Greetings,
The Plains/Airlie CBC was conducted 21 December 2003 for the sixth time.Â
Originally scheduled for 14 December, an accurate weather forecast of snow and
other winter nastiness pushed it back one week.Â
Participation was slightly down, with 48 birders, and approximately 160 party
hours (not all that information has been provided to me yet). Since the
inception of the count, we've had 26 participants and 120 party hours for 1998;
34
and 121 in 1999; 56 and 137 in 2000; 60 and 165 in 2001; 51 and 156 in 2002.Â
This year we had smaller party sizes, thus the high number of hours with
relatively low number of participants.Â
This year we added five new birds to the cumulative list of species for this
count, bringing that total to 127 species. We totaled 104 species on count
day, a tie for the most we've ever had, and added one count week (CW) species
(Bonaparte's Gull on Lake Manassas). The five new species were Thayer's Gull,
Iceland Gull, Glaucous Gull (all photographed), Blue-winged Teal, and
Rough-legged Hawk. We also had an owl seen poorly at dusk that was identified
only to
genus, but based on habitat was likely a Long-eared, which would be new for
the count.
We set or tied the high totals for 20 species (not including the five that
were count firsts). Six were waterfowl (Gadwall, American Wigeon, Mallard,
Northern Pintail, Ring-necked Duck and Eurasian Wigeon (tied)). Five were
diurnal
raptors and owls (Bald Eagle, Northern Harrier, Cooper's Hawk, Merlin, and
Great Horned Owl). Four were waterbirds (Great Blue Heron, Herring Gull,
Lesser
Black-backed Gull, and Great Black-backed Gull). The remaining five were
passerines (Winter Wren, Brown Thrasher, Eastern Towhee, Northern Cardinal, and
House Sparrow).Â
Twenty species posted five-year lows, fifteen of which were near-passerines
or passerines, the others were ducks and a raptor. For the first time in five
years we missed Wood Duck, and Redhead (the first ever miss for that species).
This year we counted cats on a limited basis (I was lax putting the request
out to do so, and not all parties were aware of the request). We counted 31
cats.
The complete list of species follows. The first number is the total
individuals counted in this year, followed by the totals from the five previous
years
going back from this year. High counts and low counts are noted, as are new
species.Â
Pied-billed Grebe: 6, (8, 14, 3, 8, 0)
Great Blue Heron (HIGH):Â 25 (17, 18, 12, 16, 2)
Black Vulture: 152, (247, 239, 372, 98, 62)
Turkey Vulture: 461, (453, 644, 588, 354, 149)
Canada Goose: 9453, (12995, 7881, 9303, 4651, 2095)
Tundra Swan: 18, (11, 49, 73, 10, 0)
Mute Swan: 5, (4, 1, 5, 12, 6)
Gadwall (HIGH): 215, (136, 140, 169, 161, 188)
Eurasian Wigeon: 1, (1, 1, 0, 0, 0)
American Wigeon (HIGH): 148, (65, 95, 97, 107, 37)
American Black Duck: 113, (56, 93, 72, 164, 216)
Mallard (HIGH): 651, (472, 225, 373, 299, 320)
Northern Shoveler: 2, (0, 18, 7, 15, 0)
Northern Pintail (HIGH): 45, (7, 2, 14, 3, 4)
Blue-winged Teal: 1 (New for count)
Green-winged Teal (LOW): 14, (19, 27, 41, 51, 21)
Canvasback (LOW): 2, (5, 12, 23, 3, 14)
Ring-necked Duck (HIGH): 1295, (1059, 637, 1230, 946, 241)
Lesser Scaup: 15, (11, 63, 4, 22, 1)
Bufflehead: 144, (114, 193, 140, 228, 69)
Hooded Merganser (LOW): 92, (142, 120, 149, 116, 67)
Common Merganser: 287, (453, 14, 312, 143, 0)
Ruddy Duck (LOW): 2, (60, 8, 18, 362, 6)
Bald Eagle (HIGH): 16, (14, 7, 13, 10, 1)
Northern Harrier (HIGH): 18, (12, 4, 5, 2, 0)
Sharp-shinned Hawk: 11, (22, 16, 16, 5, 2)
Cooperâs Hawk (HIGH): 9, (8, 8, 7, 5, 3)
Red-shouldered Hawk: 41, (81, 55, 28, 18, 14)
Red-tailed Hawk: 88, (98, 107, 87, 55, 37)
