[nysbirds-l] The 121st CBC, Southern Nassau County, 2 January 2021
The Southern Nassau County CBC was conducted for the 81st time on 2 January, 2021, by more than 87 participants in nine territories. Overnight rain lasted into the dawn as light drizzle, then cleared as a brisk westerly wind blew up around 10:00 am. The wind was especially problematic on the exposed outer beaches (which may have been why we found so many beach participants on the mainland later in the day). The total of 140 species observed on count day was far above our ten-year average of 132 and just the fifth time the count has breached the 140 mark, following 140 on 1 Jan 2017, 140 on 3 Jan 2009, 142 on 30 Dec 2007, and 142 on 30 Dec 1995. Among these were many highlights, including three Bald Eagles and 20 Common Ravens continuing their upsurges, 48 Red Crossbills and five Marsh Wrens in three territories each, four Red-shouldered Hawks across two territories, three Dovekies in two areas, and Common Eiders penetrating bayside waters where we’ve never seen them before. An astonishing 32 species were saved by single territories, including three Harlequin Ducks and a Red-necked Grebe at Atlantic (sixth consecutive year); Black-headed Gull (third straight year and 25th overall), Tricolored Heron (second in ten years and 17th overall), 3 Northern Saw-whet Owls, and 2 Common Redpolls at Short; Orange-crowned Warbler and Long-eared Owl (45th overall but just the second in ten years) at Tobay; Killdeer and Laughing Gull (second in ten years and 14th overall) at Five Towns; 15 Redheads at Hempstead; 19 Pine Siskins at Mitchell; Common Gallinule (16th overall record but just the fifth since 1974), Virginia Rail, and American Bittern (only missed ten times in 81 years, but missed six of the past ten years) at Massapequa; Lesser Yellowlegs (second record in ten years), two Long-billed Dowitchers (formerly regular but just the second record in ten years), Rough-legged Hawk (41st overall, but just the third in ten years), and Spotted Towhee (fourth Long Island record and second for NYSN CBC) in Baldwin. The worst misses were Barn Owl, Tree Swallow, Brown Thrasher (cw), Purple Finch (cw), Lapland Longspur, Chipping Sparrow, and all warblers other than Myrtle and Orange-crowned. Continuing in low numbers by long-term standards were 11 Horned Grebe (ten-year minimum), 2794 Herring Gull, four Great Cormorant, ten Gray Catbird, four Hermit Thrush, and 31 Snow Bunting (third straight year <50, vs. average of 429 over the prior seven years). Taxa recorded from 30 Dec through 5 Jan that were not observed on count-day were: King Eider, Northern Common Eider (Somateria mollissima borealis), Iceland Gull, Short-eared Owl, Brown Thrasher, Purple Finch, and Eastern Meadowlark. Regularly recorded species that were counted in higher than usual numbers included 90 White-winged Scoter (ten-year max), 1387 Hooded Merganser (all-time max), 569 Mourning Dove (ten-year max), 1679 Sanderling (all-time max), 4821 Dunlin (ten-year max), five American Woodcock (ten-year max), 661 Great Black-backed Gull (ten-year max), 269 Double-crested Cormorant (all-time max; formerly rare in winter—for instance, unrecorded 1962-1976), 114 Black-crowned Night-Heron (ten-year max), 42 Red-tailed Hawk (all-time max), four Snowy Owls, 275 Black-capped Chickadee (ten-year max), 78 Red-breasted Nuthatch (ten-year max), and 15 Brown Creeper (ten-year max). As seems to happen every year on this count, a decision had to be made regarding a major rarity, Spotted Towhee this year. As we have in the past, we decided to delay reporting for a nominal period, and then to pull the plug and allow the count to implode. We’ll never know, but given the weak but significant correlation between overall effort and species total in counts of this sort, it is quite likely that had we not seen this bird, we would have surpassed our own record of 142—and possible that we could have touched Captree’s NYS record of 144, or even South Kingstown’s record of 145, still the highest north of Cape May, I believe. We offer our thanks to our participants, area leaders, and several agencies that assisted us with access, including New York State Parks, Town of Oyster Bay, and Town of Hempstead. Patricia Lindsay and Shai Mitra, Bay Shore -- 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/ --
