Only the ubiquitous dark-eyed junco and the house finch outpolled the tiny bushtit in Santa Fe during the Great Backyard Bird Count last month.

Nearly 300 of the 3.5-inch-long birds were spotted in this area during the four-day event sponsored by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the National Audubon Society.

Sonny Tucker, who was participating for the second year, saw bushtits on his 13 acres in La Tierra Nueva, along with lots of ravens, robins, some mountain chicadees, spotted towhees, magpies and juncos.

Tucker, who also photographs the birds in his backyard, said the big difference this year was in the number of mountain bluebirds. Last year there were tons; this year, zero. "From what I've read, they go where the feed is," he said. "Possibly they found something better somewhere else."

Every year, more and more "birders" from around the U.S. and Canada participate in the Great Backyard Bird Count. This year they submitted more than 85,700 checklists, several thousand more than the record set in 2007. They identified a record 635 species and reported sighting 9,805,216 individual birds.

This was a banner year for northern finches, common redpolls and evening grosbeaks, but the yellow-billed magpie numbers hit a new low, possibly because of the spread of West Nile virus. The number of Eurasian collared-doves, introduced in Florida in 1980, exploded, and there were some species reported for the first time including a masked duck, usually found in the tropics, spotted in Texas and an Arctic loon, which is seldom seen outside of Alaska, which had migrated to California.

The count is a real-time snapshot of where the birds are in North America and an early indicator of environmental trends. Climate change, weather patterns, food supplies, diseases and breeding success all affect the numbers and distribution.

In New Mexico, 182 species and 101,595 individual birds — including 32,756 snowbirds — were counted during the February event. Most observers were along the Interstate 25 corridor and in Rio Arriba County.

A total of 65 species and 4,080 birds were reported in Santa Fe.

Participation in the GBBC is growing here. In 1998, 25 species and 663 birds were reported. The bushtit (56) came in fifth 10 years ago, behind the European starling (107), the dark-eyed junco, the American goldfinch (63) and the house sparrow (63).

Contact Anne Constable at 986-3022 or aconstable@sfnewmexican.com.

2008 Backyard Bird Count, Feb. 15-18, 2008
• Total checklists submitted: 85,725
• Total species observed: 635
• Total individual birds counted: 9,805,216


MOST FREQUENTLY REPORTED BIRDS
Northern cardinal 43,936
Mourning dove 42,073
Dark-eyed junco 9,477
Downy woodpecker 33,903
American goldfinch 31,775
Blue jay 31,031
House finch 29,975
Tufted titmouse 28,023
Black-capped chicadee 26,757
American crow 26,708

MOST NUMEROUS BIRDS OVERALL
Snow goose 927,059
Canada goose 778,871
European starling 767,395
American robin 534,510
Common grackle 508,998
American crow 363,321
American goldfinch 338,403
Dark-eyed Junco 307,801
Red-winged blackbird 302,863
Mourning dove 268,699

MOST NUMEROUS BIRDS IN SANTA FE
Dark-eyed junco 722
House finch 731
Bushtit 298
Cassin's finch 75
Pinyon jay 196
American robin 168
House sparrow 166
Common raven 158
American crow 148
Mountain chicadee 116

Only 1 of the following species reported in Santa Fe: northern harrier, ferruginous hawk, American kestrel, merlin, prairie falcon, great horned owl, Clark's nutcracker, hermit thrush, yellow-rumped warbler, evening grosbeak, white-throated sparrow