02 February 03, 1963 - New York State Waterfowl CensusNew York State Waterfowl Census
Exclusive Sunday Review sketch by Dennis Puleston of Brookhaven
Focus on Nature by Paul Stoutenburgh, Cutchogue
Guest Writer:
Gilbert S .Raynor
As you probably all remember,
Gilbert Raynor did an excellent
job in reporting on our Christmas
Count a fewwoeeks ago. T h is
week he reports to us on t he
Annual Duck Count which I am
sure you will all be interested in
reading. P.S.
At dawn on Jan 12, a group
of birders huddled in the lee .of
a rock at the very tip of Montauk
P o i n t, trained their binoculars
and telescopes seaward, scanned
the turbulent waves and g r a y,
stormy sky and thus began their
portion of the ninth annual New
York State Waterfowl C o u n t.
Flocks of Scoters dotted the wa-
ters but individual ducks could
be seen only momentarily as they
were tufted up on the crest of a
wave; most of the time they were
hidden in the troughs. Many birds
were flying in flocks of a few to
many hundreds, some returning
to favorite feeding grounds after
the current had drifted t h e m
away, others distrubed by t he
only craft in "sight, an open boat
from Montauk Harbor filled with
Cod fishermen 'bound for some
offshore ledge.
Most of the ducks in sight were
White- winged Scoters, the large,
black sea duck with white wing
patches known as "coot" to most
gunners. However, there wag, a
sprinkling of 'the two less com-
mon species, the Surf, and Cpm-
mon Scoters. The former, bled
with white patches on the he ad
are o f t e n calmed "skunkheads"
while the latter are distinguished
by smaller size, all black-plumage
and bright orange bill. 0 t h e r.
bird also were in evidence. Long
lines of swift .flying Red-breasted
Mergansers, several Red - throated
and Common Loons and a f ew
Horned Grebe's were added to the
list before leaving the point. The
observers remained only l o n g
enough to be sure that all the
waterfowl -in sight had been iden-
tified and counted, then m a d e
their way along the sho.ye to the
north for it was necessary to cov-
er the whole area from Montauk
Point to Amagansett , before the
end of 'the day.
The N.Y. State Waterfowl Cen-
sus has an interesting history. In
1938 a gip of L I bird students
instituted the census on L o n g
Island as a means of studying
the trends in the waterfowl popu-
lation from year to year. The
Island was divided into ten or
twelve rregions each assigned to
an experienced birder who was
given the task of identifying and
counting all the ducks, geese and
swans in his area on the speci-
fied weekend which occurred in
mid-December. These counts were
taken in 1938, 1939 and 1940 and
proved a valuable source of data
but were discontinued during the
war years since most of t h e
birders were in the armed ser-
vices. Gas rationing and restric-
tions on the use of binoculars on
certain beaches also made t h e
count impossible.
In 1948 the census was resumed
under the sponsorship of the Lin -
naean Society of New York, an
organization composed, of most
of the professional and more ad-
vanced amature ornithologists in
the New York City region. The
count was still restricted to Long
Island and New York City and
was taken somewhat sporadically
for the next few years. About
1950, however an organization
called the Federation of N e w
York State Bird Clubs was form-
ed with membership open to in-
terested individuals as well -as lo-
cal bird clubs. In 1955 the Federa-
tion took over sponsorship of the
waterfowl census which now be-
came state -wide in coverage. The
date was changed to January to
inventory the population after the
close of the hunting season and
Loons, Grebes and Coots were
added to . the species formerly
counted. The count has now been
taken annually since 1955 and the
results are published in the Fed -
eration's publication, "The King-
bird." The state is now divided
into ten rCgiotas. The, local one
which incliudds. Long Island, New
York City addd Westchester is di-
rected b3ohn Elliott of Seaford
who assigrisicgroups to the various
subdivisions' of the region. T h e
group covering the Montauk pen-
insula wes one of about a dozen
such grotlpls.
After covering the point, t h e
observers trudged along much of
the shoreline to the north d i s-
cover ing several groups of Eiders,
both Common and King. Consid-
erable time was spent separating
the females and immatures of the
two species for they are:almost
identical. The threatened :,» "had
arrived and the rest of thl 'day
was spent in rain and dnizzle that
penetrated clothing and f o g g ed
lenses but failed to dampen en-
thusiasm. Other species added to
the list were Black Duck, 01 d
Squaw and Common Goldeneye.
At Montauk Harbor large flocks
of Greater Scaup and two Canada
Geese were found. Napeaaue Bay
produced many Buffilehead. By
the end of the day 3693 birds of
15 species had been Listed.
During the last five years, the
statewide totals have ranged from
36 to 40 species and from about
170,000 to 250,000 individual birds.
Long Island has consistently pro-
duced just about half of the state-
wide total 'with representatives of
almost every species. In 1962, for
instance, the L o n g Island t o t a l
was 126,306 . while the statewide
total was 251,794. Thirty -three of
the 38 species in the state were
found on Long Island.
During the same period each
year, the N Y ,State Conserva-
tion Dept, conducts an aerial sur-
vey which generally shows good
agreement with the ground count
in totals reported although counts
for individual species sometimes
differ significantly. In` . 1962, the
aerial survey reported 266,490 in-
dividuals only slightly more than
the ground survey. This method
of counting allows coverage of wa-
ter areas out of sight of land and
the trained observers make sur-
prisingly good estimates of t h e
numbers in large flocks but spec-
ies present in small numbers are
often not identified and m any
small bodies, of water are n o t
covered. Thus the two methods
supplement each other and add
up to a rather accurate picture
of the size and composition of
the state's mid - winter waterfowl
population. Although these counts
accurately enumerate N Y State's
birds they do not necessarily re-
flect nation -wide trends in popu-
lations. The U. S. Fish and Wild-
life Service, however, c o n d ucts
annual mid-winter aerial surveys
in the major wintering areas and
summer breeding ground surveys
which form the . basis for t h ,e
hunting . regulations in the f our
flyways during the following
season. •
FIELD OBSERVATIONS
Laurence Ernest reports:
Southampton Jan 19 -21
Brown Thrasher
Flicker '''ft
Cand aslbaoks. (1 §)
ReKd- throated Loon
At feeder - Jan 17
Ferriale Oriole a
House Finches
Cardi, a1s
Mrs George. penny reports:
Mattituck - Jan 27
Car elina "Wren,
Judd: bimett reports:
East 110irion — Jan 26
Diekcissel still at feeder'
Field Trip
Orient — Jan 26
Harlequins (2 male)
American Eiders (42)
Rough- legged Hawk
Marsh Hawk
Shinnecock — Jan 5-8
Turnstones (4)
Clapper Rail
Field Trip — Orient — Jan 5
Snow Bunting (200)
Lapland Longspur (15)
Horned Larks (35)
Common Eider (17)
Surf Scoters (50)
White- winged Scoters (100)
Red - breasted Mergansers (30)
Old Squaws (50)4
Bufflehead
Cormorants (3)
Pigeon Hawk
Marsh Hawk
Sparrow Hawk (3)
Golden-crowned Kinglet (2)
Shrike
Flicker
Greenport — Jan 5
Purple Finch (13)
Red-winged Blackbirds 1100)
Cutchogue — Jan 5
Clapper Rails (2)
Short -eared Owl