[nysbirds-l] The 121st CBC, Southern Nassau County, 2 January 2021
The Southern Nassau County CBC was conducted for the 81st time on 2 January, 2021, by more than 87 participants in nine territories. Overnight rain lasted into the dawn as light drizzle, then cleared as a brisk westerly wind blew up around 10:00 am. The wind was especially problematic on the exposed outer beaches (which may have been why we found so many beach participants on the mainland later in the day). The total of 140 species observed on count day was far above our ten-year average of 132 and just the fifth time the count has breached the 140 mark, following 140 on 1 Jan 2017, 140 on 3 Jan 2009, 142 on 30 Dec 2007, and 142 on 30 Dec 1995. Among these were many highlights, including three Bald Eagles and 20 Common Ravens continuing their upsurges, 48 Red Crossbills and five Marsh Wrens in three territories each, four Red-shouldered Hawks across two territories, three Dovekies in two areas, and Common Eiders penetrating bayside waters where we’ve never seen them before. An astonishing 32 species were saved by single territories, including three Harlequin Ducks and a Red-necked Grebe at Atlantic (sixth consecutive year); Black-headed Gull (third straight year and 25th overall), Tricolored Heron (second in ten years and 17th overall), 3 Northern Saw-whet Owls, and 2 Common Redpolls at Short; Orange-crowned Warbler and Long-eared Owl (45th overall but just the second in ten years) at Tobay; Killdeer and Laughing Gull (second in ten years and 14th overall) at Five Towns; 15 Redheads at Hempstead; 19 Pine Siskins at Mitchell; Common Gallinule (16th overall record but just the fifth since 1974), Virginia Rail, and American Bittern (only missed ten times in 81 years, but missed six of the past ten years) at Massapequa; Lesser Yellowlegs (second record in ten years), two Long-billed Dowitchers (formerly regular but just the second record in ten years), Rough-legged Hawk (41st overall, but just the third in ten years), and Spotted Towhee (fourth Long Island record and second for NYSN CBC) in Baldwin. The worst misses were Barn Owl, Tree Swallow, Brown Thrasher (cw), Purple Finch (cw), Lapland Longspur, Chipping Sparrow, and all warblers other than Myrtle and Orange-crowned. Continuing in low numbers by long-term standards were 11 Horned Grebe (ten-year minimum), 2794 Herring Gull, four Great Cormorant, ten Gray Catbird, four Hermit Thrush, and 31 Snow Bunting (third straight year <50, vs. average of 429 over the prior seven years). Taxa recorded from 30 Dec through 5 Jan that were not observed on count-day were: King Eider, Northern Common Eider (Somateria mollissima borealis), Iceland Gull, Short-eared Owl, Brown Thrasher, Purple Finch, and Eastern Meadowlark. Regularly recorded species that were counted in higher than usual numbers included 90 White-winged Scoter (ten-year max), 1387 Hooded Merganser (all-time max), 569 Mourning Dove (ten-year max), 1679 Sanderling (all-time max), 4821 Dunlin (ten-year max), five American Woodcock (ten-year max), 661 Great Black-backed Gull (ten-year max), 269 Double-crested Cormorant (all-time max; formerly rare in winter—for instance, unrecorded 1962-1976), 114 Black-crowned Night-Heron (ten-year max), 42 Red-tailed Hawk (all-time max), four Snowy Owls, 275 Black-capped Chickadee (ten-year max), 78 Red-breasted Nuthatch (ten-year max), and 15 Brown Creeper (ten-year max). As seems to happen every year on this count, a decision had to be made regarding a major rarity, Spotted Towhee this year. As we have in the past, we decided to delay reporting for a nominal period, and then to pull the plug and allow the count to implode. We’ll never know, but given the weak but significant correlation between overall effort and species total in counts of this sort, it is quite likely that had we not seen this bird, we would have surpassed our own record of 142—and possible that we could have touched Captree’s NYS record of 144, or even South Kingstown’s record of 145, still the highest north of Cape May, I believe. We offer our thanks to our participants, area leaders, and several agencies that assisted us with access, including New York State Parks, Town of Oyster Bay, and Town of Hempstead. Patricia Lindsay and Shai Mitra, Bay Shore -- 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/ --