Rough-legged Hawk: 2 (New for count)
American Kestrel (LOW): 18, (24, 18, 26, 21, 8)
Merlin (HIGH): 2, (1, 1, 0, 0, 0)
Wild Turkey: 9, (17, 15, 1, CW, 1)
Northern Bobwhite: 1, (8, 0, 16, 8, 0)
American Coot: 1, (0, 0, 3, 6, 5)
Killdeer: 10, (1, 75, 19, 87, 6)
Common Snipe: 5, (0, 3, 8, 4, 0)
Bonaparte's Gull: CW, (0, 0, 0, 1, 0)
Ring-billed Gull: 601, (1137, 99, 1440, 216, 225)
Herring Gull (HIGH): 520, (292, 184, 122, 401, 0)
Thayer's Gull: 1 (New for count)
Iceland Gull: 1 (New for count)
Lesser Black-backed Gull (HIGH): 11, (8, CW, 0, 3, 0)
Glaucous Gull: 1 (New for count)
Great Black-backed Gull (HIGH): 61, (58, 9, 3, 8, 0)
Rock Pigeon: 255, (284, 355, 321, 129, 92)
Mourning Dove (LOW): 270, (568, 603, 534, 455, 286)
Eastern Screech Owl: 10, (8, 30, 3, 5, 3)
Great Horned Owl (HIGH): 14, (4, 10, 6, 1, 0)
Barred Owl: 8, (6, 9, 1, CW, 0)
Asio sp.: 1 (Short-eared in 1999, Long-eared would be new)
Belted Kingfisher (LOW): 6, (15, 19, 16, 10, 6)
Red-headed Woodpecker: 3, (6, 10, 3, 2, 0)
Red-bellied Woodpecker: 184, (250, 222, 156, 105, 87)
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker: 81, (80, 100, 51, 29, 23)
Downy Woodpecker: 132, (179, 225, 101, 94, 98)
Hairy Woodpecker: 18, (25, 33, 21, 16, 13)
Yellow-shafted Flicker (LOW): 111, (225, 257, 124, 137, 35)
Pileated Woodpecker (LOW): 30, (38, 59, 35, 36, 32)
Eastern Phoebe (LOW): 1, (7, 17, 11, 4, 2)
Blue Jay: 629, (667, 734, 603, 238, 168)
American Crow: 904, (1448, 1857, 2279, 894, 954)
Fish Crow: 55, (125, 52, 23, 16, 3)
Common Raven (LOW): 2, (7, 13, 13, 4, 0)
Horned Lark:Â 4, (20, 1, 2, 60, CW)
Carolina Chickadee (LOW): 319, (534, 789, 528, 347, 228)
Tufted Titmouse (LOW): 184, (358, 567, 317, 192, 235)
Red-breasted Nuthatch: 2, (0, 11, 8, 14, CW)
White-breasted Nuthatch: 139, (175, 218, 99, 123, 89)
Brown Creeper: 15, (19, 14, 9, 9, 3)
Carolina Wren (LOW): 117, (259, 789, 226, 139, 94)
Winter Wren (HIGH): 7, (7, 7, 4, 2, 0)
Golden-crowned Kinglet: 53, (79, 126, 138, 6, 17)
Ruby-crowned Kinglet: 35, (15, 34, 40, 1, 10)
Eastern Bluebird (LOW): 213, (855, 722, 456, 291, 243)
Hermit Thrush 25, (71, 52, 24, 26, 12)
American Robin: 774, (4343, 1725, 794, 418, 74)
Gray Catbird: 1, (3, 5, 1, 0, 2)
Northern Mockingbird: 199, (335, 331, 189, 164, 84)
Brown Thrasher (HIGH): 3, (1, 1, 0, 0, 0)
European Starling: 10727, (4361, 15397, 2596, 7054, 1732)
American Pipit: 2, (66, 51, 15, 1, 2)
Cedar Waxwing: 392, (2633, 365, 1934, 245, 149)
Yellow-rumped Warbler: 296, (363, 149, 381, 265, 135)
Pine Warbler: 1, (0, 0, 2, 0, 0)
Eastern Towhee (HIGH): 31, (16, 30, 19, 4, 3)
American Tree Sparrow: 9, (5, 18, 9, 19, 4)
Chipping Sparrow: 1 (0, 0, 19, 0, 0)
Field Sparrow: 92, (191, 109, 95, 74, 39)
Savannah Sparrow (LOW): 5, (22, 110, 44, 20, 0)
Fox Sparrow (LOW): 3, (7, 15, 3, 3, 1)
Song Sparrow: 481, (437, 679, 530, 282, 85)
Swamp Sparrow: 25, (39, 25, 42, 15, 12)
White-throated Sparrow: 1183, (1199, 1132, 968, 858, 653)
White-crowned Sparrow: 77, (29, 29, 134, 78, 16)
Dark-eyed Junco: 1780, (1301, 2057, 1542, 1207, 1179)
Northern Cardinal (HIGH): 775, (675, 653, 561, 383, 344)
Red-winged Blackbird: 3251, (51, 1330, 701, 20015, 20)
Eastern Meadowlark (LOW): 3, (54, 40, 106, 48, 4)
Rusty Blackbird: 5, (2, 0, 11, 0, 0)
Common Grackle: 21025, (97, 60000, 67, 15056, 21)
Brown-headed Cowbird: 42, (156, 1187, 96, 3, 92)
Purple Finch: 46, (3, 42, 10, 48, 7)
House Finch (LOW): 68, (367, 491, 295, 181, 113)
American Goldfinch (LOW): 264, (393, 541, 488, 382, 232)
House Sparrow (HIGH): 166, (148, 95, 63, 42, 19)
Cheers,
Todd
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Todd Day
Jeffersonton, VA
Culpeper County
Blkvulture@xxxxxxx
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