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Subject:

16th Dorchester County fall bird count, September 17, 2011, corrections.

From:

Harry Armistead

Reply-To:

Harry Armistead

Date:

Wed, 12 Oct 2011 22:16:34 +0000

CORRECTIONS.  The grand totals of all species were correct as originally reported but in some cases the parenthetical information was incomplete or incorrect (cf. “KEY” below for an explanation of the parenthetical information).  Here are the changes; these have been incorporated into the revised report below.
 
“8 parties did considerable work during hours of darkness” should read 7 of 9 parties … 
 
wild turkey 26 (3, 1-10) should be wild turkey 26 (4, 1-10).
 
killdeer 145 (1-125) should be killdeer 145 (6, 1-125).
 
mourning dove 174 (2-40) should be mourning dove 174 (8, 2-40).
 
L’ILL SPRITES should be LI’L SPRITES as in Li’l Abner.
 
gray-cheeked thrush 3 (3, 1-2) should be gray-cheeked thrush 3 (2, 1-2).
 
unID’d warbler 125 (3, 34-66) should be unID’d warbler 125 (3, 25-66).
 
LAST YEAR … “but mostly the same participants” should be: and many of the same participants. 
 
16th Dorchester County, MD, fall bird count, Saturday, September 17, 2011.
 
KEY: eastern kingbird 2 (1) means seen only by 1 party, whose total is 2.  bald eagle 114 (8, 1-57) means seen by 8 parties, whose totals range from 1 to 57.  
 
You’ll see big discrepancies in the 2 numbers.  For example with Bald Eagle my total of 57 was found all over the south county, where they are legion.  Other areas of the county are not nearly so eagleish.  On the other hand, most of the swallows and blackbirds were in the north Dorchester sectors.  I missed Common Grackle and my only swallow was a single Tree.  Furthermore some of the parties were only out for part of the day, although 7 of 9 parties did considerable work during hours of darkness.  
 
This year there was a super flight of passerines at Taylor’s I., and good numbers in the Neck District and other of the more northerly party areas.  Taylor’s Island had at least 26 Magnolias, 73 Black-and-whites, 70 redstarts, 39 parulas, 10 Chestnut-sideds, and 66 unidentified warblers; they also had by far the best coverage.
 
164 species.  Number of individual birds to be totaled later.:
 
pied-billed grebe 3 (2, 1-2).  American white pelican 1 (2, seen by 2 parties, same individual).  brown pelican 2 (1).  double-crested cormorant 458 (7, 1-375).  great blue heron 81 (8, 3-28).  great egret 104 (6, 1-65).  snowy egret 162 (6, 1-151).  tricolored heron 11 (1).  cattle egret 1 (1).  green heron 9 (5, 1-4).  black-crowned night heron 1 (1).   
 
black vulture 9 (2, 2-7).  turkey vulture 161 (8, 2-55).  Canada goose 614 (6, 6-210).  mute swan 2 (1).  wood duck 105 (3, 3-98).  American black duck 48 (3, 4-39).  mallard 1309 (8-675).  blue-winged teal 22 (2, 2-20).  northern shoveler 38 (2, 7-31).  northern pintail 25 (1).  green-winged teal 46 (2, 1-45).  ruddy duck 1 (1).    
 
osprey 23 (5, 1-10).  bald eagle 114 (8, 1-57).  northern harrier 14 (4, 1-10).  sharp-shinned hawk 10 (5, 1-4).  Cooper’s hawk 5 (2, 1-4).  red-shouldered hawk 1 (1).  broad-winged hawk 66 (1).  red-tailed hawk 12 (5, 1-4).  American kestrel 31 (7, 2-13).  wild turkey 26 (4, 1-10).  northern bobwhite 2 (2, 1-1).  clapper rail 7 (1).  king rail 1 (1).  Virginia rail 3 (2, 1-2).  common gallinule 1 (1). 
 
SHOREBIRDS:  black-bellied plover 7 (1).  American golden-plover 2 (2, 1-1).  semipalmated plover 27 (3, 1-14).  killdeer 145 (6, 1-125).  greater yellowlegs 4 (3, 1-2).  lesser yellowlegs 2 (2, 1-1).  unID’d yellowlegs 10 (2, 3-7).  solitary sandpiper 1 (1).  spotted sandpiper 1 (1).  ruddy turnstone 2 (1).  sanderling 13 (2, 4-9).  semipalmated sandpiper 38 (2, 2-36).  western sandpiper 2 (1).  least sandpiper 15 (2, 6-9).  white-rumped sandpiper 2 (1).  pectoral sandpiper 2 (1).  unID’d peep 1 (1).        
 
