2015 Big Year Recap

Every bird of every species (or hybrid combo) from my condo in 2015. (Thee big year)


Cackling Goose 7
Canada Goose 6,085
Mute Swan 9
Trumpeter Swan 2
Tundra Swan 473
Wood Duck 61
Gadwall 90
American Wigeon 399
American Black Duck 250
Mallard 2185
Blue-winged Teal 8
Northern Shoveler 74
Northern Pintail 1173
Mallard x Northern Pintail (hybrid) 1
Green-winged Teal 233
Canvasback 51
Redhead 999
Ring-necked Duck 4
Greater Scaup 6810
Lesser Scaup 1848
King Eider 5
Surf Scoter 13,580
White-winged Scoter 29,348
Black Scoter 1072
Long-tailed Duck 105,831
Bufflehead 338
Common Goldeneye 4,885
Common x Barrow's Goldeneye (hybrid) 1
Hooded Merganser 12
Common Merganser 1430
Red-breasted Merganser 12948
Ruddy Duck 210
Wild Turkey 2
Red-throated Loon 184
Common Loon 649
Horned Grebe 412
Red-necked Grebe 25
Neotropic Cormorant 3
Double-crested Cormorant 24198
Great Cormorant 1
Great Blue Heron 102
Great Egret 12
Green Heron 1
Black-crowned Night-Heron 23
Turkey Vulture 1066
Osprey 27
Golden Eagle 1
Northern Harrier 14
Sharp-shinned Hawk 74
Cooper's Hawk 32
Bald Eagle 55
Red-shouldered Hawk 15
Broad-winged Hawk 82
Red-tailed Hawk 179
Rough-legged Hawk 9
Black-bellied Plover 8
American Golden-Plover 1
Semipalmated Plover 16
Killdeer 188
Spotted Sandpiper 13
Solitary Sandpiper 2
Lesser Yellowlegs 55
Whimbrel 46
Hudsonian Godwit 42
Sanderling 1
Dunlin 156
Least Sandpiper 1
White-rumped Sandpiper 2
Semipalmated Sandpiper 17
Short-billed Dowitcher 2
American Woodcock 4
Red-necked Phalarope 52
Pomarine Jaeger 2
Parasitic Jaeger 15
Long-tailed Jaeger 1
Black-legged Kittiwake 1
Sabine's Gull 5
Bonaparte's Gull 2049
Little Gull 7
Ring-billed Gull 13860
Herring Gull 10,953
Thayer's Gull 4
Iceland Gull 32
Lesser Black-backed Gull 22
Glaucous Gull 139
Herring x Glaucous Gull (hybrid) 1
Great Black-backed Gull  1290
Herring x Great Black-backed Gull (hybrid) 4
Caspian Tern 803
Common Tern 1104
Forster's Tern 2
Rock Pigeon 158
Mourning Dove 1196
Yellow-billed Cuckoo 1
Snowy Owl 13
Common Nighthawk 3
Chimney Swift 480
Ruby-throated Hummingbird 29
Belted Kingfisher 29
Red-headed Woodpecker 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker 3
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 6
Downy Woodpecker 55
Hairy Woodpecker 10
Northern Flicker 108
American Kestrel 31
Merlin 19
Peregrine Falcon 33
Eastern Wood-Pewee 5
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher 1
Alder Flycatcher 1
Willow Flycatcher 1
Eastern Phoebe 7
Great Crested Flycatcher 1
Eastern Kingbird 67
Blue-headed Vireo 5
Warbling Vireo 18
Red-eyed Vireo 3
Blue Jay 2884
American Crow 641
Fish Crow 1
Common Raven 6
Horned Lark 158
Northern Rough-winged Swallow 185
Purple Martin 123
Tree Swallow 797
Bank Swallow 1187
Barn Swallow 2130
Cliff Swallow 366
Black-capped Chickadee  128
Red-breasted Nuthatch 2
White-breasted Nuthatch 5
Brown Creeper 54
Winter Wren 2
Carolina Wren 4
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 9
Golden-crowned Kinglet 169
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 43
Eastern Bluebird 80
Veery 2
Gray-cheeked Thrush 1
Swainson's Thrush 28
Hermit Thrush 4
Wood Thrush 1
American Robin 6735
Gray Catbird 9
Brown Thrasher 2
Northern Mockingbird 1
European Starling 10459
American Pipit 3
Cedar Waxwing 2240
Lapland Longspur 2
Snow Bunting 175
Ovenbird 1
Northern Waterthrush 2
Tennessee Warbler 16
Orange-crowned Warbler 1
Nashville Warbler 34
Common Yellowthroat 3
American Redstart 40
Cape May Warbler 5
Northern Parula 6
Magnolia Warbler 18
Bay-breasted Warbler 28
Blackburnian Warbler 4
Yellow Warbler 84
Chestnut-sided Warbler 2
Blackpoll Warbler 16
Black-throated Blue Warbler 3
Palm Warbler 14
Pine Warbler 3
Yellow-rumped Warbler 123
Prairie Warbler 1
Black-throated Green Warbler 1
Canada Warbler 1
Wilson's Warbler 8
American Tree Sparrow 24
Chipping Sparrow 83
Dark-eyed Junco 221
White-crowned Sparrow 46
White-throated Sparrow 347
Savannah Sparrow 2
Song Sparrow 77
Northern Cardinal 132
Rose-breasted Grosbeak 9
Indigo Bunting 12
Bobolink 26
Red-winged Blackbird 14497
Eastern Meadowlark 2
Rusty Blackbird 84
Common Grackle 10368
Brown-headed Cowbird 4811
Orchard Oriole 2
Baltimore Oriole 70
House Finch 358
Purple Finch 17
Common Redpoll 16
Pine Siskin 332
American Goldfinch 2858
House Sparrow 2315



For a total of 316,675 birds!!!


Obviously some birds are double counted (2315 House Sparrows) - but I also made an effort to not get carried away ("only" 24198 Double-crested Cormorants for the year)...


Some highlights:

7 Cackling Goose
5 King Eider
1 Golden Eagle
55 Bald Eagle
46 Whimbrel
42 Hudsonian Godwit
52 Red-necked Phalarope
2 Pomarine Jaeger
1 Long-tailed Jaeger (actually a poor condo showing for Jaegers)
5 Sabine's Gull
1 Black-legged Kittiwake
2 Forster's Tern
13 Snowy Owl
1 Red-headed Woodpecker
33 Peregrine Falcon
80 Eastern Bluebird
2 Lapland Longspur
1 Prairie Warbler
2 Orchard Oriole



Rarest of rares: Neotropic Cormorant, Great Cormorant, Fish Crow (all ugly-ish birds!)


Top 10 Unexpected "Condo" Birds


10. Ovenbird
9. Wood Thrush
8. Winter Wren
7. Northern Waterthrush
6. Veery
5. American Woodcock
4. Yellow-billed Cuckoo
3. Yellow-bellied Flycatcher
2. Gray-cheeked Thrush
1. Wild Turkey


Some major misses!

Passerines: Black-and-white Warbler, Eastern Towhee, Field Sparrow, Scarlet Tanager, Swamp Sparrow

Other: Greater Yellowlegs, Pectoral Sandpiper, Wilson's Snipe, Short-eared Owl, Great Horned Owl

Semi-rare: Brant, Cave Swallow, Snow Goose, Harlequin Duck, Pacific Loon



Ebird Checklists of the Year:


#3 - September 8th - http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S24947546

#2 - September 30th - http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S25241060

#1 - April 2nd - http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S22644687 (with photos too)

Will it happen again? Maybe not from the condo... But this isn't the end of "big years" for me...