Ida Grove Christmas Bird Count

sunday, december 21, 2025

Ida County area residents had the chance to participate in an international citizen science project to help our feathered friends on Sunday, December 21st. Eleven participants helped with the annual Christmas Bird Count, which covered a 15 mile circle around Ida Grove. Participants split up on foot and by car to record their bird observations. The total number of birds observed was 1,380 with 47 individual species. Some notable species were a Bobwhite Quail, Long-eared Owls, and Belted Kingfishers.

The National Audubon Society will use this information to track long and short term population trends, the impacts of Avian Influenza, the spread of invasive species, and the effects of weather and climate changes. This will help conservationists know where the most effort is needed for projects like habitat restoration.

The Audubon Society has been conducting this survey since 1900 and Ida County has been participating since the 1990s.

Report by Danielle Bennett, Ida County Naturalist (received by Jerry Von Ehwegen)

American Tree Sparrow., 2. Bald Eagle Nest., 3.American Kestrel.

Sioux City Christmas Bird Count

saturday, december 20, 2025

Seventeen people participated in this year’s Sioux City CBC as Car birders, Bird Hiking and Feeder Watchers. Fifty eight species were recorded, and 39,987 individual birds. There were 8 field parties, 46 field hours, 301 car miles, 15.3 foot miles and one feeder party consisting on 2 hours. The high temperature was 44 with a low of 20, NW winds 5-15 mph on Saturday. There was one inch of snow from a previous snowfall on the ground.

Total Species: 58

Individuals: 39,987

From the IOU Website, reported by Jerry Probst

Cedar Waxwings; 2. Eurasian Collared Dove, 3. Northern Flicker and Red-bellied Woodpecker. 4. Red-tailed Hawk

Yankton (SD) Christmas Bird Count

wednesday, december 17, 2025

The Yankton Christmas Bird Count (CBC) took place on Wednesday, December 17, 2025 (postponed from Sunday, December 14 because of bad weather conditions). A new record of 83 species was recorded, beating the previous high of 82 species seen in 2020. The Yankton CBC was first performed in 1916 and only missed a few years since then, mostly in the World War II years.

Thirty-four people from Yankton and Vermillion, South Dakota; South Sioux City, Omaha, & Wayne, Nebraska; and Sioux City, Iowa enjoyed a cool but beautiful day to be out counting birds. A total of 11,650 birds of 83 different species were found.

Highlights of the day were twenty Trumpeter Swan, seven Rusty Blackbird, eight Common Grackle, one Brewer’s Blackbird, two Common Redpoll, 180 Lapland Longspur, four Fox Sparrow, three White-crowned Sparrow, five Harris’s Sparrow, one Song Sparrow, and one Yellow-rumped Warbler. Trumpeter Swans were recorded for the second time on the count; twenty individual swans this year compared to just three last year.

Final tally:

(1.) Snow Goose-231, (2.) Ross’s Goose-16, (3.) Greater White-fronted Goose-3, (4.) Cackling Goose-18, (5.) Canada Goose-3,058, (6.) Trumpeter Swan-20, (7.) Northern Shoveler-1, (8.) Gadwall-82, (9.) Mallard-598, (10.) Green-winged Teal-2, (11.) Redhead-4, (12.) Ring-necked Duck-44, (13.) Greater Scaup-13, (14.) Lesser Scaup-502, (15.) Bufflehead-20, (16.) Common Goldeneye-168, (17.) Hooded Merganser-24, (18.) Common Merganser-337, (19.) Red-breasted Merganser-2, (20.) Wild Turkey-175, (21.) Ring-necked Pheasant-38, (22.) Rock Pigeon-912, (23.) Eurasian Collared-Dove-195, (24.) Mourning Dove-8, (25.) American Coot-110, (26.) Killdeer-4, (27.) Wilson’s Snipe-1, (28.) Ring-billed Gull-676, (29.) Herring Gull-17, (30.) Glaucous Gull-1, (31.) Double-crested Cormorant-5, (32.) Great Blue Heron-2, (33.) Northern Harrier-1, (34.) Sharp-shinned Hawk-4, (35.) Cooper’s Hawk-6, (36.) Bald Eagle-99, (37.) Red-tailed Hawk-37, (38.) Rough-legged Hawk-10, (39.) Eastern Screech-Owl-3, (40.) Great Horned Owl-1, (41.) Northern Saw-whet Owl-1, (42.) Belted Kingfisher-2, (43.) Red-bellied Woodpecker-28, (44.) Downy Woodpecker-34, (45.) Hairy Woodpecker-7, (46.) Northern Flicker-55, (47.) American Kestrel-5, (48.) Merlin-1, (49.) Northern Shrike-1, (50.) Blue Jay-49, (51.) American Crow-95, (52.) Horned Lark-63, (53.) Black-capped Chickadee-40, (54.) Red-breasted Nuthatch-11, (55.) White-breasted Nuthatch-38, (56.) Brown Creeper-3, (57.) Golden-crowned Kinglet-7, (58.) Eastern Bluebird-11, (59.) American Robin-669, (60.) European Starling-904, (61.) Cedar Waxwing-103, (62.) House Sparrow-199, (63.) House Finch-76, (64.) Purple Finch-1, (65.) Common Redpoll-2, (66.) Pine Siskin-12, (67.) American Goldfinch-90, (68.) Lapland Longspur-180, (69.) Fox Sparrow-4, (70.) American Tree Sparrow-88, (71.) Dark-eyed Junco-168, (72.) White-crowned Sparrow-3, (73.) Harris’s Sparrow-5, (74.) White-throated Sparrow-1, (75.) Song Sparrow-1, (76.) Western Meadowlark-52, (77.) Red-winged Blackbird-1,152, (78.) Brown-headed Cowbird-3, (79.) Rusty Blackbird-7, (80.) Brewer’s Blackbird-1, (81.) Common Grackle-8, (82.) Yellow-rumped Warbler-1, (83.) Northern Cardinal-21.

