Date: 1/14/25 12:26 pm From: Brian Bockhahn (via carolinabirds Mailing List) <carolinabirds...> Subject: Jan 3 Falls Lake CBC results
The 27th Falls Lake CBC was held on January 3, 2025 under cloudy skies, cool temperatures 28 to 51 degrees, winds blustery at times 3-13 mph and a trace of snow flurries after dark.
36 observers in the field and 4 feeder counters tallied 89 species (average 90, high 105, low 74)
Thanks for using ebird, it really expedited compiling! And it was neat to see the trip report update throughout the day and to see what was being seen where.
We did add one new species to the overall count, a single Baltimore Oriole at Brians yard! Other goodies include our 3rd Black-and White Warbler which are likely now annual, our 7th Redhead and 9th American Coot were great finds too on this scattered lake.
A handful of misses but nothing off A list: American Wigeon (seen 12/27), Green-winged Teal (13/27), Red-breasted Merganser (13/27), Common Loon (19/27), Lesser Black-backed Gull (23/27), Rufous Hummingbird was almost count week (14/27), Gray Catbird (12/27), Rusty Blackbird (13/27), Pine Siskin (13/27).
We set a few new high counts, some of trends across many NC counts: 37 Red-shouldered Hawk, 70 Killdeer, 26 Belted Kingfisher, 7 Blue-headed Vireo, 40 Brown Creeper, 44 Winter Wren, 1033 White-throated Sparrow.
A few low counts include 1 Bufflehead, 10 Herring Gull, 1 House Wren and 1 Eastern Meadowlark.
We almost set a low count for Ring-billed Gulls, but about 15 minutes past sunset 2.300 gulls arrived at the main lake bringing our totals up to 3,495 (low was 2,396 three years ago). The days of 40,000 gulls are now long gone with Durant Landfill closed and now Green Hills County Park. Sorry Jordan Lake water quality, they're all sleeping there at night since it's closer to the active south wake landfill.
58 species have been seen on all 27 counts, steady effort. I think I may be the only volunteer left who has helped in all 27 counts, but many are close.
thanks to all the volunteers who helped out, mark your calendars
Falls Lake spring bird count: Monday April 28, 2025
