Date: Mon, 30 Jul 2001 16:41:18 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: "Zucker, Paul A." Subject: Summary of Howard May Count MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Copied below is the text summary of the 2001 Howard County May Count. This article will appear in the chapter newsletter, The Goldfinch along with the numerical totals. Paul Zucker Howard County Compiler The 2001 Howard County May Count was held on May 12, 2001 from 4:15 AM to 11:30 PM. The total species count of 144 was an average result, and the party hours (190 by foot, 21 by car, 1 by owling, 2 at feeders, and 2 on bicycle) were also typical of the last several years. The total number of birds seen (over 17000) was more than last year but similar to the few years prior to that. In contrast, our 72 participants in 41 parties was the highest ever. There was another great change from last year: the weather was lovely, with a high in the mid-eighties. (No one will forget the difficulty of birding in last year's 95 degree, muggy heat.) We did have a number of unusual sightings (recorded fewer than five times in the previous 15 counts). These included Horned Grebe (one previous time in the last 15 years), Herring Gull (4 previous), Red-headed Woodpecker (3 previous), Olive-sided Flycatcher (one previous), Horned Lark (2 previous), Marsh Wren (2 previous), and Vesper Sparrow (first time since 1993, but 5 times previous to that in the past 15 years). There was also a sighting of Trumpeter Swan, which has been referred to the records committee for evaluation. There were eight high counts for the 15 year period: Black Vulture, Turkey Vulture, Killdeer, Great Crested Flycatcher, Louisiana Waterthrush, Chipping Sparrow, Baltimore Oriole, and (groan) 772 Canada Geese. There were also some interesting misses. This was the fourth year in a row that the Ring-necked Pheasant was not found, and the Northern Bobwhite has now been missed four out of the last five years. Both of these species were regularly seen before 1997. Other unusual misses were Common Loon (last miss was in 1986), Osprey (last miss was 1976), Black-billed Cuckoo (second miss in 15 years), and Great-horned Owl (second miss in 15 years). The relatively low counts for Black-throated Blue and Yello-rumped Warblers, along with the absence of Palm Warblers, are consistent with the rather late date for this count. Very special thanks go to the Randles for hosting yet another great tally rally and to Chuck Stirrat for helping with the numerical tabulations 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, Stan Arnold, Mary Jo Betts, Karan and Bill Blum, Marty Chestem, Eileen Clegg, Lisa Colangelo, Jane and Dennis Coskren, Joan DeCarli, Diane and Jan and Bob Depuy, Ward Ebert, Paula and Darius Ecker (area 3 assistant), Jeffrey Friedhoffer, Aelred Geis, Jane and Ralph Geuder, Maureen and Dave Harvey, Emy Holdridge, Dave Holyoke,Wendy Keller, Eleanor Kelley, Mike Kerwin, Dave Kubitsky, Nancy Magnusson, Grazina and Mike McClure (area 4), Jim McGibney, Penny and Alan McQuarrie, Diane Mecham, Elayne and Jeff Metter, Sue Neri, Carol Newman, Jeanne and Doug Odermatt (area 5), Richard Orr, Peter Osenton, Bonnie Ott (area 6), Susan and Ron Polniaszek, Suzanne Probst, Nanine Rhinelander, Chan Robbins, Clyde Robinette, Kurt Schwarz, Susan Setterberg, Jay Sheppard, Silvia and Jay Silverman, Romayne Smith, Jo and Bob Solem (area 7), Hank Stanton, Chuck Stirrat (area 3), Tom Strikwerda, Eva Sunell, Robin Todd, Kate Tufts, June Tveekrem, Mark Wallace, Jim Wilkenson, Michelle Wright, Helen Zeichner, and Sherry and Paul 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 ======================================================================= =========================================================================