114th CBC Wisconsin Regional Summary

By Robert Domagalski and Carl Schroeder

This year was cold, replete with more cold, wind, snow, frozen water, and unpleasant conditions in which to bird.  Most inland lakes were iced by late November.  Any chance of open water was sealed by the cold weather of 5-6 December.  The morning of 6 December found the northwestern part of the state with subzero temperatures and the remainder of the state in single digits.  The wind chill was 10 to 20 below zero.  Some 16-17 inches of snow covered the northwest and in days there were across the state several inches of snow, subzero temperatures at night, and daytime highs in the low teens.  As chilly as the opening of the CBC season was, it was mild in contrast to the remainder of the winter.  This became one of the coldest winters in history with many locations breaking all-time records for low temperatures. 

As one would expect under these conditions, water dependent species statewide were low in number or none existent.  This lack of water birds combined with the worst winter finch year in the history of the CBC made for a lack luster season.  Nearly all counts had fewer species than the year before.  With a nearly complete absence of finches and with even chickadees and nuthatches in short supply, the northern counts were particularly barren.  There were 147 species found across the state in 110 counts. In the United States and Canada, the only state or province to submit more counts than Wisconsin was California. 

Waterfowl on Lake Michigan were found in low numbers.   Those that chose to remain for the winter found that choice to be deadly, as most of Lake Michigan eventually froze over blocking access to food, resulting in widespread starvation.  A few large and deep inland lakes such as Green Lake and Lake Geneva were the only open waters left and had good numbers of concentrated waterfowl. Many species were below average: Canada Goose (53% below its 10-year average), only 25 Cackling Geese, and single Snow Geese in two locations.  Unusual, particularly in a cold count, was a Ross’s Goose at Sauk City.  The generally increasing population of Trumpeter Swans resulted in a record high this winter (508 over 15 counts).  This cold count found nearly all duck species below their averages.  Mallard (20% below average), Greater Scaup (41% below), Bufflehead (53% below), Hooded Merganser (down 55%) and Red-breasted Merganser (24% down). The diminishing American Black Duck was 43% below average.  One must search back to 1951 (when there were only 18 count circles) to find a year with fewer Black Ducks.  Harlequin Ducks were found at inland Fort Atkinson and coastal Milwaukee. As with ducks, the Ring-billed Gull and Herring Gull were way below recent years. In contrast Great Black-blacked Gull was record high. Thayer’s Gull and Iceland Gull were also present.

Despite a snow cover through the count period, the Galliformes fared poorly.  This was the first count in history in which no Northern Bobwhites were found.  The other vanishing species, the Gray Partridge, was found only at Fennimore.  There were no reports of Spruce Grouse or Greater Prairie-Chickens.  The only Sharp-tailed Grouse reported came from Gilman.  Ruffed Grouse was 34% below average.

In this extremely cold year the only loon was a Red-throated at Cedar Grove.  The only grebes were the Pied-billed on three counts and a single Horned Grebe at Lake Geneva.  Forty-four Double-crested Cormorants and 13 Am. White Pelicans were attempting to survive in Appleton, Fond du Lac, and Green Bay. 

Three Turkey Vultures were reported from frozen New Franken in Brown County where it is reported these vultures came to a location where dead cattle are placed.  The 28 Golden Eagles was a record high. Bald Eagle and Red-tailed Hawk numbers were down.  As expected in a cold count with snow cover, the number of American Kestrels was 31% below average.

As has happened each year since 2005, Virginia Rails were heard at both Palmyra and Poynette.  A total of 6454 American Coots was found, mostly on the open water of Lake Geneva.  Only one count reported Killdeer at Retreat.

The common owls (Eastern Screech, Great Horned, and Barred) continued their trend of lower numbers; this despite high owling hours.  The 114th Count was the third consecutive year with a strong 35 Snowy Owl showing.  A Northern Hawk-Owl was found on the Superior Count.

