The Block Island Veterans Day Count was conducted for the 25th time on 16 Nov 2020 by five participants in four parties. Despite the smaller than usual number of participants, coverage was strong, with 32 party-miles on foot and two boat crossings during daylight. Wind was an issue, especially early in the day, with sustained winds of 24 mph and gusts up to 40 mph making the morning ferry ride one of the roughest in memory. The wind undoubtedly hindered detection of many species of landbirds also, and the general paucity of these birds was noted by all participants: 47 landbird species were eight fewer than average, and 67 landbirds per foot-mile were 55 fewer than average. Even so, no species was missed for the first time.
Despite the irruptions of many boreal species this fall, our count managed to fall on a poor day. We missed Purple Finch, Common Redpoll, and Red Crossbill, which have been moving strongly in the region, and barely eked out two Pine Siskins, one very vocal Evening Grosbeak, seven Red-breasted and three White-breasted Nuthatches, and a Hairy Woodpecker. Lingering migrants, often a very interesting feature of this count, were almost completely absent: Eastern Phoebe, Lincoln’s Sparrow, Indigo Bunting, and Baltimore Oriole were all missed, and the total of three warbler species (Cape May and Palm in addition to Myrtle) was surely the lowest ever for this count. A White-eyed Vireo, a third record for the November count and two Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers (a species recorded for just the ninth time in 25 years) were the most notable exceptions to this pattern. The regular CBC half-hardies were all notably scarce: seven Golden-crowned and five Ruby-crowned Kinglets, four Hermit Thrushes, two Gray Catbirds, zero Brown Thrasher, and five Eastern Towhees were all notably below average. The overall pattern of scarcity of thicket birds extended to the common species, as American Robin (39, a new minimum), Myrtle Warbler (23, also a new minimum), Song Sparrow (184, 34% below average), and White-throated Sparrow (78, 64% below average) were scarce across all parts of the island. In contrast, waterfowl and gulls were well represented, which helped to bring the overall species total up to 94, nine fewer than average. Seven Virginia Rails and 1420 Northern Gannets set new maxima, whereas a total of nine Common Loons was a new minimum. No rare species were found, but a number of scarce species were tallied, including Snow Goose, Blue-winged Teal, Harlequin Duck, American Kestrel, Iceland Gull, and two Lesser Black-backed Gulls. Full data with summary stats are attached. Shai Mitra Bay Shore, NY -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME.htm http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES.htm 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://birding.aba.org/maillist/NY01 Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
BI_VDC_121_Summary.xlsx
Description: BI_VDC_121_Summary.xlsx
