To the birding community:
Below are the results for Kings County Christmas Birding Count Circle. In the lowest count since 1981, with inclement snowy weather a factor among other things, 110 species were recorded. Reflecting the historic irruption of Snowy Owl this winter, it showed with a record 15 birds ( including five seen in a restricted landfill area) , smashing the previous high of 4 ( I think from 1937). Most evident was a shocking drop in Black-capped Chickadee and Tufted Titmouse numbers along with several other winter resident species which also evident in todays' Central Park (NYC) figures. Please note the numbers below for Kings CBC are not final, or preliminary due to still ongoing count week and subject to revised figures. Thanks to compiler Rick Cech for his tireless effort compiling and keeping/maintaining the records , assisted by Paul Keim assisting on count night, Mary Eyster organizing the CBC teams, Heidi Nanz setting up dinner prep and the countless members and birders helping out in any fashion. And as well thanks to the Prospect Park Alliance for use of their gorgeous venue ,the Audubon Boathouse.Anyone we forgot to mention, the Brooklyn Bird Club thank them for their voluntary effort. Happy Holidays to all, and a New Year full of great birds. --Peter BBC/ http://prospectsightings.blogspot.com/ We had 28 new low counts (11 of which were all-time), versus 8 high counts (3 all-time). Brooklyn XMas Count Annual Report: 2013 Bold = All time high / low Italic = 10-year high/low Low count stats exclude miss years Species # Snow Goose 130 Brant 15723 Cackling Goose 2 NEW FOR COUNT Canada Goose 1607 Mute Swan 171 Wood Duck 10 IRR; ALL-TIME HIGH (by almost 4x) Gadwall 126 American Wigeon 126 American Black Duck 732 Mallard 888 10-yr hi Northern Shoveler 484 Northern Pintail 2 Green-winged Teal 98 Canvasback 2 All-time low (tie) Greater Scaup 1778 Lesser Scaup 81 Surf Scoter 46 White-winged Scoter 19 Black Scoter 64 Scoter (sp.) 2 Long-tailed Duck 249 Bufflehead 621 Common Goldeneye 11 Hooded Merganser 109 All-time high Red-breasted Merganser 571 Ruddy Duck 279 Ring-necked Pheasant 1 All-time low (tie) Red-throated Loon 27 Common Loon 66 Pied-billed Grebe 5 Horned Grebe 99 Red-necked Grebe 1 Northern Gannet 208 Double-crested Cormorant 130 Great Cormorant 52 Great Blue Heron 12 10-year low Northern Harrier 12 All-time low Sharp-shinned Hawk 5 Cooper's Hawk 9 10-year low Red-tailed Hawk 13 10-year low American Kestrel 1 10-year low Merlin 1 10-year low Peregrine Falcon 3 10-year low Clapper Rail 3 IRR American Coot 46 Black-bellied Plover 20 Semipalmated Plover 1 RARE Killdeer 17 10-year high Greater Yellowlegs 7 Ruddy Turnstone 3 IRR Sanderling 401 Purple Sandpiper 23 Dunlin 38 Wilson's Snipe 1 RARE American Woodcock 1 Bonaparte's Gull 242 Ring-billed Gull 6797 Herring Gull 1616 All-time low Great Black-backed Gull 150 All-time low Rock Pigeon 704 Mourning Dove 150 Monk Parakeet 10 10-year low Snowy Owl 15 IRR; ALL-TIME HIGH (by c. 4x) Belted Kingfisher 1 10-year low Red-headed Woodpecker 1 RARE Red-bellied Woodpecker 33 Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 22 Downy Woodpecker 30 Northern Flicker 8 All-time low Blue Jay 62 American Crow 70 All-time low Horned Lark 50 Tree Swallow 4 IRR Black-capped Chickadee 4 All-time low Tufted Titmouse 4 All-time low White-breasted Nuthatch 5 10-year low Brown Creeper 1 10-year low Carolina Wren 34 Winter Wren 2 Hermit Thrush 11 American Robin 33 10-year low Gray Catbird 5 Northern Mockingbird 32 10-year low European Starling 924 All-time low American Pipit 2 10-year low Cedar Waxwing 3 10-year low Orange-crowned Warbler 2 IRR Nashville Warbler 1 RARE Yellow-rumped Warbler 135 All-time low Palm Warbler 1 Eastern Towhee 2 10-year low American Tree Sparrow 59 Chipping Sparrow 4 Field Sparrow 6 Savannah Sparrow 36 Nelson's Sharp-tailed Sparrow 1 RARE Sharp-tailed Sparrow (sp.) 1 RARE Fox Sparrow 50 10-year high Song Sparrow 247 Swamp Sparrow 86 10-year high White-throated Sparrow 377 Dark-eyed Junco 207 Snow Bunting 251 10-year high Northern Cardinal 153 Red-winged Blackbird 111 Eastern Meadowlark 1 10-year low Rusty Blackbird 3 IRR Common Grackle 2 Brown-headed Cowbird 356 House Finch 156 American Goldfinch 164 House Sparrow 418 Total: 110 species 38,991 individuals -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