There was a continuing trend of increased numbers of woodpeckers. Red-headed Woodpecker was 77% above its average and Red-bellied Woodpecker was 30% above its average. A semi-hardy species in a wicked winter, the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, was recorded in surprisingly high numbers.  Another species not prone to stay for the Wisconsin winter, the Northern Flicker made a strong showing. This was the second consecutive year without a Black-backed Woodpecker.

This was an impressive year for open field birds.  The Horned Lark was 141% above its average.  This was a tremendous year for the Lapland Longspur and the Snow Bunting.  The Lapland Longspur was a shocking 468% above its average. In the 75-year history of the CBCs, the Snow Bunting has always outnumbered the Lapland Longspur and almost always by huge margins.  This was the first time in history that Laplands outnumbered Snow Buntings. Also in strong numbers were the open field sparrows such as the American Tree Sparrow and Dark-eyed Junco. The Dark-eyed Junco (65,974 over 104 counts) was record setting in both counts and individuals. 

It was a good year for Blue Jays throughout the state   But their boreal cousins Gray Jay had the lowest number of individuals seen in over 40 years.  And for the second count in four years, there were no Boreal Chickadees.  The Brown Creeper (754 over 69 counts) which was 161% above average.  The number of individuals was record high.

This was a good year for Winter Wrens (26 over 14 counts).  Marsh Wrens were seen and documented at both Palmyra and Poynette.  The Golden-crowned Kinglet (202 over 42 counts) was slightly above average, while a Ruby-crowned Kinglet was documented at Brodhead.

Eastern Bluebird was 73% above its 10-year average even with the early show of winter weather.  Townsend’s Solitaires were found at Baraboo and Pardeeville.  This once rare winter visitor has now been reported for 10 consecutive years.  The number of American Robins seems to be determined by the fruit crop for the year.  For 2013 the fruit crop was bountiful and thus robin numbers were high. The only Varied Thrush was a bird coming to a feeder within the Peshtigo Circle. Cedar Waxwings like the robins had a bumper year, but Bohemian Waxwing had the poorest showing since 2006. 

Gray Catbirds were found at La Crosse, Manitowoc, Mount Horeb, and Poynette and Brown Thrashers at Madison and Manitowoc.  The only American Pipit was an individual at Manitowoc. 

The hardy Yellow-rumped Warbler was seen on 17 counts.  Eastern Towhees were found at Blanchardville, Bridgeport, LaFarge, Montello, Mount Horeb, and Plymouth.  Fox Sparrow and White-crowned Sparrows were seen in many locations. The less common sparrows were well represented.  Chipping Sparrows were documented from Madison, Pensaukee, and Stevens Point; Field Sparrows were seen in Brodhead, Platteville, and Two Rivers and a Vesper Sparrow was found in Richland Center; Savannah Sparrows were lurking in Baraboo, Kewaunee, and Rosendale and a lone Lincoln’s Sparrow was discovered in Sauk City.  Here was one Harris’s Sparrow found at La Crosse.  Rose-breasted Grosbeaks were found at Sauk City and Shawano.

An Eastern Meadowlark was at Brussels and a Western Meadowlark was documented with a deceased bird from Herbster in the far northwestern corner of the state. A Baltimore Oriole visited a feeder in La Crosse.

Last year had the richest winter finch numbers in the history of the CBCs.  Swinging to the opposite result, the 2013 Count had the worst winter finch numbers in the history of the CBCs.  This stark contrast was due to there being a seed failure in Ontario in 2012 followed by a heavy crop in 2013.  It might not be an exaggeration to claim that not a single winter finch left Ontario in the fall and winter of 2013 to migrate to Wisconsin.  There was not a single Pine Grosbeak in 2013 nor were there any White-winged Crossbills.  The Red Crossbill was down to six birds over five counts.  After a record smashing 15,352 birds in 2012, there were only 190 Common Redpolls in 2013.  And as opposed to 44 Hoary Redpolls last year there were none in 2013.  Only 122 Pine Siskins were counted.  The Evening Grosbeak has been lagging in numbers since the late 1990’s but the 21 birds over two counts in 2013 were unusually low. The Purple Finch, which has had slipping numbers for years, was 40% below its average.