laughing gull 1115 (7, 20-600).  ring-billed gull 62 (8, 1-20).  herring gull 142 (5, 2-115).  great black-backed gull 270 (1).  Caspian tern 36 (3, 1-20).  royal tern 61 (4, 1-42).  common tern 13 (2, 5-8).  Forster’s tern 301 (6, 1-145).  black tern 2 (1).  rock pigeon 55 (3, 9-18).  mourning dove 174 (8, 2-40).  black-billed cuckoo 1 (1).  yellow-billed cuckoo 1 (1). 
 
eastern screech-owl 24 (5, 1-15).  great horned owl 18 (3, 3-10).  barred owl 7 (2, 1-6).  chuck-will’s-widow 1 (1).  chimney swift 6 (3, 1-3).  ruby-throated hummingbird 11 (5, 1-5).  belted kingfisher 22 (7, 2-4).  red-headed woodpecker 8 (5, 1-3).  red-bellied woodpecker 24 (8, 2-6).  downy woodpecker 41 (7, 1-18).  hairy woodpecker 13 (3, 1-8).  northern flicker 112 (8, 2-55).  pileated woodpecker 19 (6, 1-6). 
 
FLYCATCHERS.  olive-sided flycatcher 1 (1).  eastern wood-pewee 39 (5, 1-17).  Traill’s flycatcher 1 (1).  least flycatcher 3 (2, 1-2).  unID’d empidonax 6 (3, 1-3).  eastern phoebe 6 (4, 1-2).  great crested flycatcher 7 (4, 1-4).  eastern kingbird 2 (1). 
 
white-eyed vireo 7 (2, 2-5).  yellow-throated vireo 4 (1).  warbling vireo 2 (1).  red-eyed vireo 55 (5, 2-31).  blue jay 140 (6, 1-41).  American crow 202 (8, 3-60).  fish crow 12 (4, 1-6).  unID’d crow 34 (1).  horned lark 12 (1).  purple martin 25 (1).  tree swallow 815 (5, 1-801).  northern rough-winged swallow 1 (1).  barn swallow 408 (2, 8-400).
 
L’IL SPRITES.  carolina chickadee 173 (7, 6-67).  tufted titmouse 87 (6, 3-40).  brown-headed nuthatch 90 (6, 3-46).  Carolina wren 62 (6, 2-32).  house wren 48 (6, 2-22).  marsh wren 19 (4, 1-15).  ruby-crowned kinglet 4 (1).  blue-gray gnatcatcher 15 (4, 1-11).
 
THRUSH TYPES + 2 others.  eastern bluebird 103 (8, 1-30).  veery 17 (1).  gray-cheeked thrush 3 (2, 1-2).  Swainson’s thrush 10 (3, 1-8).  Catharus thrush 6 (1).  wood thrush 6 (1).  American robin 200 (8, 1-100).  gray catbird 71 (6, 1-41).  northern mockingbird 65 (7, 2-25).  brown thrasher 15 (4, 1-6).  European starling 937 (8, 15-425).  cedar waxwing 92 (3, 9-71).      
 
WARBLERS (yeah!!!).  blue-winged warbler 1 (1).  Tennessee warbler 6 (4, 1-2).  Nashville warbler 3 (3, 1-1).  northern parula 85 (5, 1-39).  yellow warbler 4 (3, 1-2).  chestnut-sided warbler 27 (4, 1-10).  magnolia warbler 44 (7, 1-26).  Cape May warbler 3 (2, 1-2).  black-throated blue warbler 14 (3, 1-9).  yellow-rumped (myrtle) warbler 7 (1).  black-throated green warbler 10 (4, 1-7).  Blackburnian warbler 3 (2, 1-2).  yellow-throated warbler 1 (1).  pine warbler  125 (6, 9-49).  prairie warbler 8 (3, 1-6).  palm warbler 13 (4, 1-9; at least 9 of them yellows).  bay-breasted warbler 1 (1).  blackpoll warbler 2 (2, 1-1).  black-and-white warbler  117 (6, 1-73).  American redstart 161 (7, 1-70).  ovenbird 8 (3, 1-4).  northern waterthrush 6 (1).  common yellowthroat 81 (7, 1-22).  Wilson’s warbler 2 (1).    Canada warbler 2 (1).  yellow-breasted chat 1 (1).  unID’d warbler (either Wilson’s or hooded) 1 (1).  unID’d warbler 125 (3, 25-66).      
 
summer tanager 7 (2, 3-4).  scarlet tanager 18 (4, 1-9).  eastern towhee 2 (2, 1-1).   chipping sparrow 236 (7, 3-85).  field sparrow 6 (2, 1-5).  Savannah sparrow 6 (2, 2-4).  seaside sparrow 1 (1).  song sparrow 2 (2, 1-1).  Lincoln’s sparrow 1 (1).  northern cardinal 71 (7, 1-20).  rose-breasted grosbeak 16 (4, 1-10).  blue grosbeak 41 (6, 4-13).  indigo bunting 30 (6, 1-12).  bobolink 567 (6, 8-190).  red-winged blackbird 1105 (6, 6-400).  common grackle 1754 (4, 3-1400).  brown-headed cowbird 914 (8, 1-680).  Baltimore oriole 6 (3, 1-3).  house finch 18 (4, 1-15).  American goldfinch 40 (7, 1-12).  house sparrow 71 (6, 3-35).  unID’d passerine 7 (1).      
 
