Date: Wed, 19 Jul 2000 10:58:01 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: "Zucker, Paul A." Subject: Summary of Howard County May Count MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Copied below is the article which will appear in the Howard County Goldfi= nch discussing the results of the May bird count last spring. The numerical tally will be posted on the Howard County web page http://www.geocities.com/howardbirds/ Paul Zucker Howard County compiler The 2000 Howard County May Count was held on May 13, 2000 from 4:= 30 AM to 8:40 PM. In most regards this was a rather ordinary count. The tot= al species count of 141 was an average result, and the party hours (119 by foot, 13 by car, 7 by owling, and 3 at feeders) were also typical. Neith= er the number of parties (34) nor the total number of birds (over 14000) was unusual. There were, however, two aspects in which this count was extraordinary. The 71 participants constituted the largest turnout yet, = and no one will forget the extremely hot weather. The whole day was muggy wi= th the afternoon temperature in the county reaching 95 degrees. Both the counters and the birds had to slow down. The most notable sighting was a first ever Bicknell's Thrush, whi= ch was found and identified by Chan Robbins. The Virginia Rail was seen onl= y once before in 1994, and the Green-winged Teal was spotted for the first time since 1982. Other unusual sightings (recorded fewer than five times= in the previous 15 counts) were Ruddy Duck, American Coot, and Semipalmated Plover. Nine species had high counts (since at least 1974): Black-crowne= d Night Heron, Black Vulture, Canada Goose (no surprise here), Belted Kingfisher (tied), Red-bellied Woodpecker, Hairy Woodpecker, Willow Flycatcher, Warbling Vireo, and Blackpoll Warbler (157 tallied!). The la= rge number of blackpolls and the small number of yellow-rumps seem to indicat= e that the migration was past its peak by the time of the count. Many of t= he participants had the impression that other migrating warbler species were hard to come by, yet the county-wide totals were typical. There were also some notable misses and low counts. This was the third year in a row that the Ring-necked Pheasant was not found, and the Northern Bobwhite has now been missed three out of the last four years. Both of these species were regularly seen before 1997. Other unusual mis= ses were Ruby-crowned Kinglet and Swamp Sparrow. Among the regularly occurri= ng species, twelve had low counts (compared to the last 15 years): American Kestrel (tied), Rock Dove, Northern Flicker, Barn Swallow, American Robin= , European Starling, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Song Sparrow, White-throated Sparrow (only 2 found), Red-winged Blackbird, Eastern Meadowlark (only 4)= , and Common Grackle. The meadowlark, pheasant, and Bobwhite have been in steady decline over many years, probably as a result of the suburbanizati= on of Howard county. Very special thanks go to the Randles for hosting yet another gre= at tally rally and to Chuck Stirrat for helping with the numerical tabulatio= ns and for producing special checklists for use in the field and for the tallies. The efforts of the participants and area coordinators are also appreciated: Andy Aguilera, Mary Jo Betts, Karan and Bill Blum, Joe Byrnes, Marty Chestem, Lisa Colangelo, Diane Depuy, Ward Ebert, Paula and Darius Ecker, Tracy Eve, Carol Garza, Jane and Ralph Geuder, Edwin Gould, Maureen and Dave Harvey, Kevin Heffernan, Jane Heim, Ann Higgins, Emy Holdridge, Linda and Lynn Holley, Tina Katsampis, Dave Kubitsky, Kathleen LaGreca, Larry Line, Brigitte Lund, Nancy Magnusson, John Maloney, Grazin= a and Mike McClure (area 4), Diane Mecham, Elayne and Jeff Metter, Rebekah = and Colin Mulchansingh, Carol Newman, Jeanne and Doug Odermatt (area 5), Pete= r Osenton, Bonnie Ott (area 6), Karla Pearce, Anita Picco, Susan and Ron Polniaszek, Suzanne Probst, Ann Marie Raterman, Nanine Rhinelander, Chan Robbins, Gary Roberts, Susan Setterberg, Silvia and Jay Silverman, Jo and Bob Solem (area 7), Hank Stanton, Chuck Stirrat (area 3), Tom Strikwerda, Jackie Telford, Robin and Will Tress, Kate Tufts, Marilyn Veek, Mark Wallace, Dave Wilusz, Michelle Wright, Helen Zeichner, and Sherry and Pau= l Zucker (area 2 and county compiler). ========================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ========================================================================= ===========================================================================