January 04, 1979 - Orient Bird CountIf
SECOND SECTION (d)�
E -O COURN
by Paull S$t,"y(iBtenboogh
April 26, 1979
NATURAL DISASTER
focus on nature
by Paul Stoutenburgh
MERIT C
T
Each year our annual Christmas Bird
Count looks forward to topping the previous
high of _species seen. The idea of the
Christmas count started way back in 1900
and has gained a steady following. until
today there are over 34.000 participants in
1.247 count areas. The totals range from a
few birds seen all day long in the Arctic to
344 species seen in the District of Panama
These are exceptions. Here on Long Island
there are atxiut seven or eight counts. each
with its own 15 -mile- radius.
The Orient count has its center on Hay
Brach. Shelter island, and covers the water
and land within a circle that includes Orient
Point. all of Shelter Island. part of the south
shore around Sag Harbor and Jessups Neck.
then through Peconic, Southold. Greenport
and back to llrient. This count is made up of
six parties. each working its own area from
hciore dawn till dark. Even lunch is eaten on
the go. since daylight hours are so short at
this time of year.
Gruelling, Challenging Day
As coordinator of the Orient count it's my
.lob to get the logistics worked out so we can
get the most possible coverage with the
people on hand. This year 37 participants
took part: qualified birders from school age
youth to retired businessmen and
housewives were involved. Many people
come from miles away because of the lack
of birders here on the North Fork. It's a=
gruelling day and a real challenge to those
who enjoy the outdoors.
it seems each year our small bird
population is getting less and less. For those
who don't read the figures correctly. this
might sound like a contradiction. For the
total number of birds, not species, is in-
creasing. The problem is that as the species
number decreases. the total of individual
birds seen increases. Birds like the starling
and gull seem to thrive in man's presence,
but the small woodland birds who rely more
on a natural environment have been
drastically depleted.
To make the count work, plans must be
drawn up weeks ahead of time. And we did
just that when a large group got together on
the south shore to formulate plans for the
three east -end counts; Eastport - Speonk
count, Central Suffolk count and the Orient
count. Dates and teams were drawn up and
so when December 28 came along, and the
temperature dropped to 23 degrees with an
almost gale force wind out of the north, we
had no choice but to go.
Wind can be a most detrimental- problem
in hirding.First it hampers your hearing and
seeing. It's easy to pick up the motion of the
small bird when everything else is still, but
with a wind howling out of the northwest,
and every limb and tree swaying, it really
puts a damper on sightings.
Winds. Cold Hamper Count
I t blew so hard off the Sound that we could
hardly stand up to it. Out at the tip of Orient
Point it was blowing so hard I couldn't hold
my binoculars still and so I leaned against a
little building out there to steady them ..that
didn't work, for the building 0.1is shaking
also Of course. with that wind and low
temperature it created a chill factor far
below zero and our fingers ceased to work
and writing became an impossibility.
Everywhere we went the same story was
true. Wind and cold made even the common
birds hard to find. One hairy woodpecker
was finally found. Even the chickadees were
evading us. The one bird that was abundant
was the common herring gull. It seemed
every gull from Long Island Sound and the
North Fork had zeroed in to reap the harvest
of bug scallops that were blown up on the
beach in Orient during the previous storm.
In places these small scallops were a foot
deep and the gulls were gorging themselves
on them.
One siting that kept our spirits up was a
flock of 30 purple sandpipers at the extreme
end of Orient Point. Way out on the rocks
that were exposed more than usual because
of the low tide, we could see these hardy
little birds feeding among the mussels, _
Imagine birds smaller than robins living
with -their feet continually bathed in icy
water, and subzero winds constantly buf-
feting them all winter - long on the wind-
swept rocky areas along our coast. it surely
gives one a sense of wonder when you see
events such as this that are just a nor-
mality in the natural world.
Later we were thrilled again to see
another species of shore birds, but this time
on the long beach of the State Park. San -
derlings and turnstones that should have
long gone to a more temperate climate still
were eking out an existence on the protected
side of the beach. Of course, the sea ducks
almost seemed to enjoy the wild, cold wind
of the north as this is part of their year -
round environment. They spent most of
their time diving and feeding on the bottom
for small fish and shellfish that make up
their diet.
