Happy New Year everyone!
The 30th St. Clair National Wildlife Area CBC was held today, January 1.
Thirteen birders scoured this count circle in spite of the brisk west to
northwest winds and snow flurries and tallied a total of 70 species, below our
previous 10 year average of 76.7 species. However the recent cold spell meant
virtually all water was frozen, resulting in only 14 species of waterfowl
instead of the 25 or so that we sometimes find. Complicating things further,
some of our most productive marshes and adjacent areas were unavailable to us
due to the waterfowl hunting season that currently extends into January.
Total number of birds recorded was a little over 100,000, well above our last
ten year average of 73,314. A little over 75,000 of today's birds were American
Crows.
Notable observations today were:
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker: a single bird was a new species for this count. The
cumulative number recorded for this count now stands at 136 species.
American Robin: 53 (previous high was 15)
Turkey Vulture: 1 (fourth record)
Gray Catbird: 1 (only second record)
Peregrine Falcon: 2 (sixth record)
American Pipit: 5 (fourth record)
Of the 10084 individuals of the 14 species of waterfowl observed today, no new
high totals were recorded. We have had some very impressive totals of waterfowl
in the past, including more than 96000 birds of 27 species in 2007.
Nonetheless, the 2 Green-winged Teal, 6 Snow Geese (3 blues, 3 snows), 17
Northern Shoveler, 1 American Wigeon, 1 Northern Pintail, 3 Wood Duck and 1
Ruddy Duck were notable.
Thanks to all of the participants on today's CBC!
Allen Woodliffe
Compiler
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