New York State January Waterfowl Count – 2023 The John Burroughs Natural HistorySociety Ulster County segment of the annual NYSOA New York State JanuaryWaterfowl Count was conducted this past Saturday, January 14, 2023, with onefield party surveying on Sunday, January 15th. Fifteen participantsin eight field parties encountered 8,723individuals representing 19 species. Our second-best tally in terms of diversityover the past twenty years, just shy of the 21 species we recorded in2020. Our most recent ten-year averagefor this countywide effort is 14 species and 6,483 individuals/year.
Several weeksof mild weather prior to count day resulted in an abundance of open water andexposed fields and pastures, with very little in the way of ice, and anoticeable influx and retention of waterfowl in the county. Count day conditions were more challenging, with persistently strong north winds throughoutthe day gusting to 25+ mph, creating inhospitable conditions on large openbodies of water, especially the Hudson River. Air temperatureswere a comfortable 29-34° F under heavy overcast skies with little sunshine, somewhatlimiting long-distance viewing. A female Harlequin Duck and a female Barrow's Goldeneye, continuing in theHudson River off Freer Beach since 30 December2022, were exceptionally rare records and new additions to the countcomposite. Three Cackling Geese were found grazing in grass fields in the southernend of the county, one at Blue Chip Farm and two in a pasture off Albany Post Road just north of the Bruyn Turnpike intersection in Wallkill. A hen LesserScaup continued in a pond off Hickory Bush Road , present since the Christmas Bird Count(CBC) on 17 December 2022, representing our first count record for this speciesin more than twenty years. Seven Northern Shovelers, a drake and a henin the Wallkill River at Harcourt Sanctuary in New Paltz, a hen in Stone RidgePond, and two drakes/two hens in the Rondout Creek in Rosendale, are only oursecond count record following one in 2017. A total of four Green-winged Tealwere found, two in a spring-fed wetland in Eddyville, and two on KingstonReservoir #1. A remarkable 47 Horned Grebes were tallied from ADDRESS: Dike Road onAshokan Reservoir, our best count by far since twelve were recorded in 2017;and four Common Loons, one on Cooper Lakein Woodstock,and three on Ashokan Reservoir, is our highest count in more than twenty years. Typical for thiscensus, Canada Geese were the mostabundant species, accounting for 7,688 individuals (88%), including animpressive 4,200 geese assembled on Stone Ridge Pond late in the day. BaldEagle numbers were down again this year, with a total of eleven birdsobserved during the count (nine adults). One Great Blue Heron was in Esopus Bend Nature Preserve, and two wereseen in the Eddyville wetlands, where there was also a single Belted Kingfisher. Additionalnon-waterfowl sightings of note were an AmericanKestrel on Whitelands Road in Stone Ridge, seven species of diurnal raptorsthat Mark DeDea observed in sector E, including a dark morph Rough-legged Hawk, and a Lesser Black-backed Gull photographedalong the road at the Shawangunk Correctional facility. Mark also noted three unfortunate roadkills, afresh River Otter on Rte 32 by the Wallkill River,a Fisher just outside of Kingston, and a dead Barred Owl from his Gardiner sector ofthe NYMS CBC circle. In the “close misses”category, a Canvasback was reportedon River Road four days prior to the count, and fourteen were reported today, during thewaterfowl count period (Jan. 14-22). American Coot was also reported fromKingston Point during the count period, but one day late for ourcount weekend. Two Long-tailed Ducks were seen in the Hudson River from Glasco three daysbefore the count, a Wood Duck wasobserved off the Ashokan Rail Trail one day before our count, and Redhead, Ruddy Duck, and NorthernPintail were all present on count day in the Rondout Reservoir, butremained in Sullivan County water. Appendedbelow is the species list. A completereport with a table summarizing the 2023 Ulster County effort by area will be published by the John Burroughs Natural History Societyat a later date. Thanks to all of the field observers for providing extensivecoverage of the county again this year. Nextyear’s Ulster County segment of the NYSOA NYS JanuaryWaterfowl Count is scheduled for Saturday,January 13, 2024. Steve M. Chorvas – compiler Saugerties, NY 2023January Waterfowl Count – Ulster County Snow Goose – 2 Canada Goose – 7,688 Cackling Goose – 3 Mute Swan – 5 Gadwall – 4 American Black Duck – 61 Mallard – 444 Northern Shoveler – 3 Green-winged Teal – 4 Ring-necked Duck – 49 Lesser Scaup – 1 Harlequin Duck - 1 Bufflehead – 5 Common Goldeneye – 151 Barrow's Goldeneye – 1 Hooded Merganser – 63 Common Merganser – 187 Common Loon – 4 Horned Grebe – 47 -- 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/ --
