9th Rock Cut CBC, Count 118, 12/27/17

Compiler: Joel Neylon
Year: 118, 12/27/17
Weather: Low -14.0 f, High 3.0 f. Clouds, clear. Rain: none. Snow: none.
Effort: Participants: 13. Hours: 37.82. Species: 57. Total individuals: 5814.

Hello everyone,

I'd like to thank everyone again for participating in this year's Rock Cut CBC and for getting me the bird lists so quickly. [Edit: this email was sent out 12/31/17]

This year we had a bit of struggle finding birds do to the cold. But we still found a rather nice 57 species of birds with 5814 individuals. This beat the previous high of 48 species, but the individuals were a bit low as this count usually gets well over 6000. We had a couple of more count teams in the field then usual and several more feeder watchers. Owls were particularly good this year with 11 individuals in 4 different species. I had counters in 2 places that usually don't get counters do to being closed for hunting, this year the count day was right after bow hunting and right before shotgun hunting, both of these sites proved fruitful and I will be recommending those sites be counted in future.

We had several firsts for the count and several new high counts. This is the first year that this count has had: Great Blue Heron, Wilson's Snipe, Eastern Screech Owl, Northern Saw-whet Owl, Red-headed Woodpecker, Merlin, Northern Shrike, Fox Sparrow, White-crowned Sparrow, White-throated Sparrow, Purple Finch, and Pine Siskin.
With new high counts for Cackling Goose 43, Blue Jay 76, Horned Lark 36, Tufted Titmouse 8, Eastern Bluebird 16, American Tree Sparrow 184, Dark-eyed Junco 379, Swamp Sparrow 10, Northern Cardinal 105, American Goldfinch 110, and House Sparrow 431. [Edit: When I made this back in 2017, I only had the count lists from the the previous three years, so these statements not accurate.]

We did miss several as well: nobody found any Gulls at all. Other misses were Belted Kingfisher, Golden-crowned Kinglet, Lapland Longspur, Snow Bunting, Northern Harrier, and Snowy Owl. Waterfowl numbers were a bit low, not surprising considering the lack of water.

I have a few count week birds to add, for those who don't know, Count Week is the three day before and after Count Day, only bird species that were not found count day can be added and the number of individuals is not recorded, on the list these are recorded as "cw". I managed to come up with Golden-crowned Kinglet, Northern Harrier, American Coot, and Lapland Longspur. If anybody else has a count week bird to add, again that is not on the total list, then let me know and I will include it on the list going to the Audubon Society.

Happy New Year, Joel Neylon

New high for count
** New for the count
cw=count week, bird species that were not found by anyone on the count, but were found in the 3 days before or after count day.
LC=Low Count, fewer birds found than in previous years.

Great White-fronted Goose: cw**
Cackling Goose: 43
Canada Goose: 3231
Gadwall: 1
American Duck Duck: 4
Mallard: 108
Lesser Scaup: 1
Common Goldeneye: 3
Common Merganser: 1
Wild Turkey: 54
Great Blue Heron: 1
Northern Harrier: cw
Sharp-shinned Hawk: 2
Cooper's Hawk: 3
Bald Eagle: 1
Red-tailed Hawk: 14
American Coot: cw
Wilson's Snipe: 1**
Rock Pigeon: 106
Mourning Dove: 59
Eastern Screech Owl: 3**
Great Horned Owl: 5*
Barred Owl: 2
Northern Saw-Whet Owl: 1**
Red-headed Woodpecker: 3
Red-bellied Woodpecker: 49
Downy Woodpecker: 52
Northern Flicker: 5
Pileated Woodpecker: 1
American Kestrel: 2
Merlin: 1
Northern Shrike: 1
Blue Jay: 76
American Crow: 65
Horned Lark: 36
Black-capped Chickadee: 104
Tufted Titmouse: 8
Red-breasted Nuthatch: 2
White-breasted Nuthatch: 42
Brown Creeper: 3
Golden-crowned Kinglet: cw
Eastern Bluebird: 16
American Robin: 16
European Starling: 278
Cedar Waxwing: 63
Lapland Longspur: cw
American Tree Sparrow: 184
Fox Sparrow: 3**
Dark-eyed Junco: 379
White-crowned Sparrow: 2**
White-throated Sparrow: 23
Song Sparrow: 2
Swamp Sparrow: 10*
Northern Cardinal: 105
Common Grackle: 10
House Finch: 43
Purple Finch: 8
Pine Siskin: 38
American Goldfinch: 110
House Sparrow: 431

Posted on September 6, 2021 11:21 AM by neylon