Some Ducks Missing
Oldsquaws almost seemed to make the
water explode when they landed and
thrashed about in what seemed to be play.
Goldeneyes, or "whistlers" as the gunners
call them, joined in with them to dive and
frolic among the wind - tossed whitecaps.
Farther offshore the skeins of scoters kept
moving back and forth. The_surf scoter with
its white- patched head and gawdy multi-
YOUNGEST- BIRDERS= Dan Ucist and Tom Villa on the Orient Christmas Bird Count takr
a last look before sunset for scoters, loons and grebes off Orient.
Photo by Paul Stoutenburg,h
colored orange bill could be seen clearly
through the scope as we scanned the flock
for more exotic species. But as much as we
tried, we couldn't find a -harlequin or eider
duck in the entire flock.
Later, when the other groups gathered at
our house for some of my wife's great fish
chowder and rolls. hot Russian tea and
cheesecake. we v: ent through our totals. The
same story was repeated time and again.
"Too windy." "Birds were scarce." As we
went down the list and the group called out
their sitings, we could tell we were g,Sng to
have a low count. No night herons. No snow
geese. No teal. No widgeon. No icood ducks.
No eiders. No Virginia rails. No short -eared
owls. No brown creepers. No shrikes. None
of the unusual small warblers that somehow
seem to stay around and so it went.
;'et, with all the problems the weather
threw up against us we still came out with a
total of 93 species - one less than last year.
And 19 less than our highest count in 1976.
Looking back, we often say to ourselves
"Is it really worth it ?" "Was it worth the
frozen fingers, the watery eyes, the ripped
HIGPJ WINDS AND COLD AIR —With 35 m.p.h. winds and a chill
factor below zero-, these hardy birders at the tip of Orient Point
scan the waters for species to be added to this year's bird count.
Photo by Paul Stoutenburgh
pants. the wet feet that slipped into a
mosquito drain, the loss of a ripped -off
muffler from someone's car as they
grounded in a deep rut out at Mashomack ?"
"Was it really worth it?" "The scratch over
the eye from a belligerent catbrier when eve
went off the beaten track to find a catbird or
Thrasher ?" "Was it worth it to go without a
good hot lunch and the warmth of a corn -
fortable home in hopes of just having a
sporting chance to beat our past record "
I'll bet if I asked any of the 34.000 plus
people who go out every year throughout the
country on this Christmas adventure. their
answer would be a resounding "Yes... And
so we look forward to next year with better
weather and a record count number.
For those interested the birds seen on this
year's count were: Common loon, horned
grebe, pied - billed grebe, double - crested
cormorant, great blue heron, mute swan,
Canada goose, mallard, black duck, gad -
wall, pintail, canvasback, greater scaup,
common goldeneye, bufflehead, oldsquaw,
white - swinged scoter and surf scoter
Black scoter, hooded merganser, common
,merganser, red- breasted merganser, sharp-
ishinned hawk,red- tailed hawk,marsh hawk,
merlin, American kestrel, bobwhite, ring -
necked pheasant, clapper rail, killdeer,
ruddy turnstone, American woodcock,
common snipe, purpic sandpipersanderling,
great black- backed gull and herring gull
Ring - billed gull, Bonaparte's gull, rock
dove, mourning dove, barn owl, screech owl,
great horned owl, snowy- owl, belted
kingfisher, common flicker, red - bellied
woodpecker, hairy woodpecker, downy
woodpecker, horned lark, blue jay, common
crown black- capped chickadee, tufted tit-
mouse, white - breasted nuthatch- red -
breasted nuthatch- winter wren, 'and
Carolina wren,
Mockingbird, gray catbird, brown
thrasher, American robin, hermit thrush,
ruby - crowned kinglet, water pipit, cedar
waxwing, starling, yellow- rumped myrtle,
warbler, house sparrow, eastern
meadowlark, red - winged blackbird, rusty
blackbird, common grackle, cardinal and
evening grosbeak,
House finch, common redpoll, American
goldfinch- rufous -sided towhee, Savannah
sparrow, Savannah Ipswich sparrow
sharp - tailed sparrow, dark -eyed slate -
colored i junco, tree sparrow, field sparrow,
white- crowned sparrow, white- throated
sparrow, fox sparrow, swamp sparrow,
song sparrow and snow bunting