This season, Missouri hosted 33 active counts circles—the highest number yet. Two circles saw their debut: Cass County and Grand Pass. Thanks, in-part, to these two new circles, a record-high of 689 participants recorded 159 species. This species count was the highest recorded in Missouri CBC history.
The early summer in Missouri was marked by some of the driest conditions on record with the state receiving nearly 2 inches below the average precipitation. July and August saw momentary above average precipitation levels; however, the remainder of the year was dry again. Overall, the state was still in drought conditions throughout the period with several counts noting low water. By the end of the year, the state was 4.6 inches of precipitation below average. The Missouri River level at St. Joseph had been running 2 feet low for several weeks before the count period. Ephemeral pools and oxbow lakes around the state were notably low as well. The only precipitation seen was light rain on a few counts.
Globally, 2023 was the warmest year on record. In fact, the top 10 warmest years have all been post-2014 (i.e. the past 10 years). In Missouri, December 2023 was 9.1°F above average, making it the fourteenth consecutive month with above average temperatures. Several northernmost counties in the state experienced their warmest December on record. As Missouri experiences the effects of climate change, citizen science projects like the CBC will become increasingly important to monitor the climate’s effects on bird populations.
The weather within the count season was unusually warm with an average count temperature of 40.5°F. This is the highest average temperature in over 15 years. The coldest temperature was recorded at both Dade County and Dent-Texas County at 23°F, and the warmest temperature was recorded at Grand Pass at 59°F.
Possibly due to the increased rain in late summer and/or the mild temperatures, fruit-bearing plants like cedar, hackberry, and poison ivy had high volume crops across the state. The prevalence of fruit contributed to higher numbers of frugivorous birds like robins, bluebirds, mockingbirds, waxwings, and some warblers.
As for total species counted, Dade County had the highest total with 114 species. This ties the state record for the highest species count on a single count with Four Rivers in 2016. Other counts that broke 100 species include Clarence Cannon (107 sp.), Confluence (103 sp.), Four Rivers (107 sp.), and Mingo (101 sp.). For Clarence Cannon, Confluence, and Dade County, these totals represented personal high species count records for the prospective circles, with Confluence tying its 2012 species total. Five other circles set high species counts as well: Grand River (74 sp.), Liberal (91 sp.), Mark Twain Lake (57 sp.), Swan Lake (86 sp.), and Weldon Spring (80 sp.). For the new circles, Cass County recorded 75 species and Grand Pass recorded 78 species.
Three new species were added to the Missouri CBC list this year. A Red-throated Loon at Trimble was the fourth loon species—and possibly the most expected after Common Loon—to be added to the CBC list. Maybe unsurprising to most, Limpkin was added to the CBC list with a bird at Springfield. There were two other counts that recorded this newly invading species (Mingo and Weldon Spring), but both only recorded it as a “count-week” bird. Luckily, Springfield was able to officially add the species to the list. Maybe most notably, a Northern Rough winged Swallow at Big Oak Tree represented a first winter record for Missouri as a whole, as well as a first for a CBC, though this bird was not accepted by the MBRC. In addition to these full species, a Hooded Merganser x Common Goldeneye hybrid at Trimble placed this species combination on the list for the first time.
Other noteworthy birds in the state included Long-tailed Duck, Eared Grebe, Sora, Greater Yellowlegs, Dunlin, Pectoral Sandpiper, Pacific Loon, American Bittern, Say’s Phoebe, Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, Smith’s Longspur, and Baltimore Oriole.