The 54th Captree CBC, 20 December 2015 This year’s Captree CBC followed an extraordinarily mild late fall season. The weather on count day was good again also, and we tallied 122 species, well above our ten-year average of 118. This was achieved in the absence of boreal irruptive species this year, whereas last year’s total of 125 included at least four such species. The most notable species this year were the count’s second ever Tufted Duck, continuing at Lake Capri in West Islip, and the count’s first ever Long-billed Dowitchers—a long-staying flock of 10 at Santapogue Creek. Other highlights included an American Oystercatcher (Jones Island, 4th occurrence), two American Woodcocks (Belmont and Heckscher), six Laughing, one Iceland, and three Lesser Black-backed Gulls (all Fire Island, the 6th occurrence), two Eastern Phoebes (both Heckscher), a Tree Swallow inland at North, three Orange-crowned Warblers (Fire Island, Heckscher, and East; a Nashville Warbler (East, 3rd occurrence); a Prairie Warbler (Fire Island, 3rd occurrence), and a Lincoln’s Sparrow (Heckscher, 4th occurrence). Many species were recorded in large numbers. Ten-year maxima were achieved for Northern Gannet (986), Greater Yellowlegs (12), Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (15), Red-bellied (83) and Downy (133) Woodpeckers, Merlin (6), Monk Parakeet (29), Cedar Waxwing (93), and Brown-headed Cowbird (790). The total of 904 Common Grackles was far above average also. In contrast, many waterfowl were recorded in very low numbers, probably in part because of the mild, iceless season. Ten-year minima were recorded for American Wigeon (4), Ring-necked Duck (3), Long-tailed Duck (231), Bufflehead (317), Ruddy Duck (76), Black-crowned Night-Heron (0), and Herring Gull (926). Counts of one Horned Grebe, four Double-crested Cormorant, one Great Cormorant, one Black-bellied Plover, 150 Great Black-backed Gull and 14 Golden-crowned Kinglet were also very low and worthy of emphasis. Comparison of these lists of species recorded at higher and lower than usual abundance reveals considerable congruence with the results of the nearby Southern Nassau County CBC, conducted on 2 January 2016. Detailed summaries of historical frequencies, maxima, and minima for both of these CBCs are presented in related spreadsheets, allowing calibration of these numbers against expectations. These files are appended to our reports to our participants and the permit-granting agencies and are available to anyone on request.
We extend our thanks to all our participants (a new record total of 59), the US Fish and Wildlife Service, the New York State Parks, the Town of Babylon, and the Great South Bay Audubon Society, which generously subsidized our festive compilation dinner at Villa Monaco. Save the date: next year’s count will be held on Sunday 18 December 2016. Shai Mitra & Patricia Lindsay, Bay Shore, NY ________________________________ Support CSI students each time you shop with Amazon Smile<https://smile.amazon.com/ch/13-3683723> -- 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/ --
