Hi All,
On December 17, Rockland County conducted its 71st Annual Christmas Bird Count. Forty-two field counters (plus one fledgling counter, less than 2 years old) tallied 20,207 birds representing 87 species. The number of species is among our highest counts, ranking in the 90th percentile since 1947 and 83rd percentile since 1978 (when the count circle was shifted slightly to include Piermont marsh). The number of individual birds, however, ranks as average to below average-58th percentile since 1947 and 28th percentile since 1978. Feeder counters and their results are, as of yet, not included in these results. Highlights include: Snow Bunting, Brown Thrasher, Barred Owl, American Pipit, Peregrine Falcon, Merlin, Great Cormorant, Horned Lark, Redhead, Wild Turkey, Black Vulture, and Snow Goose (fly overs). New High Counts were established for: Snow Goose, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Pileated Woodpecker, and Common Raven. Notable Misses include: American Kestrel, Red-breasted Nuthatch, and Purple Finch. The top five most abundant species were European Starling (4232), Canada Goose (4130), Common Merganser (1208), Common Grackle (1203), and Ring-billed Gull (1184). Together, these species make up 59% of the total count number. Thanks to all that participated in our count! Complete results will be posted on the Rockland Audubon Society <http://www.rocklandaudubon.org/ras_cbc.htm> website as soon as available. Alan Wells Rockland CBC Compiler -- 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/ --
