[rec.birds] Christmas Bird Count season is upon us

dgraham@kean.ucs.mun.ca (David Graham) (12/15/90)

Well, it's Christmas Bird Count time again. Pamela and I are off 
tomorrow early for the Cape Race count. We expect to see 20-25 
species, given past tallies, and probably 2-5 mammal species, but 
they're not as certain. Forecast is for mainly sunny weather, 
moderate westerlies, temperatures -3 to 0 degrees Celsius. Sounds like 
a good sort of day if the ducks are onshore! Cape Race is about 120km 
S of St. John's, on the extreme SE corner of the island of 
Newfoundland...

Will netters post CBC results as they happen?

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   David Graham					dgraham@kean.ucs.mun.ca  
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mjm@oliven.olivetti.com (Michael Mammoser) (01/04/91)

 
In article <170840@kean.ucs.mun.ca>, dgraham@kean.ucs.mun.ca (David Graham) writes:
 > Well, it's Christmas Bird Count time again. 
 > 
 > Will netters post CBC results as they happen?
 
	While on vacation I participated in five CBCs: Palo Alto, Mt.
Hamilton, San Jose, Los Banos, and Ano Nuevo. The number of species that
I saw on an individual count varied from 70 to 108, with the cumulative
total being 157. The count with the highest species total was Ano Nuevo,
with 184 (should net it a top ten ranking).

	The weather was cold; with the extreme being the Mt. Hamilton
count, where we birded all day in ongoing snow flurries. At one point,
a Tree Swallow flew by, its zig-zag flight giving the impression that it
was dodging snowflakes. It seemed that the population of flying insects
couldn't be thriving in this weather, and my partner and I wondered how
these birds could be surviving. Yet they must have some means, because a
week later we found over 100 Tree Swallows on the Los Banos count.

	Also, it was interesting to note the increased numbers of Peregrine
Falcons and Merlins. Some counts were getting 4 or 5 Merlins where, five
or six years ago, one was lucky to find a single bird. A couple of compilers
were even talking about delisting them (not requiring a rare bird form
written up). This is already the case on a couple of local counts.

Mike

			CUMULATIVE SPECIES LIST

red throated loon			clark's grebe
western grebe				horned grebe
eared grebe				pied billed grebe
northern fulmar				american white pelican
brown pelican				double crested cormorant
pelagic cormorant			american bittern
black crowned night heron		cattle egret
snowy egret				great egret
great blue heron			white faced ibis
sandhill crane				canada goose
mallard					gadwall
green winged teal			american wigeon
eurasian wigeon				northern pintail
northern shoveler			cinnamon teal
ruddy duck				canvasback
ring necked duck			greater scaup
lesser scaup				white winged scoter
surf scoter				common goldeneye
bufflehead				common merganser
hooded merganser			virginia rail
sora					common moorhen
american coot				american avocet
black necked stilt			snowy plover
killdeer				black bellied plover
marbled godwit				whimbrel
long billed curlew			willet
greater yellowlegs			lesser yellowlegs
spotted sandpiper			long billed dowitcher
common snipe				black turnstone
surfbird				dunlin
sanderling				western sandpiper
least sandpiper				bonaparte's gull
ring billed gull			mew gull
herring gull				california gull
thayer's gull				western gull
glaucous winged gull			forster's tern
turkey vulture				golden eagle
bald eagle				black shouldered kite
northern harrier			sharp shinned hawk
cooper's hawk				red shouldered hawk
red tailed hawk				ferruginous hawk
american kestrel			merlin
prairie falcon				peregrine falcon
california quail			ring necked pheasant
band tailed pigeon			rock dove
mourning dove				great horned owl
white throated swift			anna's hummingbird
belted kingfisher			northern flicker
acorn woodpecker			lewis' woodpecker
red breasted sapsucker			downy woodpecker
hairy woodpecker			nutall's woodpecker
black phoebe				say's phoebe
horned lark				tree swallow
violet green swallow			scrub jay
steller's jay				yellow billed magpie
american crow				common raven
wrentit					plain titmouse
chestnut backed chickadee		bushtit
white breasted nuthatch			winter wren
bewick's wren				marsh wren
rock wren				ruby crowned kinglet
western bluebird			hermit thrush
american robin				loggerhead shrike
northern mockingbird			american pipit
phainopepla				european starling
hutton's vireo				orange crowned warbler
yellow rumped warbler			common yellowthroat
rufous sided towhee			california towhee
savannah sparrow			song sparrow
lark sparrow				rufous crowned sparrow
chipping sparrow			dark eyed junco
white crowned sparrow			golden crowned sparrow
fox sparrow				lincoln's sparrow
western meadowlark			red winged blackbird
tricolored blackbird			brewer's blackbird
brown headed cowbird			house sparrow
pine siskin				american goldfinch
lesser goldfinch			purple finch
house finch