No additional species were found for “Count Week”. Species expected to be found that were missed this year include Canvasback, Northern Pintail, Ruddy Duck, Blue-winged Teal, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Carolina Wren, Prairie Chicken, Hermit Thrush, and Snow Bunting.

Compiler and Reporter: Roger Dietrich

The next Audubon Christmas Bird Count will be held on December 20, 2026. If you have any questions about the 2025 or 2026 Christmas Bird Counts contact Roger Dietrich at 1947rogerd@gmail.com.

Westfield (IA) Christmas Bird Count

Tuesday, December 16, 2025

Westfield CBC: 7:30 am - 5:00 pm

The Westfield Christmas Bird Count was held on Tuesday, December 16, 2025. The weather was beautiful with a mix of sun and clouds and a high in the 40s. Twenty participants drove over 280 miles, hiked 8 miles, and spent over 47 hours birding.We ended the day with a respectable total of 62 species of birds. Highlights included 12 species of waterfowl, Northern Bobwhite, both Long-eared and Short-eared Owls, two Pileated Woodpeckers, Snow Buntings, and 7 species of sparrows. An incredible 173 Bald Eagles (165 at the gravel pits in Akron alone!) and 325 meadowlark sp. were impressive counts.

This year we met for a potluck lunch at the Westfield Community Center and some birders headed over to the Loess Hills Interpretive Center in Westfield to enjoy the exhibits about the Loess Hills ecosystem. We were particularly excited to see the beautifully prepared plant exhibit by Loess Hills Audubon Society's own Bill Zales. The interpretive center is open by request and is worth the visit if you are in town.

Total Species: 62

Total Individual Birds: 6933

Reporter, Compiler and Organizer - Tucker Lutter

Below images copyright by Jan Null 2025, used with permission.

Roads were snow covered.

2.American Goldfinch

3.American Tree Sparrow and American Goldfinch.

4.A pretty day at TNC HQ.

Ponca Christmas Bird Count (CBC)

sunday, december 14, 2025

ponca state park and surrounding area

The Count was the centerpiece of the Park’s Winterfest event. This count includes Ponca State Park, Powder Creek WMA and Buckskin Hills WMA as well as the Missouri River, its sandbars, backwaters and bluffs.

Ponca State Park hosted its 22nd official CBC on Sunday, December 14, 2025. This count is a unique partnership between Nebraska’s Game & Parks Commission and the Loess Hills Audubon Chapter of the National Audubon Society.

The 21 participants included bird enthusiasts from the Game & Parks administration, Park staff and volunteers, LHAC members and guests. 6 teams of observers took to the field in subzero temperatures (-10 degF at the start) and were able to locate and identify 58 species that totaled nearly 10,000 individual birds. The highlights included eight species of waterfowl, Northern Bobwhite Quail, Great Blue Heron, Eastern Screech-Owl, Pileated Woodpecker, Merlin, Northern Shrike, Red-breasted Nuthatches, Purple Finches, Fox Sparrow and Spotted Towhee.

Bird of the day was the single Northern Bobwhite that had yet to be found on this count. Overall count numbers were down, probably due to the early freezeup on December 2 and the subzero temps on count day.

Compiler: Katie Leware, Ponca State Park

Reporter: Bill Huser

Our species list with notable misses listed with a ‘0.’