The Northern Nassau Christmas Count was held yesterday, Saturday, December 19th. The preliminary results are 104 species and about 19,000 individuals. The number of species is really just about average but the total individuals is far, far below all the averages (5/10/20 year). Some quick math shows that total individuals were down nearly 50 per cent from the ten year average.
Two species were new to the count: a female Painted Bunting found and photographed at Caumsett State Park and a Lapland Longspur at Sands Point. Other notables included 4 Common Ravens (all different I hope), American Woodcock, Red-necked Grebe, American Kestrel, Orange-crowned Warbler, 5 Laughing Gulls, Baltimore Oriole, Eastern Meadowlark, Brown Thrasher,Northern Gannet, and Turkey Vulture. The Laughing Gulls were the first on our count since a lone individual on Christmas day, 1971..... I’ll try and write a more detailed report after the holidays. Merry Christmas, Glenn Quinn Hauppauge, NY -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
