The annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count has come and gone and during the 115th Christmas Bird Count, there are a few surprises that surely made for a more memorial event.

Bird watchers identified last-minute travelers as Sandhill Cranes, which are an impressive species of bird that is sometimes mistaken for a Great Blue Heron and spends half the year in colder U.S. climes.

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Christmas Bird Count (CBC) participants from all over only reported seeing a maximum of six migratory Sandhill Cranes at one time.

CBC organizer Joel Greenberg was surprised when Chicago-area watchers spotted a stunning 900 of these birds in flight.

"By middle to end of December in northern Illinois, they're usually gone. So to get big flights this late is unusual. If it was in March or October or November, it wouldn't have been; but being late December, it's unusual," he added.

On New Year’s Day, Greenberg’s group spotted three bald eagles in Lake County, which he considered as well as an unusual sight for this time of year.

The group believes that it’s a sign that Bald Eagle populations over the last decade is now recovering.

“To see three in a day is pretty cool,” he shares. “It adds a lot of joy and is a clear manifestation of a species coming back after being severely depleted.”

The majestic birds of prey were initially threatened by hunting and unintentional DDT poisonings, but those actions have long been stopped. Bald eagles were last identified to have a healthy and increasing North American presence back in 2004.

2014 has been a great year for Chicago in the annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count because it turned up some interesting faces and numbers.

TagsChristmas Bird Count, Audubon Christmas Bird Count, Birds, Sandhill Cranes, bald eagles, bird watching, bird count