The Ulster County segment of the annual NYSOA New York State January Waterfowl Count was conducted this past Saturday, 13 January 2018. As noted in previous posts, most of the Hudson River was covered in ice and largely devoid of waterfowl. Kingston Point produced twenty Mallards and eight American Black Ducks, and three Common Mergansers were found in limited open water farther south in Highland. Traditionally productive sites in the north (Saugerties Lighthouse and Glasco) were iced over. Inland rivers, creeks, and a few ponds and fields provided the most attractive habitat for this year's survey.
Seventeen participants in eight field parties tallied 2,041 individuals representing 13 species. Diversity was just about average (12.1 ten-year average), but abundance was well below our ten-year average of 6,244 and the lowest in the fourteen years I have compiled this count. Canada Geese typically make up a very large percentage of our total number of individuals. This year's total of 1,263 represents a new 14-year low and was well below our ten-year average of 4,874 birds. A total of 23 Bald Eagles (17 adults / 6 sub-adult) were noted during the course of the waterfowl count. Here is the waterfowl summary: Snow Goose - 1 Canada Goose - 1,263 Mute Swan - 5 Wood Duck - 1 Gadwall - 3 American Wigeon - 2 American Black Duck - 34 Mallard - 669 Northern Pintail - 2 Common Goldeneye - 3 Hooded Merganser - 4 Common Merganser - 52 Horned Grebe - 2 Thanks to all of the participants for providing extensive coverage of the county under challenging environmental conditions. A complete report will appear at a later date on the John Burroughs Natural History Society website. Steve M. Chorvas Saugerties, 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/ --
