The 94th Montauk Christmas Bird Count was conducted on Saturday, December 16th. This year marks the 103rd anniversary of the first Montauk Count, which took place in 1920.
Forty-six participants in five areas counted *134 species* on the count day. This represents our highest total over the last ten years. Conditions were relatively mild for this count, with temperatures ranging up to 55 F and maximum winds at around 15 kts. Species highlights included the first count records of *Rufous Hummingbird *in Napeague (visiting an inaccessible feeder), *Black-throated Blue Warbler *on Gardiners Island, and *Tufted Duck *(continuing) in Lake West. Though a count-week only bird, the first count record of *Magnificent Frigatebird* was seen at Camp Hero during Monday's storm. Other interesting species included *King Eider* (Point South), *Dovekie* (Point North, Point South), *American Bittern* (Point North), *Clay-colored Sparrow* (Point South, Napeague), *Yellow-breasted Chat* (Point South, Lake West), and *Northern Parula* (Lake West). Many new high counts were set. The most notable was likely *Razorbill *for the second year in a row, with an astonishing *3,060*. Others include *Wood Duck* (13), *Virginia Rail* (14), *Sanderling *(781), *Dunlin *(359), *Greater Yellowlegs* (16), *Double-crested Cormorant* (156), *Yellow-bellied Sapsucker* (41),* Hairy Woodpecker* (25), *Common Raven* (19), *Ruby-crowned Kinglet* (20), *Carolina Wren* (377), *Hermit Thrush* (94), *American Robin* (4083), *Swamp Sparrow* (69) and *Orange-crowned Warbler* (10). It seems that most of these highs are attributable to the mild weather preceding the count. Though not a high count, 2,915 Bonaparte's Gull continued a recent rebound in numbers for the species. Misses were few, but included Common Merganser (likely absent due to ample open water to the north) and Red-breasted Nuthatch (a very poor year region-wide). Only a single Brown Creeper was seen. Our deepest thanks to Frank Quevedo and the South Fork Natural History Museum for hosting the compilation and providing dinner and to all participants for joining us and to the area leaders for organizing coverage. For those interested, the 2024 count will take place on *Saturday, December 14, 2023*. Co-Compilers Brent Bomkamp Angus Wilson -- (copy & paste any URL below, then modify any text "_DOT_" to a period ".") NYSbirds-L List Info: NortheastBirding_DOT_com/NYSbirdsWELCOME_DOT_htm NortheastBirding_DOT_com/NYSbirdsRULES_DOT_htm NortheastBirding_DOT_com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave_DOT_htm ARCHIVES: 1) mail-archive_DOT_com/nysbirds-l@cornell_DOT_edu/maillist_DOT_html 2) surfbirds_DOT_com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) birding_DOT_aba_DOT_org/maillist/NY01 Please submit your observations to eBird: ebird_DOT_org/content/ebird/ --
