The 2022 Northern Nassau CBC was held on Saturday December 17th. This was the 70th count for Northern Nassau, which encompasses Manhasset Bay, Hempstead Harbor and Oyster Bay and south to the Northern State. Hot spots within the circle include Sands Point Preserve, Prospect Point, Garvies Point Preserve, Welwyn, Muttontown and Caumsett SP.
This year was sunny, windy with temperatures close to 40. Relatively mild weather meant the ponds were still open. Most of the 67 counters found it fairly quiet but still managed to find 105 species, boosted to 106 with a late add of a Yellow-rumped Warbler from a feeder count. Of those, 28 were saves, birds found in only one of the 15 sectors within the count circle. Count lows were Wood Duck (1), Cedar Waxwing (1), Brown Thrasher (1), Red-winged Blackbird (1) , Black Scoter (1) and Chipping (1) and Field (4) sparrows. Highs were Green-wing Teal (45) and Common Merganser (17). There were a high number of rarities located, some firsts for the count, marked *. Some were true rarities for the region; Red Phalarope*(Lloyd Neck) , Pink Footed Goose* (Private Location) , Red-Necked Grebe, Eurasian Wigeon (Oyster Bay), Red Crossbill*, and Yellow-breasted Chat *(Glen Head) . Others were late staying summer regulars like House Wren, Great Egret, Black-crowned Night Heron, and Baltimore Oriole. Another group classes as seen in the region but generally not found on the north shore like Lesser Black- backed Gull, Black Vulture*, and Boat-tailed Grackle* which was both late and out of the typical south shore area. And one is probably not super rare, just secretive and hard to find, Northern Saw Whet Owl (Private location). Notable count week species were a Cackling Goose (Private Location) and a Nashville Warbler (Glen Head), hanging out with the Chat. Misses included several species that have been located on five to ten of counts in the last 10 years; Horned Grebe for the first time ever, Surf Scoter, Brown-headed Cowbird, Greater Yellowlegs, Savannah Sparrow, Cackling Goose (count week), Wilson’s Snipe, Northern Harrier, Northern Shoveler, Eastern Phoebe, Pied-bill Grebe, American Coot, American Pipet and Pine Warbler. Thanks to the birders who made this possible, from Al Lindberg celebrating his 50th count to two new counters. Compilers for Northern Nassau are Jennifer Wilson-Pines, Glenn Quinn, Stephane Perreault, and Brendan Fogarty. Jennifer Wilson-Pines -- 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/ --
