The Audubon Christmas Bird Count was held for the Brookings Circle on Dec. 14.

The Brookings circle is centered near the intersection of 465th Avenue and 216th Street with a radius of 15 miles. Much of Brookings County is included, along with small portions of Lake and Moody County.

This was started in 1957 by Nelda Holden and has been held annually every year since. The weather was foggy and misty with 10 mph winds and a high of 29 degrees. Nevertheless, we had a great team of observers, and they saw a wide variety of birds. If you want to participate in 2025, the count will likely be on Dec. 20, 2025.

A total of 50 species of birds were observed by 13 observers in the field and at five bird feeder locations. The birds that were seen the most were Canada geese. Strangely missing were bald eagles, which have been observed almost daily in Brookings.

Listed below, alphabetically by common name, are the birds seen during the 2024 Brookings Christmas Bird Count.

Number of birds seen

• American Crow — 26
• American Goldfinch — 19
• American Kestrel — 2
• American Robin — 7
• American Tree Sparrow — 16
• Belted Kingfisher — 1
• Black-capped Chickadee — 27
• Blue Jay — 33
• Brown Thrasher — 1
• Bufflehead — 1
• Cackling Goose — 20
• Canada Goose — >500
• Cedar Waxwing — 8
• Common Goldeneye — 1
• Common Grackle — 1
• Cooper’s Hawk — 2
• Dark-eyed Junco — 40
• Double-crested Cormorant — 1
• Downy Woodpecker — 20
• Eurasian Collared-Dove — 105
• European Starling — 90
• Golden-crowned Kinglet — 6
• Great Horned Owl — 2
• Greater White-fronted Goose — 1
• Hairy Woodpecker — 4
• Horned Lark —165
• House Finch — 16
• House Sparrow — 28
• Lapland Longspur — 55
• Mallard — >300
• Mourning Dove — 2
• Northern Cardinal — 5
• Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted) — 4
• Northern Harrier — 5
• Northern Shrike — 2
• Pine Siskin — 1
• Purple Finch — 7
• Red-bellied Woodpecker — 4
• Red-breasted Nuthatch — 2
• Red-tailed Hawk— 9
• Red-winged Blackbird — 68
• Ring-necked Pheasant — 22
• Rock Pigeon — 133
• Rough-legged Hawk — 8
• Sharp-shinned Hawk — 2
• Short-eared Owl — 2
• Song Sparrow — 2
• White-breasted Nuthatch — 6
• White-winged Crossbill — 22
• Wild Turkey — 31