Birds - Who's Here In The Winter?

I came across this little tidbit of info on bird migration in North Dakota.

Start Here
North Dakota Bird Life: Tracking Changes Over a Quarter Century
Douglas H. Johnson, Lawrence D. Igl, and Christopher J. Johnson
Originally published in: North Dakota Outdoors (June, 1997)

Migration Section
Changes Varied by Migration Strategy

161 breeding bird species in ND
148 migratory
- 86 short-distance mostly in USA
- 62 long-distance to Central or South America
13 permanent residents

So...who are those 13 permanent residents?

I found a bird checklist(s) at the ND Game and Fish Dept and imported it (two of them) into an Excel spreadsheet and ran a filter on it.

I came up with 15 *breeding birds that are either Common or Fairly Common here in North Dakota during the winter.
1. *Gray partridge
2. *Ring-necked pheasant
3. *Sharp-tailed grouse
4. *Rock dove
5. *Golden eagle
6. *Ruffed grouse
7. *Sage grouse
8. *Wild turkey
9. *Great horned owl
10. *Downy woodpecker
11. *Hairy woodpecker
12. *Black-billed magpie
13. *Black-capped chickadee
14. *White-breasted nuthatch
15. *European Starling

3 birds do not breed here, but are either Common or Fairly Common here in the winter.
1. House sparrow
2. Bohemian waxwing
3. Snow bunting

I've never seen:
White-breasted nuthatch
Rock dove (Oh, that's the common city pigeon.)
Bohemian waxwing - more on that in another post.
Snow bunting - comes down from the cold-er North.

My Birds of the Dakotas Field Guide Book just says "Year-Round" and does not distinguish between Common, Fairly Common, etc. One I noticed from that book that I might put on my winter list is the Blue Jay (rated Uncommon at gfnd). I've seen that bird around here fairly late in season, like November/December maybe.

And I wonder about the bald eagle (Rare at gfnd) along the rivers. The rivers can remain open (food source) quite late in season.
And Canada geese seem to stick around rather late in season too.