The Smithtown Count was held yesterday amid blustery and balmy conditions that topped out at 62 degrees by mid afternoon. 20 participants tallied 103 species that included a count week Red-headed Woodpecker and a Ring-necked Pheasant that was determined to be a released bird. The highlights of the count included: 1 Snow Goose 2 Tundra Swan (Lake Ronkonkama) 25 Wood Duck 1 Common Teal (Setauket Mill Pond) 2 Canvasback (Long Island Sound at the David Weld Preserve) 59 Common Merganser (Lake Ronkonkama) 1 Clapper Rail (Mount Sinai) 2 Virginia Rail (Nissequogue River) 3 Purple Sandpiper (Mount Sinai Harbor) 1 Bald Eagle (Sunken Meadow State Park) 18 Northern Gannet 8 Great Horned Owl 1 Barn Owl (Nissequogue River State Park) 1 Kestrel 4 Merlin 1 Peregrine Falcon (Port Jefferson Harbor) 4 Common Raven (Port Jefferson Harbor) 3 Marsh Wren (Nissequogue River) 3 Brown Thrasher 1 Purple Finch (Blydenburgh County Park) 45 Snow Bunting (Old Field Point Beach) 1 Nashville Warbler (Stony brook/Port Jefferson bike trail) 1 Common Yellowthroat (Lily Pond) 1 Chipping Sparrow 1 Field Sparrow
noteworthy misses: Lesser Scaup Great Cormorant Black-crowned Night Heron American Coot Killdeer Bonaparte's Gull Many thanks to our dedicated band of participants. Rich Gostic Compiler -- 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/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/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/ --