On Tue, Jan 5, 2021 at 8:16 PM Paul Anderson <fishoak...> wrote:
> All: > > The Christmas Bird Count and the count week is now over. We had the > meeting last night to unveil the numbers, which many of you probably > attended. I suspect there will be a few minor changes before we're > completely done and ready to upload to Audubon, but I don't think any of > the major conclusions will be upended. > > I have uploaded the spreadsheet with the results here: > https://drive.google.com/open?id=18fVU66lwWkJgcXKVIZwiXWMak_TOC9nK. Note > that this has not just the numbers for this year, but all numbers for all > counts back to the first one in 1963. Feel free to download and browse. In > the sheet named '2021', see column V for this year's totals, and columns E > through K for historical data. Also, you can find the map and other > information here: > http://www.cayugabirdclub.org/Resources/christmas-bird-count. > > Here's a summary of the interesting information: > > - *181 people* participated, breaking the previous record of 165 from > 2017 > - Participants walked *315 miles* in *305 hours*, and spent another *94 > hours* birding from the car, and *24 hours* owling > - We had *89 species* on the day, and *10 count week species*, one of > which is new for the count > - *15 species* had record highs, and two tied the previous record > high. We've never broken so many records before! > - No record lows or big misses, although a few species were much lower > than we have been used to in recent years > > > We had a great year for woodpeckers and other feeder birds, as well as a > few others. The record high counts were for these species: > > - White-winged Scoter > - Turkey Vulture > - Red-bellied Woodpecker > - Yellow-bellied Sapsucker > - Downy Woodpecker > - Hairy Woodpecker > - Pileated Woodpecker > - Common Raven > - Tufted Titmouse > - Red-breasted Nuthatch > - White-breasted Nuthatch > - Brown Creeper > - Carolina Wren > - Eastern Bluebird > - Hermit Thrush > > Ties for record highs: > > - Winter Wren > - Northern Saw-whet Owl > > Count week species > > - Tundra Swan > - Gadwall > - Ring-necked Duck > - Red-breasted Merganser > - Ring-necked Pheasant > - Black Vulture > - Gyrfalcon - this was new for the count > - Peregrine Falcon - we only just today confirmed this sighting on > 12/31. > - Northern Shrike > - Snow Bunting > > > The total number of birds counted was 30,293, about 16% down from the > 10-year average. > > At the meeting there was lots of speculation about causes for these > numbers. It seems fair to conclude that the record effort yielded record > numbers of birds, a theory that is supported by the fact that we had a > similar amount of effort in 2011 when we also set many records for many of > the same birds. The low total is likely mostly due to our part of the lake > being more empty of birds than we have been used to. Those waterfowl were > just elsewhere on the day. > > Finally, although we all agreed that we were sad not to have the in-person > dinner at the Lab, all the area leaders were greatly appreciative of the > extra time to collate numbers. Consequently, we are discussing breaking > with tradition and doing the dinner on the day after the count instead. > > Thanks to everyone who participated and helped out. This was fun! > > -Paul >
