results of the 2024 Christmas Bird Counts in our area, but by the numbers:
611 birders spent 1,416 hours tallying up 124,732 birds! WOW!
Thank you to everyone involved for sharing your time, energy, and enthusiasm for birds!
Christmas Bird Counters in the Madison-area count, Dec. 14, 2024 (photo by Michael Kamps).
Overall Summary
Baraboo CBC Results
Red-headed Woodpecker (photo by Andy Reago & Chrissy McClarren).
Coordinated by Scott and Ann Swengel, aswengel@jvlnet.com
DATE: December 27, 2024
BIRDS: 17,748 total birds | 62 species
EFFORT: 65 birders | 116 hours
The group tallied 17,748 individual birds, which is a record high for the count. Of those, 8,918 Sandhill Cranes were counted—which might be a record for any Wisconsin CBC! Notable species counted include a Peregrine Falcon, Red Crossbills, Hermit Thrush, Merlins, Townsend’s Solitaire, Red-headed Woodpeckers, and more.
Clyde CBC Results
Golden Eagle (photo by Tom Koerner/USFWS).
Coordinated by Steven Greb, steven.greb@gmail.com
DATE: January 2, 2025
BIRDS:3,914 total birds | 56 species
EFFORT: 11 birders | 65 hours
Columbus CBC Results
Dark-eyed Junco (Oregon) (photo by Mick Thompson).
Coordinated by Louise Venne, lsvenne@gmail.com
DATE: December 22, 2024
BIRDS: 7,722 total birds | 44 species
EFFORT: 19 birders | 39 hours
This year’s CBC was a great team effort. We had a total of 44 species, which is the most species we’ve observed since 2020. We had nearly as many total individual birds this year (7,722) as in 2020 (7,868). In part, this is because we had a lot of miles and hours across 8 teams, similar to the effort we put in back in 2020. We had record high count numbers for mallard (1,027), Cooper’s hawk (8), and great blue heron (3).
Cooksville CBC Results
Sandhill Cranes (photo by Mick Thompson).
Coordinated by Quentin Yoerger, harrierqman@gmail.com
DATE: January 1, 2025
BIRDS: 9,209 total birds | 63 species
EFFORT: 17 birders | 61 hours
Fair Meadows CBC Results
Pileated Woodpecker (photo by Mick Thompson).
Coordinated by Penny and Gary Shackelford, fairmeadows@swibirds.org
DATE: December 17, 2024
BIRDS: 86 total birds | 15 species
EFFORT: 12 birders | 4 hours
The Fair Meadows CBC is not within an official CBC circle—it’s in between a few circles. So we do our own CBC event and submit our data to eBird. It’s a smaller but equally fun event!
Christmas Bird Counters at Fair Meadows Sanctuary (photo by Larry Horsfall).
Madison-area CBC Results
An Eastern Screech-Owl snoozes in the morning light (photo by Neil Dieffenbaugh).
Coordinated by Brenna Marsicek, bmarsicek@swibirds.org
DATE: December 14, 2024
BIRDS: 49,923 total birds | 97 species
EFFORT: 287 birders | 320 hours
Most of our volunteers are in the field throughout the Madison area looking for and counting birds. We also have a lot of feeder-watcher volunteers who spend time documenting the birds that visit their feeders. And this year, we held an accessible Indoor Sit and Birdwatching Event at Olbrich Botanical Gardens where a group of 35 or so people—most of them new to Christmas Bird Counts—were able to participate in the event by watching the birds outside the windows and in the gardens. It was a great way to share the experience with new CBC volunteers, and contribute data to the day’s effort.
A group of people watch for birds from inside the building at Olbrich Botanical Gardens as part of the Madison-area Christmas Bird Count (photo by Brenna Marsicek/SoWBA).
Mount Horeb CBC Results
Short-eared Owl (photo by Monica Hall).
Coordinated by Kerry Beheler, kerry.beheler@gmail.com
DATE: December 29, 2024
BIRDS: 6,960 total birds | 53 species
EFFORT: 59 birders | 500 hours
The 36th Mount Horeb Area Christmas Bird Count was held on Sunday 29 December 2024. It was a foggy, partly cloudy day with no snow cover, yet we counted 6960 individual birds of 53 different species! As the Brock birder group on Pleasant Valley Conservancy lands reported “The heavy fog/very low clouds made everything into a silent and mystical fairyland. We had hoped to see more birds, but were happy for the ones that we did see!”
Pardeeville CBC Results
Ring-billed Duck (photo by Dave Inman).
Coordinated by Brian Doverspike, briandoverspike@hotmail.com
DATE: January 1, 2025
BIRDS: 5,871 total birds | 52 species
EFFORT: 17 birders | 45 hours
Poynette CBC Results
White-crowned Sparrow (photo by Andy Reago & Chrissy McClarren).
Coordinated by Mark Martin and Susan Foote-Martin, goosep@swibirds.org
DATE: December 30, 2023
BIRDS: 10,183 total birds | 68 species
EFFORT: 44 birders | 38 hours
The most recent Christmas Bird Count (CBC) marked the 53rd Poynette count and the 25th count in Area 12, which centers around the 730 acres at Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance’s Goose Pond Sanctuary. Climate change is resulting in less snow in December and milder temperatures in November and December. These conditions helped account for the number of waterfowl, Sandhill Cranes, and other species found during this year’s count that might normally have moved south by the end of December. This year, the Lapland Longspurs and Snow Buntings might have been further north near the edge of the snow line. Due to the high winds early in the day, no one counted owls in the morning; however, in the evening, Graham Steinhauer found four Great Horned Owls.
Randolph CBC Results
Wood Duck (photo by Mick Thompson).
Coordinated by John Roti Roti, roti2russo@charter.net
DATE: December 18, 2024
BIRDS: 6,139 total birds | 42 species
EFFORT: 11 birders | 31 hours
Richland Center CBC Results
Eastern Meadowlark (photo by Tom Koerner/USFWS).
Coordinated by Eric Volden, ericvolden@charter.net
DATE: December 15, 2024
BIRDS: 5,833 total birds | 65 species
EFFORT: 17 birders | 58 hours
Waterloo CBC Results
Northern Shrike (photo by Mick Thompson).
Coordinated by Karen Etter Hale, chimneyswift1@icloud.com
DATE: December 15, 2024
BIRDS: 7,711 total birds | 52 species
EFFORT: 64 birders | 116 party-hours
This was the 25th year of the Waterloo Christmas Bird Count, held on Sunday, Dec. 15, 2024. With our great team of 42 field observers (17 parties) and 22 feeder counters, we tallied 7,711 birds of 52 species (plus 9 count week species). Only three other years had fewer total birds; 13 years had fewer total species. This was despite the record 42 field observers, which far surpassed the previous high of 26 in 2022, 2021, and 2019. Of the 42 participants, 9 were from the Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance.
The relatively low numbers were primarily due to the dense FOG, which persisted all day, only partially lifting in early afternoon. In addition, all the lakes were 100% ice-covered, the first time since 2018; and for the fourth year in a row, we had no snow cover. We also had dense fog in 2014, when we had a similar tally of 7,223 birds of 48 species (22 field observers; 10 parties).
Faville Grove Sanctuary blanketed in fog, like the rest of the Waterloo circle on CBC day! (Photo by Brenna Marsicek/SoWBA).
