The *60th Captree Christmas Bird Count* was conducted on Sunday, December 18th, 2022. The count had an impressive showing of participants who diligently covered their areas of the count circle which encompasses a portion of southwestern Suffolk County on Long Island. The day began with relatively calm weather (though cold) following a few days of high winds, which ended up becoming somewhat warmer (though windier) as the day progressed.
In total, a healthy sum of 131 species were observed of 47,936 individual birds. This was 3 species above 2021's total and well above average. The count of sea ducks were better than last year, though still below average (i.e., fewer than 200 Surf Scoter, and fewer than 100 each of White-winged and Black Scoter, 25 Common Eider, etc.), though the count for Razorbill constituted a new high count for this CBC: 2,026 birds. Perhaps owing to a string of cold and often tempestuous weather running up to count day, some of our more regularly occurring/half-hardy species were tough to find (i.e., only 1 Brown Thrasher, 1 Common Grackle, 1 Brown-headed Cowbird, 8 Eastern Towhee, etc.) or completely absent (as in Common Yellowthroat, Pine Warbler, etc.). While some counts were below-average, there were some species which were found in impressive numbers; either locally or for recent years (new high counts are indicated by an asterisk): 2 Cackling Goose, 13,912 Greater Scaup, 5 Harlequin Duck*, 2 Virginia Rail, 2,026 Razorbill*, 1,782 Bonaparte's Gull, 10 Lesser Black-backed Gull, 2 Iceland Gull, 786 Red-throated Loon*, 117 Double-crested Cormorant*, 8 Great Egret, 102 Great Blue Heron, 9 Northern Saw-whet Owl*, 23 Belted Kingfisher, 8 Peregrine Falcon, 3 American Kestrel, 87 Monk Parakeet*, 374 Fish Crow, 8 Marsh Wren, 227 Carolina Wren*, 17 Ruby-crowned Kinglet*, 151 Northern Mockingbird, & 4 Orange-crowned Warbler. While the cumulative species total for this Count sits somewhere around 231, we are still slowly adding new species to that list. This year, we were fortunate enough to add SUMMER TANAGER to the checklist of birds seen on the Captree Count. A homeowner in the "North" Territory had hosted a young male at his feeder for most of December, and it continued to at least count day. A list of highlights (from the long list of great birds seen that day) are listed below: Cackling Goose - Fire & East Harlequin Duck - Fire Wild Turkey - Heckscher Virginia Rail - East CLAPPER RAIL - East Wilson's Snipe - Heckscher Iceland Gull - Jones Turkey Vulture - North NORTHERN GOSHAWK - Seatuck Northern Saw-whet Owl - Jones & Seatuck Marsh Wren - Gardiner, Seatuck, & East Eastern Bluebird - Connetquot RED CROSSBILL - Connetquot Purple Finch - North, Heckscher, & Connetquot Pine Siskin - Fire & Jones Lapland Longspur - Jones White-crowned Sparrow - Heckscher NELSON'S SPARROW - East Palm Warbler - North, Belmont & East Orange-crowned Warbler - Fire, Jones, Seatuck, & East "Ipswich" Sparrow - Fire, Jones & Seatuck Rusty Blackbird - Gardiner, Connetquot & East Eastern Meadowlark - Heckscher & East SUMMER TANAGER - North We were fortunate enough to hold an in-person compilation this year, which had been a much-missed end to the count in these last few years. The dinner and data-crunching took place at the Seatuck Environmental Association's Scully Estate. As such we want to extend our gratitude to Seatuck for hosting this event. The catered dinner was provided in part by Great South Bay Audubon, for whom we are also extremely grateful. We would also like to extend our gratitude to the New York State Parks Department, US Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Town of Babylon. Our relationship with these agencies permit count participants to access various parks, wildlife refuges, etc. which may be typically restricted to the public. The results of this count will be shared with the Audubon Society, USFWS, Great South Bay Audubon, and anyone else who requests a summary. Thank you very much to all the counters who joined. Do not hesitate to reach out if you're interested in joining this Christmas Bird Count for next year- tentatively scheduled for Sunday, December 17, 2023! Best wishes for the holiday season and a safe and happy new year! Best, Brent Bomkamp Taylor Sturm Captree CBC Compilers -- 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/ --
