And a great job by the leaders Pat and Shai On Mon, Dec 19, 2016 at 10:53 AM, Shaibal Mitra <[email protected]> wrote:
> 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/ > > -- > > -- Ken Thompson Sayville 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/[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/ --
