The Northern Nassau Christmas Count, held yesterday, Saturday the 17th, failed to reach the 100 species mark for only the 11th time since 1970.
98 species were found in dismal weather conditions during the first half of the day. Dawn opened with a very steady moderate snow changing over to an unrelenting steady rain at about 8:30 AM. It was very difficult to keep the optics clear. No new species were found yesterday. Unusual species included Red-necked Grebe, Bald Eagle, Merlin, Osprey, 4 Common Ravens, American Pipit, Brown Thrasher, 2 Pine Warblers, and 2 Common Yellowthroats. Red-shouldered Hawk, Peregrine Falcon, and Lesser Yellowlegs were found during the count-week period. Usually, inclement weather tends to enhance the results of our count, and other counts, as evidenced by the just posted Mohonk Lake/Ashokan Reservoir count results. I have not had a chance to look at the number of participants nor the time/distance effort yet to see if there is any correlation. Thanks to all who braved the weather and participated!!!! Glenn Quinn Hauppauge, NY -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME.htm http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES.htm 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://birding.aba.org/maillist/NY01 Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
