Great Backyard Bird Count—

And The Winners Were… Cardinals And Canada Geese

By Dottie Evans

After a record number of 50,944 total checklists were submitted nationwide during the Great Backyard Bird Count held February 18–21, the computers crunched the numbers, and the Audubon and Cornell Ornithology Lab scientists published the results.

(May we have the envelope, please?)

Taking the 2005 Grand Prize as the most frequently reported bird in America was… the American cardinal (it showed up on 28,902 checklists). This is no surprise because even the most casual birdwatcher cannot fail to identify a cardinal. We’re glad to see our colorful favorite come out on top.

The mourning dove was a very close second (appearing on 28,249 checklists nationwide), followed by the junco, goldfinch, downy woodpecker, blue jay, housefinch, tufted titmouse, crow and chickadee.

Winning the overall numbers battle was the Canada goose, at 684,536 individual birds counted. Golfers and people living near water already knew the geese would sweep this category.

While a total of 603 species was observed across the nation, exactly 104 species were seen in Connecticut.

Aside from all the usual suspects, also making an impressive appearance for our state were 28 monk parakeets, 140 bluebirds, 236 Carolina wrens, and two ring-necked pheasants.

In Newtown, there may have been as many as 15 families participating (judging by the number of checklists submitted) and in Sandy Hook there may have been 16. Though the number of species seen was identical for each area –– a total of 26 –– it wasn’t always the same species that people reported, which reflects the unique environmental geography for each area.

For example, where suburban Newtown birdwatchers reported blue jays, titmice, and juncos hanging out at their feeders, Sandy Hook birders who ventured farther from their back yards saw mute swans, starlings, and mallards––perhaps on Lake Zoar––and five gold-crowned kinglets were counted as they may have flitted through the pines of the Upper Paugussett State Forest.

Both areas saw bluebirds and robins during the 2005 Great Back Yard Bird Count, leading us to predict that spring is already on its way (not an official Audubon/Cornell Lab data entry category, but we’ll go with the folklore on this one).