Christmas Bird Count Results

Ferrisburgh VT-NY - 2007

Saturday December 15th dawned cold and cloudy as a fog rose off Lake Champlain for the 48th Ferrisburgh Christmas Bird Count. Thirty-eight people broke into 13 teams and spent 145 combined hours in the field covering 656 miles. This effort was supplemented by 7.5 hours of owling coverage over 113.5 miles and four feeder watchers.
2007 will be remembered as the year of the winter irruptives. The count set record highs for snow buntings (2,584) and common redpolls (2,515). Counters found the most pine grosbeaks (109) since 1968. Waxwings were in abundance with the second highest totals for both Bohemian (982) and cedar (1,140). Yet with all the winter birds around we had only one purple finch and no pine siskins or evening grosbeaks.
Four blackbird species were found with the first rusty blackbirds since 1980.
Six woodpecker species was a remarkable total. In addition to the four usual suspects (downy, hairy, flicker, and pileated) redbellieds have become common. They have now appeared on five consecutive counts and this year six groups spotted eight birds. The stand-out woodpecker was a yellow-bellied sapsucker in Vergennes, the first in the history of the count.
An Iceland gull off of Thompson Point was also a first for the count.
Waterfowl numbers were mixed. Fewer Canada geese (93) were seen than ever before and only one snow goose made an appearance. On the other hand, 3,009 common goldeneye set a count record. Unusual ducks included a wood duck at the falls in Vergennes, five lesser scaup off Thompson Point, and a gadwall from the New York side of the circle.
For the second year in a row and only the second time since 1966 American kestrel was missed. However, four merlins were the most ever seen on the count. A northern goshawk also made an appearance in the Charlotte territory.
Among the more common birds, tufted titmouse continued to increase dramatically. This year, for the first time ever, there were more titmice than white-breasted nuthatch.
Thank you to all field participants and feeder watchers for another successful count. We look forward to seeing you again on Saturday December 20, 2008 for the 49th annual count.
- Mike Winslow.

Plattsburgh - 2007

2007 Christmas Bird Count Summary for the Plattsburgh, NY/ VT (NYPL)circle 44o39' N 73o29'W, as described in 1986 with the center at the former Plattsburgh Air Force Base. The 2007 CBC for this area was held on Sunday, December 16 from 07:00 to 16:30 with temperatures ranging from 7oF to 14oF under constant snow or snow flurries. The variable south, then northeast 0-20 mph winds with gusts to 39mph. Visibility was never more than 1.7 miles. The 19 field observers logged 42.8 party hours and 181 total miles of which 28.5 hours and 163 miles were in cars, 5.75 hours, 10 miles on foot, 5.5 hours, 5 miles on skis and 3 hours, 3 miles on snowshoes. The 34 feeder watchers spent 116 hours at feeders. There were 57 species recorded and 5818 individuals counted. An additional 11 species were found during the count week.
Snow Goose 1, Canada Goose 111, American Black Duck 11, Mallard 513, Lesser Scaup 1, Bufflehead 1, Common Goldeneye 89, Hooded Merganser 5, Common Merganser 201, Ring-necked Pheasant 2, Ruffed Grouse 1, Wild Turkey 50, Common Loon 1, Sharp-shinned Hawk 2, Cooper's Hawk 3, Red-tailed Hawk 1, Ring-billed Gull 107, Herring Gull 8, Great Black-backed Gull 71, Rock Pigeon 337, Mourning Dove 406, Downy Woodpecker 48, Hairy Woodpecker 46, Northern Flicker 2, Pileated Woodpecker 3, Blue Jay 175, American Crow 425, Common Raven 1, Horned Lark 26, Black-capped Chickadee 523, Tufted Titmouse 20, Red-breasted Nuthatch 12, White-breasted Nuthatch 42, Brown Creeper 2, Carolina Wren 2, Eastern Bluebird 3, American Robin 6, European Starling 374, Bohemian Waxwing 575, American Tree Sparrow 93, Song Sparrow 1, White-throated Sparrow 3, Dark-eyed Junco 301, Snow Bunting 65, Northern Cardinal 129, Red-winged Blackbird 2, Rusty Blackbird 1, Common Grackle 17, Brown-headed Cowbird 11, Pine Grosbeak 108, Purple Finch 4, House Finch 130, Common Redpoll 258, Pine Siskin 33, American Goldfinch 242, Evening Grosbeak 11, House Sparrow 204. Also seen during count week were Greater Scaup, Long-tailed Duck, Ruddy Duck, Horned Grebe, Bald Eagle, Rough-legged hawk, Northern Harrier, Short-eared Owl, Cedar Waxwing, Lapland Longspur, and Eastern Meadowlark.
The participants were Derek Allan, Tom Armstrong, Helen Booth, Robert Booth, Kit Booth, Robin Brown, Gwen Cateenwalla, James Cayea, Joy Cayea, Joan Clark, Betty Conway, Regina Coryea, Walter Coryea, Uma Creedon-Carey, Paul Dame, Julie Dumas, Bob Ellsworth, Holland Fitts, Liz Fitts, Cornelia Forrence, Jan Forsman, Bob Fuller, Judith Heintz, Candy Hess, John Hess, Suzy Johnson, Euclid Jones, Gail Kemp, Ellsworth King, Harold G. Klein, William Krueger, Dayna Lalonde, Julie Lattrell, Julie Liberty, Melanie McCormack, Janet Mihuc, Charlie Mitchell, Karen Moffa, Bill Morgan, Jim Nolan, Nancy Olsen, Helle Parker, Sonal Patel, Geri Reichert, Ingeborg Sapp, Michele Snyder, Tim Snyder, Gary Sturgis, Irma Teittinen , Lynn Valenti, Dan Vogt, Katie White and Ann Wilke.
These intrepid birders contributed to a successful count despite the bad weather, gusty winds and very poor visibility. Helen and Bob Booth and Robin Brown, separately, watched Cooper’s Hawks have their meals. The hawk at the Booth’s house stayed proximal to the feeder eating its Mourning Dove, while other birds continued to flock the feeder. The hawk even returned after being frightened off with a snow blower to dig the remains from a snow bank and finish the meal. Robin watched another Cooper’s take a Rock Pigeon and land very close to her while eating his meal. —Judy Heintz

