Date: 1/22/25 11:38 am From: Harry LeGrand (via carolinabirds Mailing List) <carolinabirds...> Subject: Re: Raleigh CBC summary
Woops -- I overlooked the most obvious miss on the Raleigh count (as it is
not part of a larger group of birds) -- *American Coot. * This species was
seldom missed for many decades, in part owing to 1) some or much Hydrilla
growing in some lakes such as Wheeler, and 2) the relative scarcity of Bald
Eagles. But, as hydrilla is a bad exotic submerged plant, the City and
county have been eradicating it, and thus Coots are hard to find within the
circle now. And, as many of us know, Bald Eagles prey on coots, and where
there are eagles at a lake, the coots tend to leave, or become secretive.
Note the record number of eagles (28) on the count.
Harry LeGrand
On Wed, Jan 22, 2025 at 1:45 PM Harry LeGrand <hlegrandjr...> wrote:
> Folks,
>
> Here is the summary of the Raleigh CBC, as compiled and commented on by
> Brian O'Shea. A great count, thanks to so many people and parties. And,
> this 106 total was in a winter without much of a "winter finch" season --
> Purple Finches yes, but Pine Siskins and Red-breasted Nuthatches no (and of
> course no Evening Grosbeaks). He didn't mention the "misses", as there
> were so few. As I've been doing the count off and on for many decades,
> these are my thoughts as "misses" -- Canvasback (scarce now), E.
> Screech-Owl (missed for a number of years now, but ought to be in the
> circle somewhere), Northern Bobwhite (long-time miss here and in many other
> circles), Wild Turkey (not scarce in the county, but found mostly outside
> the circle), White-crowned Sparrow (not at Prairie Ridge this winter),
> Common Yellowthroat (very hard in winter around here now, for no obvious
> reason; most other songbirds at the northern or inner edge of their winter
> range ARE being found, like Palm, Orange-crowned, Black-and-white W.,
> Blue-headed Vireo, House Wren, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher.)
>
> Enjoy his summary!
>
> Harry LeGrand
> Raeigh
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ---------
> From: Brian O'Shea <boshea2...>
> Date: Tue, Jan 21, 2025 at 10:37 PM
> Subject: Raleigh CBC summary
> To: Brian O'Shea <boshea2...>
>
>
> Dear Raleigh CBC participants,
>
> Thank you again for participating in the 2024 Christmas Count! We had a
> fantastic count this year. A total of 71 participants (67 in the field,
> plus four feeder watchers), in 24 parties, put in 140.6 hours and covered
> 94.24 miles on foot - these are great numbers and well above average for
> the previous six years. Our species total was even better: 106! This is the
> highest species count in many years, handily beating last year's count of
> 103. Although no notable rarities were found, we had great numbers of
> several species (see below), and some nice highlights including two
> Merlins, five Vesper Sparrows, and a Loggerhead Shrike. We tallied 17,995
> individual birds, which is above the previous six years' average (16,842)
> but well within the normal range of variation for this count. Finally,
> although they were not observed on count day, two species (Common Loon and
> Great Egret) were observed inside the count circle during the "count week"
> period, and thus will appear in the count summary published by National
> Audubon.
>
> The five most numerous species this year were White-throated Sparrow
> (1825), Canada Goose (1424), American Robin (904), Red-winged Blackbird
> (721), and Double-crested Cormorant (690). Although our numbers of some
> species - robins and Cedar Waxwings, in particular - were rather low, we
> set all-time high count records for eight species, listed here with
> previous high count and year:
>
> Green-winged Teal 582 (360, 2018)
> Gadwall 224 (175, 1985)
> Hooded Merganser 436 (395, 2010)
> Black Vulture 88 (40, 2019)
> Bald Eagle 28 (27, 2021)
> Eastern Bluebird 406 (381, 2021)
> Hermit Thrush 72 (70, 2023)
> Chipping Sparrow 612 (539, 2019)
>
> We also tied our high count records for Merlin (2) and Common Raven (4).
