The 114th Annual Christmas Bird Count was held in Central Park on 15 December 2013. The day started with a snow storm and ice, but by the time the count began, the skies were merely overcast. Temperatures were just below freezing at 8 am but rose to 36 degrees by mid-day. We were 75 birders on slush and ice. Many of us discovered our waterproof boots weren't all that!
We are still checking some flock numbers and count week birds with other teams, and this is not the full count circle (NJLH), but here is the tally so far. We saw 5,414 birds representing 62 species. There was one each of Snow Goose, Green-winged Teal, and Bald Eagle at the Reservoir; a Baltimore Oriole in the Ramble; and an American Woodcock in the Northwest section. Noticeable by their absence were Black-capped Chickadees (n=1) and Tufted Titmouse (n=1)! There was a large flock of Canada Geese flying over Manhattan on Sunday. The tally so far: Species Total Snow Goose 1 Canada Goose 455 Wood Duck 10 Gadwall 3 Black Duck 5 Mallard 497 Northern Shoveler 143 Green-winged Teal 1 Lesser Scaup 4 Bufflehead 14 Common Merganser 7 Hooded Merganser 17 Ruddy Duck 25 Pied-billed Grebe 3 Double-crested Cormorant 2 Great Blue Heron 3 Cooper's Hawk 4 Red-shouldered Hawk 1 Red-tailed Hawk 7 Bald Eagle 1 American Kestrel 4 American Coot 19 American Woodcock 1 Ring-billed Gull 181 Herring Gull 28 Great Black-backed Gull 3 Rock Pigeon 459 Mourning Dove 93 Red-bellied Woodpecker 37 Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 19 Downy Woodpecker 34 Hairy Woodpecker 2 Northern Flicker 7 Blue Jay 165 American Crow 17 Black-capped Chickadee 1 Tufted Titmouse 1 White-breasted Nuthatch 1 Brown Creeper 9 Carolina Wren 8 Winter Wren 1 Ruby-crowned Kinglet 4 Hermit Thrush 5 American Robin 45 Gray Catbird 1 Northern Mockingbird 6 Brown Thrasher 4 European Starling 263 Eastern Towhee 4 Chipping Sparrow 3 Fox Sparrow 8 Song Sparrow 26 White-throated Sparrow 526 Dark-eyed Junco 73 Northern Cardinal 78 Red-winged Blackbird 7 Common Grackle 978 Brown-headed Cowbird 12 Baltimore Oriole 1 House Finch 74 American Goldfinch 10 House Sparrow 993 Good Birding in the New Year! Susan Elbin compiler -- 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/[email protected]/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/ --
