Thanks for compiling the CBC for another year – pretty amazing tally given the brutal weather!
There are some obvious adjustments to the waterbirds at the south end of Cayuga Lake – sorry we weren’t able to coordinate that more in the field this year.
1. There are 8 Double-crested Cormorants on the lake. They were on the jetty most of the day (counted by parties in 7 and 8) and we watched them go to roost on the snag in the water off Stewart Park. I don’t know where the single bird was in Area 6, so it’s possible there were 9 total.
2. Same with Coots – there is a single large raft in the SE corner of the lake, visible from Stewart Park and East Shore Park. Unless Kevin had additional birds to the north, I would go with the highest single count, which was 186 birds.
3. Some of the other waterfowl are clearly duplicates, but harder to adjust accurately. I suspect Common Merganser is an overcount. There was a raft that gathered at dusk off Stewart Park, with birds coming in from the Inlet to join them. Highest single count was 95 birds. I don’t know if birds also roosted on inland lakes, but I suspect this was most of the birds in the count circle.
4. Bald Eagle – you’d have to ask everyone the approximate time and age of all birds seen, as it is almost certain that the same individuals were counted by multiple parties.
5. All the gulls at the compost piles come in to roost on the lake and were likely counted in the late afternoon at Stewart Park. So, could potentially adjust numbers down, especially Herring Gull.
6. Canada Goose and Mallards are also probably overcounted, but I couldn’t suggest any specific adjustments (Unless we just want to go with afternoon counts from Area VIII, since birds come in from all over – but I don’t think we usually do that).
All for now,
Ken
Ken Rosenberg (he/him/his)
Applied Conservation Scientist, Retired
Cornell Lab of Ornithology
<Kvr2...><mailto:<Kvr2...> Cell: 607-342-4594
We just had the compilation meeting. Key takeaways included
- 81 species so far
- We smashed the record high for American Robins - 3689! The previous record high was 698 in 2002
- Overall totals were low. The consensus is that the bad weather suppressed observations, despite effort similar to recent years.
- We may have new records for Bald Eagle and Double-crested Cormorant. We'll know better once we've scrutinized the data.
- House Sparrows may be on the decline. We had a record low of 129; the previous record low was 308 in 2019.
