O.K. I was counting along the Inlet all afternoon, and had flocks of swans for much of the time -- some of them were circling back and coalescing over the south end of the lake, making it difficult to get accurate counts. It seemed like at least some birds were "thinking" of settling down, but the frequent shooting probably dissuaded them.
My first flock of was roughly 20 birds (could have been 19 or 21 or 22 -- I was entering birds directly into BirdLog on my phone, so do not remember this initial flock count) -- this was a little before 2PM over the city golf course. Then as I was walking back from the jetty around 2:30, I counted 67 in the air at once, circling over the jetty woods back towards the lake, and then back south again. I assumed (conservatively) that this represented the total number of birds I had seen, but now I think probably not. Then later, at about 3:45, I another flock of 24 flying south over the Farmers Market area. I mistakenly reported a total of 99 for the day, but that should have been 101. This plus Gary's 23 gave Area VII our total of 122 (should have been 124). The 23 birds in Area !V were seen by John Fitzpatrick flying south over Ellis Hollow, so it would appear likely that these were the same as the Comstock Knoll birds, but likely different from the birds along Cayuga Inlet around the same time. It is very likely that many of the Area VII birds were the same as the ones I counted from the inlet, and it is likely that at least some of our birds passed over Bill further south. Based on all this, I think a conservative minimum for swans would be Bill's total of 116 plus the easterly flock of 24 = 140. I suspect that there were indeed more, though, since the flock sizes don't really match up, and there were several times I heard swans over the jetty/golf course area and did not see them. I'll let Kevin figure it all out! KEN Ken Rosenberg Conservation Science Program Cornell Lab of Ornithology 607-254-2412 607-342-4594 (cell) [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> On Jan 3, 2013, at 8:42 PM, Marty Schlabach wrote: Mary Jean and I saw a flock of 21 in Area VII mid-afternoon, probably about 2:45pm, but I hadn’t noted the time for that sighting specifically. I suppose I could have miscounted the flock as well, and it could have been the same as Bill’s flock of 19. Our flock of 21 and Dave’s flocks of 14 and 60 made up Area VII’s 95. Marty From: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Gary Kohlenberg Sent: Thursday, January 03, 2013 7:19 PM To: CAYUGABIRDS-L Subject: Re: [cayugabirds-l] More CBC birds for 2013 My count of Tundra Swans was a single flock of 23, flying over Comstock Knoll between 2:10-2:30 PM, headed SE. This is Area Vlll with a grand total of 122. I think the 23 individuals in Area lV may be the same flock as they were headed that way. Whoever counted those birds would know the time / number of their sighting, but it seems very coincidental. Gary On Jan 3, 2013, at 6:59 PM, <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: There was some discussion of potential multiple-counting of Tundra Swan flocks, but not a flock-by-flock analysis, and I don't think any adjustments were made among sectors at the compilation. Sector leaders may have tried to adjust among parties in their sector beforehand. I think it would be a good and interesting thing to try to figure out. My notes from the compilation were: Sector IV: 23 Sector V: 40 Sector VI: 116 Sector VII: 95 Sector VIII: 122 Total: 396 For my part, I was on Cliff Park Road just above Taylor Place on West Hill in the City of Ithaca when I heard and saw my first flock at 2:08pm. I counted 14 birds, but I could have been off by one, so this could have been your group of 15. They were east of me headed south up the Cayuga Inlet valley. I was at the south end of Richard Place at 2:58pm when another flock went by, also well to my east, southbound up Inlet Valley. It was a larger group and harder to count because they were massed in a C which I was viewing from the side, not a simple V or line, and I had trouble getting my scope on them through the trees, so they were already past me when I finally got a look and then I looked at the time. I estimated 60 birds, but this could have been a flock of 53. They . . Later I heard another flock but never saw them and did not count them or note the time. I gave Sector VII leader Marty Schlabach the numbers and I think the times of my flocks. I don't know what accounted for the total of 95 for Sector VII, whether it was additional flock of 21 or someone else's more reliable counts overall. --Dave Nutter On Jan 03, 2013, at 03:03 PM, Bill Evans <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: The other issue I’ve been wondering about is counts of migrating birds crossing the count circle, in particular migrating swans this year. Perhaps this was addressed at the compilation dinner, otherwise I suspect the 396 total that Dave posted in his quick summary involves flocks being counted multiple times. Unless flock size and timing is noted, I don’t see how this can be avoided except perhaps if we take the highest count by one survey party. While covering section VI, I noted southbound swan flocks of 19, 15, 29, and 53 between 2:15 and 3PM (I have exact times and trajectories if anybody’s interested). All these flocks likely passed over sections VIII & IX and some would have been visible from sections V & VII. Unless redundant counts were somehow culled out at the compilation, I wouldn’t be surprised if these four flocks made up the bulk of the 396 swans in Dave’s quick summary. Typically in the past we’ve had no substantial visible migration on count days, though I remember one year more than a decade ago when the count coincided with the passage of a brutal cold front and there was massive southbound evacuation of 1000s of Canvasback and other Aythya. As I recall, there wasn’t a problem in double counting that year because only one party in section VIII happened to witness the event. 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