>
> Nineteen of our 106 species were only reported by one party. As usual, the
> Lake Benson kayakers scored big here, getting out well before dawn to tally
> loads of ducks before they departed for their daytime haunts. But no fewer
> than ten other parties also reported "unique" species. Here they all are:
>
> Lake Benson kayakers: American Black Duck, Northern Pintail, American
> Wigeon, Lesser Scaup, Least Sandpiper, Red-headed Woodpecker
>
> Lake Benson land-based group: Redhead
> Walnut Creek: Hummingbird sp., Fish Crow
> Schenck Forest: American Woodcock
> Prairie Ridge: Bonaparte's Gull
> Lake Johnson: Osprey
> Dix Park: Sharp-shinned Hawk
> Downtown Raleigh: Peregrine Falcon
> Umstead SP: Loggerhead Shrike
> Mid-Pines Rd: Horned Lark, Vesper Sparrow
> NCSU Ag Fields: Spotted Sandpiper, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
>
> Great job everyone!
>
> Below is the complete species list and count totals for the day - please
> share with anyone in your group that I may not have communicated with
> previously. Thanks once again for a great CBC in 2024. The 2025 count will
> be held on Saturday, December 20 - for all you regulars/site leaders, I'll
> be contacting you again in late November. If you're new to the count and
> are interested in participating again this year, you can send me an email
> and I'll put you on the contact list. Have a great 2025 everyone! All the
> best, Brian
>
> Raleigh CBC
> Saturday, December 21, 2024
> 106 species (+2 CW), 17995 individuals
>
> Mute Swan 15
> Canada Goose 1424
> Wood Duck 37
> Green-winged Teal 582
> Gadwall 224
> American Black Duck 24
> Mallard 445
> Northern Pintail 5
> Northern Shoveler 91
> American Wigeon 2
> Redhead 2
> Ring-necked Duck 173
> Lesser Scaup 20
> Bufflehead 62
> Hooded Merganser 436
> Ruddy Duck 313
> Pied-billed Grebe 32
> Horned Grebe 2
> Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon) 651
> Mourning Dove 256
> hummingbird sp. 1
> Killdeer 199
> Spotted Sandpiper 1
> Least Sandpiper 1
> Wilson's Snipe 27
> American Woodcock 4
> Bonaparte's Gull 1
> Ring-billed Gull 587
> Herring Gull 9
> Double-crested Cormorant 690
> Great Blue Heron 48
> Black Vulture 88
> Turkey Vulture 130
> Bald Eagle 28
> Osprey 1
> Sharp-shinned Hawk 1
> Cooper's Hawk 6
> Red-shouldered Hawk 49
> Red-tailed Hawk 22
> Great Horned Owl 2
> Barred Owl 9
> Belted Kingfisher 27
> Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 68
> Red-headed Woodpecker 3
> Red-bellied Woodpecker 160
> Downy Woodpecker 128
> Hairy Woodpecker 18
> Pileated Woodpecker 18
> Northern Flicker 72
> American Kestrel 8
> Merlin 2
> Peregrine Falcon 1
> Eastern Phoebe 59
> Loggerhead Shrike 1
> Blue-headed Vireo 3
> Blue Jay 189
> American Crow 254
> Fish Crow 3
> Common Raven 4
> Horned Lark 1
> Carolina Chickadee 276
> Tufted Titmouse 196
> White-breasted Nuthatch 89
> Brown-headed Nuthatch 163
> Brown Creeper 18
> House Wren 3
> Winter Wren 25
> Carolina Wren 317
> Golden-crowned Kinglet 76
> Ruby-crowned Kinglet 183
> Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 2
> Eastern Bluebird 406
> Hermit Thrush 72
> American Robin 904
> Gray Catbird 3
> Brown Thrasher 46
> Northern Mockingbird 121
> American Pipit 26
> European Starling 416
> Cedar Waxwing 231
> House Finch 430
> Purple Finch 52
> American Goldfinch 327
> House Sparrow 37
> Chipping Sparrow 612
> Field Sparrow 50
> Savannah Sparrow 45
> Fox Sparrow 13
> Dark-eyed Junco 575
> White-throated Sparrow 1825
> Vesper Sparrow 5
> Song Sparrow 256
> Swamp Sparrow 45
> Eastern Towhee 119
> Passerellidae sp. 20
> Baltimore Oriole 28
> Eastern Meadowlark 28
> Red-winged Blackbird 721
> Rusty Blackbird 75
> Brown-headed Cowbird 660
> Common Grackle 50
> Black-and-white Warbler 3
> Orange-crowned Warbler 2
> Palm Warbler 4
> Pine Warbler 51
> Yellow-rumped Warbler 208
> Northern Cardinal 459
>
>
>
>
