A few items from the Illinois state Great Backyard Bird Count

The 2010 Great Backyard Bird Count took place last weekend (February 12-15). While GBBC participants have until March 1 to finish entering their data, I thought it might be interesting to check out what people have reported so far.

Here are a few items of possible interest from the Illinois reports:

* The ten most numerous species in Illinois (greatest numbers of individual birds reported)

Canada Goose - 46,950
Snow Goose - 39,506
Common Grackle - 19,451
House Sparrow - 12,769
European Starling - 12,562
Dark-eyed Junco - 10,764
Northern Cardinal - 8,565
American Goldfinch - 6,978
Mourning Dove - 6,596
Mallard - 5,232

* The ten most "commonly observed" Illinois species (i.e., number of checklists reporting the species. When I collected the data, the total number of Illinois GBBC checklists = 2,203)

Northern Cardinal - 1,574 checklists (reported on 71.45% of total checklists)
Dark-eyed Junco - 1,464 (reported on 66.45% of total checklists)
Downy Woodpecker - 1,167 (reported on 52.97% of total checklists)
House Sparrow - 1,162 (reported on 52.75% of total checklists)
Mourning Dove - 1,106 (reported on 50.20% of total checklists)
Black-capped Chickadee - 1,051 (reported on 47.71% of total checklists)
American Goldfinch - 928 (reported on 42.12% of total checklists)
Blue Jay - 814 (reported on 36.95% of total checklists)
Red-bellied Woodpecker - 799 (reported on 36.27% of total checklists)
White-breasted Nuthatch - 781 (reported on 35.45% of total checklists)

* Most "interesting" birds (i.e., species with ten or fewer individual birds reported)

Ruddy Duck - 10 individual birds
Peregrine Falcon - 9
Hermit Thrush - 8
Double-crested Cormorant - 7
Eastern Screech-Owl - 7
Killdeer - 7
Loggerhead Shrike - 7
American Wigeon - 6
Ross's Goose - 6
Savannah Sparrow - 6
Long-eared Owl - 5
Northern Goshawk - 5
Northern Shrike - 5
Rough-legged Hawk - 5
Green-winged Teal - 4
Common Redpoll - 3
Golden-crowned Kinglet - 3
Brewer's Blackbird - 2
Eastern Phoebe - 2
Merlin - 2
Pied-billed Grebe - 2
Red Crossbill - 2
Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 2
Sandhill Crane - 2
African Collared-Dove - 1
American White Pelican - 1
Pine Warbler - 1
White-winged Scoter - 1