January 06, 1972 - MORE BIRDS, FEWER DUCKS IN ANNUAL NORTH FORK CHRISTMAS COUNTPage 14 THE SUFFOLK TIMES Thursday, January 6, 1972
MORE BIRDS, FEWER DUCKS IN ANNUAL NOR TH FORK CHRISTMAS COUNT
by Paul Stoutenburgh
December 29 was the day we
had all waited for. It was the day
when 30 hardy men and women of
all ages got up at dawn and
trekked throughout the day til
dark to record and count every
bird in sight. It was the day when
103 species were seen which
topped last year's total by 11.
Good weather was one of the
reasons,....the rain. and sleet
holding off until the next day. The
other and probably the most
important reason for our success
was the increase in par-
ticipants .... all good birders with
enthusiasm to spare.
The most significant lack was
in the duck population. Where
thousands of ducks were seen
years ago, only hundreds were
found this year. Again perhaps
this mild fall -like weather has
kept the migrating birds from our
feeding areas. Few people realize
the importance here on Long
Island of our vast wetlands and
bays as stop -over areas for
migrating ducks. We are on the
Atlantic flyway and without these
valuable wet areas we have to
offer -.the duck and shore bird
population would be greatly
reduced.
One place we did find ducks in
significant numbers was on the
causeway area which is the new
East. Marion- Orient Park
Complex. Here we found hun-
dreds of ducks safely enjoying
by Paul Stoutenburgh
the quiet, shallow areas. It is a
tribute to the farsightedness of
the people who once owned this
land and later gave it to the Park
Commission. It might also be
said that our hats are tipped to
the Oysterpond Gun Club as well
as the Park Commission for
posting this area as a sanctuary.
We added an additional party
on Shelter Island this year
making two groups there and this
helped considerably in upping,
our count. We had extremely
good help from some top notch
birders from the west end who
are finding our area an ex-
tremely interesting one to be in
for this Christmas Count.
The Chickadees that come to
vour feeders were well
represented in our, -15 mile
diameter count area. We ob-
served no less that 435 of these
always active, cheery birds. Our
friends from the north, the
brilliant, yellow, black and white
Evening Grosbeaks, were also to
be found in fairly large numbers -
270 to be exact. Some of the
common summer birds, that
most people don't realize are
hardy enough to stick around,
were the Catbirds (11),
Thrashers (2), Towhees (16), and
Robins (33). The Cardinals (134)
and the Mockingbirds (57) both
from the South and new to our
area are well established here on
Long Island.
Although the numbers of land
birds seen seem relatively high to
the casual observer, they ac-
tually have become less and less
through the years. The one ex-
ception to this, of course, would
be the Starling and the Common
Herring Gull. These seem to be
very compatible with man as
both birds are aggressive and
scavengers. It has been said by
some that when everything else
has gone the Starlings and the
Gulls will rule the world. We saw
no Bluebirds, no Cedar Wax-
wings, no Woodcock, and no
Shrikes as seen in the past.
A complete list is given here for
any of you who might be in-
terested in a more critical report
of the 1971 Audubon Christmas
Bird Count.
Common Loon, 15; Red
Throated Loon, 1; Horned Grebe,
63; Pied - billed Grebe, 3; Great
Cormorant. 1; Great Blue Heron,
29; Black - crowned Night Heron
7; American Bittern 1; Mute
Swan 14; Canada Goose 6
Snow Goose 4; Mallard 27"
Black Duck 276; Ruddy Duck
Green - winged Teal 1; America
Widgeon Duck 26; Canvas Back
1; Redhead 3, Greater Scaup 446;
Common Goldeneye 712; Buf-
flehead 45; Oldsquaw 431; and
White- winged Scoter'199.
Surf Scoter 242; Common
(Continued on page 15)
THE SUFFOLK TIMES
Bird Count Tallies 103 Species, Most Ever
(Continued from page 14)
oter 64; Hooded Merganser 3;
ed- breasted Merganser 100;
Sharp- shinned Hawk 2; Red --
tailed Hawk 7;' Rough- legged
Hawk 4; Marsh (Harrier) Hawk
5; Pidgeon (Merlin) Hawk 4;
Sparrow Hawk 31; Bobwhite 129;
Ring- necked Pheasant 19;
Clapper Rail 2; Virginia Rail 1;
Killdeer 1; Common Snipe 5;
Sanderling 2; Great Black- -
backed Gull 129; Herring Gull
3364; ring - billed Gull 112;
Bonaparte's Gull 18; Laughing
Gull 1; Mourning Dove 291; and
American Merganser 3.
Barn Owl 2; Snowy Owl 1;
Screech Owl 4; Long -eared Owl
3; Short -eared Owl 1; Belted
Kingfisher 10; Flicker 68;
Red - bellied Woodpecker 1;
Sap- sucker Woodpecker 1; Hairy
Woodpecker 73; Horned Lark 95;
Blue Jay, 207; Common Crow
349; Chickadee 435;
White - breasted Nuthatch 35;
Red- breastedNuthatch 2; Winter
Wren 5; Carolina Wren 2;
Mockingbird 57; Catbird 11;
Brown Thrasher 2; 'Robin 33;
Hermit Thrush 3; Golden -crown
Kinglet 7; Ruby -crown Kinglet
11; Long Billed Marsh Wren 1;
and Brown Creeper 4.
Starling 2640; Myrtle Warbler
659; Palm Warbler 3; House
Sparrow 488; Eastern
Meadowlark 172; Red - winged
Blackbird 137; Baltimore Oriole
1; Grackle 1; Cowbird 6; Car-
dinal 134; Evening Grosbeck 27;
Purple Finch 12; House Finch
168; Pine Siskin 24; American
Goldfinch 87; Towhee 16;
Savannah Sparrow 55; Sharp- -
tailed Sparrow 2; Vesper
Sparrow 13; Slate - colored Junco
145; Yellow Throat 2; Tree
Sparrow 127; Field Sparrow 45;
White - crowned 5; White throated
Sparrow 275; Fox Sparrow 9;
Page 15
Swamp Sparrow 32; Song
Sparrow 303; and Snow Bunting
109.