Muddy River Christmas Bird Count Held

Fifteen birders participated in the 2007 Muddy River Christmas Bird Count on Saturday, December 22. The group divided up into three teams and spent the day driving and walking in different areas of the Muddy River Valley from the Warm Springs area to Bowman Reservoir. They were rewarded by counting 81 different kinds of birds.

Every count has its surprises and this year a Red-shouldered Hawk soaring overhead was a new species. The 2007 “Atlas of the Breeding Birds of Nevada” reports how this species was rarely encountered in Nevada until the late 1990’s, but things changed in 2000 when sightings were recorded from at least 14 widely scattered locations around the state, including a successful nest at the Pahranagat National Wildlife Refuge!

Another relatively new bird in Nevada, the Eurasian Collared-Dove, has continued to establish itself as a naturalized resident. We first recorded five of these large doves in the 2004 Christmas count, and had 66 this year. Many people see flocks of this large dove perched on power lines and assume they are seeing our lovely and common Mourning Dove. But take another look and watch for square-ended tails and a black crescent “collar” on the back of the neck that are identifying characters of the Eurasian collared-dove (the Mourning dove has pointed tail feathers and no collar).

Bowman Reservoir and the Reid Gardner Power Plant ponds are magnets for waterfowl and reliably produced a variety of ducks with colorful names like Gadwall, American Wigeon, Canvasback, Redhead, Ruddy (aka bluebills) and Ring-necked ducks.

Here’s the complete list of the species and numbers of them for the 2007 Count: Wading birds and Shorebirds: EGRETS: Great (1); HERON: Great Blue; (2), KILLDEER (31), RAIL, Virginia (2), and SNIPE, Common (3). Waterbirds: DUCKS: Bufflehead (1),Canvasback (4), Gadwall (11), Northern Pintail (2), Ring-necked (316), Ruddy (14), Mallard (170), Lesser Scaup (20), Northern Shoveler (1), Green-winged Teal (156) and American Wigeon, (56); COOT, American (123), GEESE Canada (12), GREBES: Pied-billed (4), and Western (4). Birds of Prey: FALCONS: Peregrine (1), Prairie (3), American Kestrel (9), and Merlin (3); ACCIPTERS: Cooper’s (4) and Sharp-shinned hawk (6); HARRIER: Northern Harrier (14); “HAWKS: Ferruginous (4), Red-tailed (19), and Red-shouldered (1). Owls: Great-horned (1). Songbirds: BLACKBIRD, Brewer’s (12), Red-winged (528); BLUEBIRD, Western (2); COWBIRD, Brown-headed (4); DOVES, Eurasian-collared (66), Mourning (26) and Rock (33); FINCH, House (30); GNATCATCHER, Black-tailed (6);GOLDFINCH, American (25) and Lesser (68); GRACKLE, Great-tailed (18); JUNCO, Dark-eyed (25); KINGLET, Ruby-crowned (26); LARK, Horned (1143); MEADOWLARK Western (194); MOCKINGBIRD, Northern (7); PHAINOPEPLA (43); PHOEBES: Black (10) and Say’s (23); PIPIT, American (220); QUAIL, Gambel’s (167); RAVEN, Common (70); ROADRUNNER, Greater (2) SCRUB-JAY, Western (1); ROBIN, American (24); SHRIKE, Loggerhead (10); STARLING, European (3571); SWIFT White-throated (130); THRASHER, Crissal (2); TOWHEE, Abert’s (45) and Spotted (2); VERDIN (6); WARBLER: Orange-crowned (2) and Yellow-rumped (21). Sparrows: House (11), Lincoln (1), Sage (74), Savannah (75), Song (15), Vesper (2), and White-crowned (535).Woodpeckers: FLICKER, Northern (78), SAPSUCKER, Red-naped (2), and WOODPECKER Ladder-backed (4). Wrens: Bewick’s (2), Marsh (6), and Rock (3).

If you’d like to see the results of all the Muddy River Counts since 2000, they are available on-line. The easiest process is to search on Google or Yahoo for “Muddy River Christmas Bird Count”. Open it and click on “Historical Results” and pick any year you want to see. You can also see multiple years by clicking on “Historical Results” and then go to “By Count Circle” at bottom of page. In Step 1, go to Option C and type in “NVMU” and click on “FIND COUNT”. In Step 2, click on “Muddy River NVMU” in the box to highlight it and then click on “ADD”. In Step 3, click on “100 (1999-2000)” as the Select Start and “106 (2005-06)” for Select End, and click on “Make a Table”. Wait about 15 seconds for the table to load.

Finally, if you’d like to participate in the Count next Christmas, watch the Progress for an announcement next December. Beginners to experts are welcome as we need lots of people to help spot birds and record what is seen. Most of all, it’s a lot of fun!

Bruce Lund is a resident of Moapa. He coordinates the Muddy River Christmas Bird Count each year.