The Captree CBC was conducted on Sunday, 18 Dec 2016, for the 55th time. Fifty participants covered this circle in southwestern Suffolk County, Long Island, finding a provisional total of 113 species. The weather was better than we expected, coverage was excellent, and the compilation dinner at Villa Monaco in West Islip was festive and well-attended—we offer our thanks to Great South Bay Audubon Society for generously contributing to the cost of this celebration.
Geese were a major focus in several territories, and diligent searching yielded a Greater White-fronted Goose in the Gardiner sector, a Cackling Goose in the East sector, and a locally unusual tally of 28 Snow Geese, in three territories, including high-flying migrants. This is a species we often miss and usually detect in small numbers, so these numbers are unusual for us, but consistent with observations on other CBCs this weekend (see especially Steve Chorvas’ write-up of the Mohonk Lake/Ashokan Reservoir CBC: http://birding.aba.org/message.php?mesid=1219062&MLID=NY01&MLNM=New%20York Our long-staying Barnacle Goose was not seen on count day but was present at Belmont Lake at least through Friday. Belmont produced the only Wood Ducks (4), Fire Island the only Common Eiders (3) and Common Goldeneyes (3), and Connetquot the only Common Mergansers (8)—all more or less routine highlights. In contrast, just one single Lesser Scaup was found—far fewer than expected. Horned Grebe was missed for just the third time in 55 years, a disappointing outcome but one that didn’t surprise me after my experience on the Montauk CBC on Saturday, where this species was remarkably scarce. Even more distressing was the absence of Bonaparte’s Gull, also missed for just the third time. Still remembered by many of us as an abundant and characteristic feature of the Fire Island Inlet area, this species has been slipping away from us, as have Canvasback (5th miss) and Northern Pintail (6th miss). But neither dire trends nor bad weather can explain an across the board dip on Hermit Thrush (4th miss). There will be an investigation. In addition to highlights already mentioned, the Connetquot team saved Black-crowned Night-Heron, Bald Eagle, and American Woodcock; Fire Island saved Greater Yellowlegs, Ruddy Turnstone (8th count record), Lesser Black-backed Gull (7th count record), and Lapland Longspur; the Jones Island party saved American Oystercatcher (5th count record), Pine Warbler, and Boat-tailed Grackle (42, for just the 6th count record); Gardiner saved Lesser Scaup, Killdeer, and Monk Parakeet (23, for just the 8th count record, all recent); Seatuck saved Brown Thrasher; Heckscher saved Ruby-crowned Kinglet (2); and East saved Eastern Phoebe and Marsh Wren (2). Spoiled saves are the bane of competitive participants but the joy of compilers; the best of these yesterday were four (!) Orange-crowned Warblers, found by Seatuck, Heckscher, and East; three Chipping Sparrows, found by Connetquot and East; and three Rusty Blackbirds, found by Belmont and Connetquot. Special praise is deserved by the team covering the North territory, a heavily developed interior area with markedly less habitat diversity than the other eight sectors. North not only saved American Kestrel (2) and Palm Warbler but also found a Great Horned Owl, one of two on the count. More broadly, Pat and I extend our thanks to all our teams for their valiant efforts yesterday, braving thunder, lightning, and intense rain before dawn and ominous, tornado-like squalls in the evening. We are impressed that no fewer than five parties found six Eastern Screech and two Great Horned Owls under these circumstances. Shai Mitra & Patricia Lindsay Bay Shore -- 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/[email protected]/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/ --