EFFORT:   Hours by foot 53, hours by car 31, hours owling 13.  Miles by foot 22, miles by car 493, miles owling 91.  Thirteen observers in 8 party areas in 9-11 parties.  4 A.M. – midnight.   
 
WEATHER:  49-66°F., calm becoming for the rest of the day NE5 and (mostly) 10-15 m.p.h., rain, mostly light from noon until c. 7 P.M., almost continuously completely overcast.  A little too cool, cloudy, breezy, and rainy.
 
MISSES:  It’s still fascinating how some common species are so scarce at this time of year.  We missed Eastern Meadowlark and Boat-tailed Grackle (the latter has been declining in Dorchester).  It is less surprising that these species were missed: little blue heron, glossy ibis, gadwall, American wigeon, merlin, peregrine falcon, dunlin (most arrive later in the fall), short-billed dowitcher, barn owl, blue-headed vireo, bank swallow, red-breasted & white-breasted nuthatches, worm-eating warbler, grasshopper sparrow, and swamp sparrow.  Last year we found 7 merlins.
 
SCARCE AT THIS TIME OF YEAR:  field sparrow (6; and other sparrows other than chippie), eastern towhee (2), eastern kingbird (2).  It was much more surprising to only see 6 chimney swifts.  Swallows and blackbirds are sometimes unaccountably scarce.  
 
FAMILY TOTALS: heron types 7 (O.K.), waterfowl 10 (so-so), raptors 11 (O.K.), rallids 4, shorebirds 15 (good), gulls 4 (par), terns 5 (good), woodpeckers 6 (par), flycatchers 7 (good), vireos 4 (good), swallows 4 (good), thrush types 9 (good), warblers 26 (excellent; unprecedented), sparrows 6 (good; excludes towhee).  Shorebird numbers were low no doubt due to the high water levels.   
 
LAST YEAR: With slightly better participation, and many of the same participants, 143 species were noted, 21 less than this year, and 14 warbler species vs. 26 in 2011, showing how important good weather, or good weather the previous day, is.  It seems NW wind got the migrants over to the shore, then it switched to NE and blew them over to the Bay shore edge.  Every year is different.  That’s why it’s so important to keep coming back.  
 
TAYLOR’S ISLAND had 2 groups of 3 each working unbeknownst to each other.  I have taken the highest counts from one of the parties and factored in, depending on the species, from 0 to 20% of the birds the other party found, assuming that, for example, given the size and complexity of Taylor’s Island, it is highly unlikely both groups would have seen exactly the same warbler, flycatcher, vireo, titmice group, woodpecker, etc., individuals, but may very well have seen the same raptors, terns, etc.  If this is fudging then so be it.  I believe it is only realistic.     
 
MISTAKES.  Please let me know if you see any.  Thank you.  This is done in something of a hurry since I am heading off to the swamps for 2.5 weeks and will be w/o a computer.                                                                                                                                                           
 
PARTICIPANTS:
            1.  Steve Ford:  east-central county, s. of Route 50, Griffiths Neck, Steele Neck, DeCoursey Bridge, Fork Neck.  Steve covered this area the last 2 falls.
            2.  Levin Willey:  areas south of Route 50 but close to Linkwood, same as he did last 2 springs and falls - Aireys, Drawbridge roads.
            3A & 3B.  Wayne Bell, Paul Spitzer, George Radcliffe:  Taylor's Island, party 1, but also including Smithville Rd., Slaughter & Parsons creeks.  Dan Small, John Hubbell, Jim Green, party 2.  Their totals combined as one party above.
            4.  Diane Cole:  extreme south county: Toddville, Wingate, Crapo, Bishops Head, Cedar Creek Rd. area.
            5.  Colin McAllister:  Neck District west of Cambridge.  George Radcliffe also spent part of the day here on his farm.
            6.  Matt Whitbeck:  restricted areas of Blackwater refuge incl. Kuehnle Tract.
            7.  Harry Armistead:  central Blackwater, Hooper's I.-Meekins Neck, Elliott I. Rd.
8.      Dave Palmer:  county north of Route 50.
 
Best to all. – Harry Armistead, Philadelphia.
  		 	   		  
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