Date: 12/29/25 11:57 am From: Taylor Sturm <tjsturm...> Subject: [nysbirds-l] Captree CBC (Suffolk County) 2025 Results
The *63rd Captree Christmas Bird Count* was conducted on Sunday, December 14th, 2025. The Count had an impressive showing of almost 40 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 weather running up to the count was among the coldest autumns, through mid-December, in recent memory. This string of cold weather culminated our first substantial snowstorm that began before dawn on count day. Counters who sought owls and other night-birds before the sun rose were met with challenging driving conditions as 2" of (mostly) unplowed snow had fallen over frozen roads. As the day continued, portions of the count period ended with upwards of 8" of snow, with some drifts pushing a foot in depth. Wind exacerbated the snowy birding conditions for most of the morning, but by midday the weather cleared (though temperatures dropped significantly).
Counters weren't the only ones grateful for the snow to stop: once the weather broke after midday, geese, robins, blackbirds, etc., were seen moving overhead; noted by numerous parties. No doubt a pair of wayward long-tailed ducks, that were found swimming on the main pond at Connetquot, would also have taken advantage of this repositioning window.
In total, a sum of *121 species (down 6 species from 2024) *were observed of *15,370 individual birds (down 19,556 individuals from 2024)*. With count-week birds (9 species) the Count period ended with 130 species in the circle. The precipitous drop in observed birds was no doubt due to the weather on count day. Visibility made seawatching nearly impossible for a good deal of the morning, and portions of the Great South Bay were also not able to be scoped. Further, land-bird numbers were a fraction of those found during years with pleasant weather. The cold spell running up to count day also made those half-hardy birds such as orange-crowned warbler, marsh wren, brown thrasher, gray catbird, etc., a challenge to find.
This meant that 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 (16) and northern pintail (4), which can be scarce throughout our count circle to begin with. Some saltwater ducks/geese were also in low numbers such as brant (226; only seen by one party), common eider (7), white-winged scoter (8), and long-tailed duck (177). Of the birds this count has gotten regularly in the last few years, the most notable count-day misses were Virginia rail, wild turkey, pied-billed grebe, brown thrasher, rusty blackbird, orange-crowned warbler, palm warbler, among a few others.
This count seems to repeatedly best its own high counts for those species that do better when the weather is milder (e.g., great egret, chipping sparrow). However, based on the weather, it was not surprising that many counts were instead well below-average. That said, we did manage *one* new high count for the Captree CBC: 12 eastern bluebird (between the Seatuck, Heckscher, and Connetquot territories)!
While the cumulative species total (checklist for all time) for this count sits somewhere around 234, we are still slowly adding new species to that list. This year, we were fortunate enough to add ROSS'S GOOSE to the checklist of birds seen on the Captree Count. A bird found the day prior had continued at Connetquot River SP, and apparently ranged over to the Timber Point area. A bird found in the Seatuck territory may have been a second bird, but this was not confirmed. While Ross' Goose was certainly the "rarest" bird on the count, it was a clay-colored sparrow 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:
Snow Goose (1) - Gardiner Cackling Goose (1) - Gardiner Ross' Goose (1) - Connetquot, Heckscher, Seatuck (see above) Eurasian Wigeon (1) - Connetquot Lesser Black-backed Gull (4) - Jones, Fire Black-legged Kittiwake (4) - Fire Black-headed Gull (1) - Fire Laughing Gull (1) - Fire Glaucous Gull (1) - Belmont Rough-legged Hawk (1) - Gardiner Northern Saw-whet Owl (1) - A singing bird in North Tree swallow (2) - Jones Eastern Bluebird (12) - Connetquot, Seatuck, Heckscher Clay-colored Sparrow (1) - Heckscher
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 and their caretakers for hosting us in their space.
We would also like to extend our gratitude to the New York State Parks Department, US Fish and Wildlife Service, County of Suffolk, 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, 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 20, 2026.
Good birding and Happy New Year, Taylor Sturm and Brent Bomkamp Captree CBC Compilers
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