The 99th Smithtown Count (Suffolk County, Long Island) was held on Wednesday, December 27 amid calm, cloudy, mild conditions with daytime temperatures ranging from 43-50 degrees F. Periods of light rain and mist persisted throughout the day, and morning birding was hampered by dense fog that lasted into the afternoon. The Smithtown Count is centered in Stony Brook and extends west to Sunken Meadow State Park, east to Mt. Sinai Harbor and south to Lake Ronkonkama. Despite the less than favorable weather conditions, seven parties and 32 participants recorded 114 species well exceeding our 10 year average of 104 species. The highlights of the count included: 1 Cackling Goose (The Cenacle, Ronkonkama) 1 Tufted Duck (Head of the Harbor) 1 Harlequin Duck (Old Field Point) 2 Ruddy Duck (Millers Pond, Smithtown)) 91 Common Merganser (Lake Ronkonkama) 1 Red-necked Grebe (Cedar Beach, Mt. Sinai) 3 Virginia Rail (Arthur Kunz County Park, Head of the Harbor, Lily Pond) 2 Purple Sandpiper (Port Jefferson Inlet Jetty, east) 1 Razorbill (Old Field Point) 1 Black-bellied Plover (Cedar Beach, Mt. Sinai) 7 Killdeer Short Beach, Smithtown, Sunken Meadow) 1 Wilson's Snipe (Nissequogue River) 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull (Old Field Point) 2 Northern Gannet (Sunken Meadow, Mt. Misery, Port Jefferson) 6 Great Cormorant (Old Field Point) 17 Great Egret (Long Beach, Smithtown, Head of the Harbor, West Meadow Wetlands Reserve) 1 Black-crowned Night Heron (Head of the Harbor) 1 Harrier (McAllister County Park, Port Jefferson) 3 Merlin (Bow Drive, McAllister County Park, Sunken Meadow) 1 Peregrine Falcon (Blydenburgh County Park) 1 Bald Eagle (Flax Pond) 1 Long Eared Owl, ( Flowerfield, Stonybrook) 4 Saw-Whet Owl (Flowerfield/Gyrodyne, Setauket Sector) 1 Pileated Woodpecker (David Weld Preserve, Nissequogue) 2 Marsh Wren (Nissequogue River) 6 Brown Thrasher (recorded in all but 2 sectors) 6 Purple Finch, (Avalon Preserve, Stony Brook, West Meadow Wetlands Reserve) 2 Baltimore Oriole (Ronkonkama, Stony Brook) 1 Orange-crowned Warbler (Sunken Meadow) 3 Common Yellow-throat (Avalon Preserve, David Weld Sanctuary) Count saves included: Northern Shoveler Black Scoter Common Merganser Ruddy Duck American Coot Sanderling Purple Sandpiper Razorbill Northern Gannet Fish Crow Eastern Bluebird Savanah Sparrow High counts were recorded for 9 species: 44 Green-winged Teal 56 Eastern Screech Owl 179 Tufted Titmouse 33 Winter Wren 335 Carolina Wren 141 Northern Mockingbird 566 Song Sparrow 58 Swamp Sparrow 187 Brown-headed Cowbird Birds sighted during the count week period included: Black-headed Gull (Setauket Harbor), Greater White-fronted Goose (Head of the Harbor) and Snowy Egret (Stony Brook Mill Pond) Misses included: Pied-billed Grebe Red-breasted Nuthatch American Tree Sparrow I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to all of our dedicated participants and to Sweetbriar Farm for hosting our compilation. If you would like to participate next year, the centennial, 100th Smithtown Count will be held on December 27, 2024. I wish you all a healthy and happy new year. Rich Gostic, Compiler
-- (copy & paste any URL below, then modify any text "_DOT_" to a period ".") NYSbirds-L List Info: NortheastBirding_DOT_com/NYSbirdsWELCOME_DOT_htm NortheastBirding_DOT_com/NYSbirdsRULES_DOT_htm NortheastBirding_DOT_com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave_DOT_htm ARCHIVES: 1) mail-archive_DOT_com/nysbirds-l@cornell_DOT_edu/maillist_DOT_html 2) surfbirds_DOT_com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) birding_DOT_aba_DOT_org/maillist/NY01 Please submit your observations to eBird: ebird_DOT_org/content/ebird/ --