Saranac Lake - 2007

Saranac Lake, N.Y. - 44°19’0’N 74°04’23”W, mostly as described 1976, but center 1.2 miles NNE of e. jct. Rt. 86 & Old Ray Brook Rd., Ray Brook and adjusted very slightly (a few seconds) in 2007 to be more precise (using Google Earth). Dec. 30, 2007; 7:00 am to 4:30 pm. Temp. 25° to 30°F. Wind WSW 0-5. Snow depth 12-30 in. Still water frozen. Moving water open. A.M.: cloudy, snow flurries. PM: cloudy. Observers: 36 in field in 17-19 parties (non-owling), plus 11 at feeders. Time and Distance: 15 hours at feeders; 6 hours and 53 miles owling. Total party-hours 108 and party-miles 437: 46.5 hours and 46 miles on foot, 52 hours and 375.5 miles by car, 3.5 hours and 4 miles by skis, 3 hours and 3 miles by snowshoes, 3 hours and 8.5 miles by kayak.
Canada Goose 1; Am. Black Duck 6; Mallard 280; Hooded Merganser 25; Common Merganser 5; Ruffed Grouse 5; Wild Turkey 6; Bald Eagle 1; Cooper’s Hawk 1; Red-tailed Hawk 1; Rough-legged Hawk cw; Rock Pigeon 216; Mourning Dove 129; Barred Owl 3; Downy Woodpecker 57; Hairy Woodpecker 60; Black-backed Woodpecker 2; Pileated Woodpecker 10; N. Shrike 3; Gray Jay 18; Blue Jay 94; Am. 7 (continued from previous page) Crow 168; Com. Raven 59; Black-capped Chickadee 1186; Boreal Chickadee 7; Tufted Titmouse 1; Red-breasted Nuthatch 95; White-breasted Nuthatch 61; Brown Creeper 6; Golden-crowned Kinglet 7; Eur. Starling 170; Bohemian Waxwing 2; Cedar Waxwing 1; Song Sparrow 1; White-throated Sparrow 1; Dark-eyed (Slate-col.) Junco 32; Snow Bunting cw; N. Cardinal 17; Common Grackle 2; Brown-headed Cowbird 14; Pine Grosbeak 172; White-winged Crossbill cw; Common Redpoll 975; Hoary Redpoll 1; Pine Siskin 1; Am. Goldfinch 4; Evening Grosbeak 170; House Sparrow 2.Total: 45 species; 4078 individuals.
Participants: Tom Armstrong, Jeff Bolsinger, John Brown, Nan Brown, Kris Casler, Joan Collins, Sally Conyne, Tom Dudones, Frank Gill, Ed Grant, Audrey Hyson, Penny Jaques, Ed and Debbie Kanze, Dayna LaLonde, Linda LaPan, Fuat Latif, Brian McAllister, Melanie McCormick, John Marshall, Larry Master (compiler), Matt Medler, Susan Moss, Sean O’Brien, Mary O’Dell, Peter O’Shea, Carol Pinney, Sheila and Lew Rosenberg, Nina Schoch, Ann Spencer, Janet Stein, Mary Beth Warburton, Eileen and Tom Wheeler, Uta Wister.
The largest ever turnout of field observers led, at least in part, to record numbers for a number of permanent resident species on the Saranac Lake (includes Lake Placid and Bloomingdale) CBC. —Larry Master