The Queens County Christmas Bird Count was held yesterday in strong northwest winds. Despite the non-stop gusts, 61 participants (a record for us!) detected 33,337 individuals of 118 species.
We set high counts for a surprising number of species (number in parenthesis is the previous high count): Canada Goose - 6,869 (5,674) Ring-necked Duck - 111 (49) Lesser Scaup - 757 (649) Wilson's Snipe - 5 (3) Razorbill - 12 (1) Merlin - 9 (3) Peregrine Falcon 11 (9) Common Raven 9 (5) Carolina Wren 56 (47) Chipping Sparrow 33 (9) Some of these, like Carolina Wren, are likely attributable to more observers. But Common Ravens, like with the Brooklyn count, are genuinely increasing. Perhaps the falcons were observed more easily because the high winds but lack of precipitation made observation easier? Some good birds for the count included American Oystercatcher (5th record), Eastern Screech-Owl (6th record), and House Wren (9th record). Painful misses included Northern Pintail, Pied-billed Grebe, Ring-necked Pheasant, Brown-headed Cowbird, and Rusty Blackbird. Especially painful was missing the Ash-throated Flycatcher that had been present in Bayswater Park until at least Friday. At least we got it as a count-week bird! Thanks to everyone who made this count a success, especially Ian Resnick who made sure to pick up the pizza, Nancy Tognan who did the data entry at the compilation, and all of the sector leaders who made sure their squads were in order and prepared as I was out of the country for a couple weeks leading up to the count. Good (Christmas) Bird Counting, Corey Finger -- 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/ --
