BIRD COUNTS
Annual Spring Bird Count, Saturday, May 10
The 2025 Spring Bird Count (SBC) was Saturday, May 10, this year, the latest calendar date possible for the annual count. Now in its 53rd year, the SBC has become a much-anticipated spring event for birders throughout the state but particularly here in DuPage County. This year was no exception.
One-hundred thirty- seven birders started early in the morning to complete this census of spring birds throughout the county with eager anticipation. Those 137 birders spent a total of 380 party hours in the field, walked 320 miles, and drove 482 miles throughout DuPage County in an effort to identify and count as many birds as possible. Some started owling before 4 am, and others were still counting as the sun set. Thanks to all who participated in the count and dedicated their day to the SBC: Your efforts are greatly appreciated.
And, your efforts paid off. You found an above-average number of species on the 2025 SBC – 180 species. You also counted 29,762 birds this year, which also is above the long-term average for the count. This year’s totals compare favorably to the 2024 count when we found 170 species and 28,553 birds. The all-time high number of species observed occurred in 2018 when 188 species were reported.
As always, SBC birders record some unusual and rare species on count day. Although we did not find any really rare or out of range birds, some less common spring birds for DuPage County were counted. These include two Trumpeter Swans observed by two different groups at Blackwell and then a little later at Herrick Lake. Two Snow Geese were observed at College of DuPage. Both of these species have only been seen on the SBC two other times in the past 24 years. Another relatively rare find was a Lark Sparrow, making its appearance for only the fourth time. Other scarce species included a Redhead, Least Bittern, Common Gallinule, Acadian Flycatcher, Cerulean Warbler, and Blue Grosbeak.
The most commonly recorded birds reported on the SBC for 2025 were the Red-winged Blackbird (4788), followed by American Robin, Canada Goose, Mallard, and Tree Swallow. These species have held the top spots as most abundant for many years.
If you – like me – thought that there were lots of orioles around this spring, you are correct. We identified new high counts of both Orchard Oriole (88) and Baltimore Oriole (746) for the SBC this year. We also recorded new high counts for Hooded Merganser, Eastern Screech Owl, Eastern Phoebe, Warbling Vireo, Common Yellowthroat, and House Sparrow. A couple of those high counts are likely due to the later date for the count this year, and the number of Screech Owls is highly dependent on the number of people who get up really early and go out and try to find them.
In addition to this year’s tally, there is also a spreadsheet on the website showing count results back to 1973 when the first Spring Bird Count was completed in the County. You can look at that table and see how birds have changed over the last 50 years.
Thanks to all the birders who volunteered to take part in the count this year. DuPage County is consistently second only to Cook County in number of participants throughout the State. Keep up the great work.
Finally, I would like to acknowledge and thank the Area Captains who do all of the work organizing and assuring coverage of all the birding areas in the county for the Spring Bird Count. They are Dave Hodge, Kyle Wiktor, Nancy Allured, Dave Yeager, Urs Geiser, Diann Bilderback, Glenn Perricone, William Huebler, Dave Spleha, Jerry and Jodi Zamirowski, Susan Kaley, Linda Radtke, Joe Suchecki, Mike Madsen, and Jim Green.
Mark your 2026 calendars NOW. Not too early to plan for next year’s count – keep open Saturday May 9 for the 2026 Spring Bird Count.
Submitted by Joe Suchecki
2024 Greene Valley Hawkwatch
2024 set an all time low Count for the Hill – yearly bird count totals are HERE. Unsurprisingly, no new species high counts were set In this our 19th year of the GVHW, but 5 all time lows were set: N. Harrier (44% of their LTA), Sharp-shinned Hawk (1/3 the LTA), Cooper’s Hawk (5% of the LTA!), Broad-winged Hawk (2% of their LTA) and Merlin (just over 1/3 their LTA) . Though not a record low, even TVs were less abundant than ‘normal’, almost 50% below their LTA.
How bad was it? 650+ raptors below our previous all time low set in 2006! Excluding the variable year to year BW numbers, 2024’s 1.88 raptors/hr rate is just 40% of the 19 year average rate of 4.76/hr! Did the weather, and the persistent ‘blue dome’, play a role in 2024’s lack of birds? 40% of our time on the hill in 2024 was under a blue dome; the blue dome plus easterly winds (8% of hill hours) produced just 31 raptors! Blue dome conditions with more friendly westerly winds, did not exhibit the same dramatic lack of birds. Ignoring wind direction, a blue dome situation represented 38% of our season; during those periods, we counted 35% of our raptors. Looking at the numbers, the easterly wind dominance is most closely connected with our poor count – 201 hrs of easterly winds yielded just 209 raptors; the 386 hours w/o an easterly component produced a count of 919 raptors. But there’s another angle to the blue dome effect – it’s harder to find/see those specks. And on a global scale, the cloudless sky – blue dome condition may be increasing, where we hawkwatch, for as yet undetermined reasons!
Some general observations:
- Monarchs were seen in small numbers well into November; we had the expected dragonfly swarm migration days – Green Darners and Black Saddlebags, primarily.
- Our faithful companions were back; Horned Larks, Am. Pipits (1st on 9/7), Lapland Longspurs (1st on 10/1) and Snow Buntings (1st on 11/6); the longspurs and buntings as usual kept us company on a daily basis in good numbers later in the season. 300+ Bobolinks put on quite a show, as they headed S on 9/20.
- We recorded our last Chimney Swift, on 10/12, 7 days earlier than last year.
- Only 4,760 Sandies flew over during the season, though on a few mid November days we saw large numbers (but uncountable) in the far distance to the east. No Whooping Cranes this year – they’re not ‘annual’ yet! Except for Ichabod, one of Frontier Air’s ‘mascot’ planes.
- On 11/9 a very late swallow passed by, likely a Tree.
- Inclement weather caused count cancellations on just 2 days (9/22 and 11/5); on 11/21 Jeff S. got ‘snowed out’ after 1⁄2 hr, so our low Count was certainly not lack of time on the hilltop!
It keeps us coming back...the birds, the friendships, but perhaps most of all, the genuine feeling of peaceful detachment from that busy world 200 feet below us. See you in 2025! Let’s put our eyes on the sky once again!
One or more of our dedicated volunteer counters/observers were on the hill for 587 hours during 2024; thanks especially to the indefatigable Jeff Smith, who logged 527 hours – up almost daily, scanning, counting, then logging/entering data in real time, including eBird checklists of our non-raptor flybys. Not only that – Jeff captured some great shots of the raptors who did pass by. He was ably supported by the other counters and observers who weren’t able to put in quite as much time, but who all helped greatly in spotting and counting on many occasions. Our GV hawkwatching team registered an aggregated 1590 hours.
As always, thanks to our dedicated team of volunteers, the DuPage County Forest Preserve District, and Waste Management, for their support of our Count!