The *62th Captree Christmas Bird Count* was conducted on Sunday, December 15th, 2024. The Count had an impressive showing of almost 50 participants who diligently covered their respective areas. The Captree CBC circle, which encompasses a portion of southwestern Suffolk County, extends from Amityville in the west, to Sayville in the east, and from Robert Moses State Park in the south to Commack in the north.
The day began with relatively calm weather, though quite cold (within the pre-Christmas chill that befell most of our area), which ended up becoming somewhat warmer (though cloudier) as the day progressed. Fortunately, the rainy weather that had been forecast held off until the night, allowing for a mostly dry day of birding.
In total, a nice sum of *127 species *were observed of *34,926 individual birds*. The species count for 2024 was slightly above our 10-year average, but not by a statistically significant amount.
Of our regularly occurring species, some were either missed entirely, or found to be in relatively low numbers. This included some freshwater ducks such as lesser scaup (4), northern pintail (6), and ring-necked duck (7), which can be scarce throughout our count circle. In stark contrast to the Southern Nassau CBC which recorded a new maximum for razorbill (over 2,000), our count (which looks at the very same ocean, though three weeks earlier) only had one (1)! In a similar vein, the Captree Count completely missed Bonaparte's Gull, which has become something of a boom-or-bust species in recent years. The cold snap leading up to the count may have also played a part in missing American woodcock and Wilson's snipe; two birds which are never reliable, but are often found in small numbers when there is a milder run-up to count day.
While some counts were below-average, there were some species which were found in impressive numbers. A list of our seven new high counts are: black-crowned night heron (58!), great egret (25!), Cooper's hawk (19), common raven (21), golden-crowned kinglet (110), white-breasted nuthatch (93), & brown thrasher (10). Some of these species, such as great egret (formerly much rarer into December) are no doubt attributed to more mild autumns and winters.
Generally scarce birds- those which are counted frequently enough to be expected, but rare enough to be exciting- were also well represented. These included species such as American pipit (3), American kestrel (1), chipping sparrow (1), American tree sparrow (18), palm warbler (3), pine warbler (6), among others.
While the cumulative species total for this count sits somewhere around 233, we are still slowly adding new species to that list. This year, we were fortunate enough to add SAGE THRASHER to the checklist of birds seen on the Captree Count, which had the good consideration to continue at Field 5 of Robert Moses State Park since November. A TOWNSEND'S WARBLER which had been found just prior to the count at Bayard Cutting Arboretum, was not as considerate (but it will nevertheless be immortalized on the checklist as a "count week" bird). While sage thrasher was certainly the "rarest" bird on the count, it was a Short-eared Owl in the Heckscher territory that won its finder the illustrious prize for "Best Bird of the Count."
A list of *some* of the Count's highlights (roughly in taxonomic order) are as follows, along with the territory they were found in:
Cackling Goose (2) - Gardiner Wild turkey (9) - Connetquot Black-bellied Plover (3) - Jones Virginia Rail (3) - Seatuck & East Lesser Black-backed Gull (3) - Jones Red-necked Grebe (1) - Fire American Bittern (1) - Fire Red-shouldered Hawk (1) - Seatuck Snowy Owl (2) - Fire & Jones Short-eared Owl (1) - Heckscher Northern Saw-whet Owl (3) - Fire, North(!), & East Northern House Wren (1) - Fire Sage Thrasher (1) - Fire Eastern Bluebird (1) - Connetquot Eastern Meadowlark (1) - Gardiner Common Yellowthroat (1) - Fire Saltmarsh Sparrow (1) - Gardiner
As in past years, a festive compilation dinner took place at Seatuck Environmental Association's Scully Estate. As always, we want to extend our gratitude to Seatuck for hosting us. The catered dinner was also subsidized largely in part by Great South Bay Audubon, for whom we are also extremely grateful.
We would also like to extend our gratitude to the New York State Parks Department, US Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Town of Babylon. Our relationship with these agencies permit count participants to access various parks, wildlife refuges, etc. which may be typically restricted to the public.
The results of this count will be shared with the Audubon Society, USFWS, Great South Bay Audubon, and anyone else who requests a more official summary.
Thank you very much to all the counters who joined! Do not hesitate to reach out if you're interested in joining this Christmas Bird Count for next year which is tentatively scheduled for Sunday, December 14, 2025.
Good birding, Taylor Sturm Brent Bomkamp Compilers
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