Wind Cave National Park held its 18th annual Christmas Bird Count on Sunday. The event is an opportunity for bird enthusiasts to enjoy the outdoors while assisting the National Park Service in documenting wintering birdlife throughout the area.
Sixteen birders gathered to participate in the 2013 Christmas Bird Count. Sightings from portions of Custer State Park and the Black Hills National Forest were also included in the number totals.
Wind Cave National Park biologist Dan Roddy says it was an almost perfect day to be out birding.
"Interesting enough," observes Roddy, " the weather was quite cooperative for the middle of December. We had temperatures probably in the mid-40s and light winds. The winds weren't an issue like they are sometimes in the winter time."
This year's count included the highest number of species since 2004 at 36, plus the highest total number of birds since 2005 at 1261.
But the low number of eagle sightings, says Roddy, was a surprise.
"We had one bald eagle this year," Roddy comments. "And, for example, last year we had 17. So, we're down considerably with the balds. And the golden eagles, we came up with 3 this year...last year we had 17."
Dan Roddy says there's no explanation for the low eagle numbers at this point, but theorizes that the recent extreme weather may have forced the birds farther south this year.
Roddy says the Christmas Count is beneficial over the long term in determining winter bird population trends both regionally and nationally.