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Audubon Christmas Bird Count

Birds at the Rawhide Energy Station
The 2007 Ryder Report

See counts by clicking here.

Since 1986, Dr. Ronald A. Ryder, Professor Emeritus of Wildlife Biology, Colorado State University, has conducted an ongoing study of bird populations using the Rawhide Energy Station site. His objective is to document, by species and population numbers, birds frequenting Hamilton Reservoir at Rawhide and the adjacent wetland. He also determines peaks of migration, routes, places of breeding, and wintering areas for the more abundant species.

Common Goldeneye and Ringneck enjoying the pond at Platte River's Headquarters facility.

The program involved capturing and banding various species of waterbirds. Banded birds have been recovered from such distances as Alberta, Saskatchewan, British Columbia, Canada; Sinaloa, Guadalajara and Jalisco, in Mexico; and Alaska, Missouri, Ohio, California, Louisiana, and Mississippi in the U. S.

During 2007, 21 counts were conducted. Counts indicated, in general, fewer birds used Rawhide compared to previous years, probably due in large part to continued maintenance and construction activities, as well as reduced abundance of aquatic plants (food) resulting from efficient feeding by three species of herbivorous carp in Hamilton Reservoir.

In contrast, on the annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count, Canada Geese were at the second highest number recorded in 22 years (8,784). Mallards (1,219) showed a modest increase over the past 10 years. The newly arrived Eurasian Collared-Dove reached an all-time high of 379 birds, mainly at a feed-lot in the southern part of the circle

2000 Ryder Report
2001 Ryder Report
2002 Ryder Report
2003 Ryder Report
2004 Ryder Report
2005 Ryder Report
2006 Ryder Report

Statistics HTML pages:

Birds 1986 - 1989 Birds 1990 - 1993 Birds 1994 - 1997 Birds 1998 - 2001 Birds 2002 - 2005 Birds 2006 - 2007

See also - from the National Audubon Society, Inc.- Audubon 108th Annual Christmas Bird Count CURRENT YEAR RESULTS

Birds 1986-2007 (pdf) 8.5X14 (legal-sized)

Adobe Acrobat file:
(Note: To read Audubon file you need to have Adobe Acrobat
Reader 3.0 or newer installed on your machine. The reader is a
free download from Adobe.) Get the free Adobe Acrobat Reader by clicking here.

 

 

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