[This young male Rufous/Allen's Hummingbird at a feeder near Bridgeton survived the big snowstorm and the Arctic blast to become a Cumberland CBC first. That is one tough bird - or was, as Mike Fritz tells me it apparently finally stopped coming to the feeder last week.]
Mike Fritz reports on the Cumberland CBC:
"This turned out to be the windiest count in the 60 year history with steady 25-35mph winds all day gusting into the 40's and even 50's! Extremely cold wind chills, blowing spray off the Delaware Bay and dust storms made for brutal birding conditions in every part of the count circle. Some observers reported being almost blown off their feet and a lot of "car birding" took place, but overall we ended with a great count. We had good observer coverage again thanks to a lot of DVOC participation. I want to thank everyone who toughed it out all day. Most participants I heard from claimed they still had fun, so I've concluded that birders are nuts! We had 120 species for the day which is incredible! Total numbers of almost everything were down though due to the weather conditions.
Highlights in no particular order:
A young male Rufous/Allen's Hummingbird at a feeder near Bridgeton that survived the big snowstorm and the Arctic blast to become a count first. That is one tough bird!
A flyover male Yellow-headed Blackbird near Shaw's Mill Pond which is a third count record.
Several lingering "half-hardy" birds that were somehow still alive for the count included an Eastern Phoebe, a Ruby-crowned Kinglet, a Common Yellowthroat, a Pine Warbler at a suet feeder, good numbers of both Catbirds and Brown Thrashers, and a single Marsh Wren.
A good representation of winter birds for a non finch invasion year included Purple Finch, Am. Tree Sparrows, good numbers of Rusty Blackbirds, lots of Fox Sparrows and a few White-crowneds.
Waterfowl numbers were way down overall due to the prior snow storm and freeze, but we still got Tundra Swans, Ruddy Ducks, Long-tailed ducks, and a record number of Common Mergansers was pushed south this year.
Four Lesser Black-backed Gulls is a new count high.
The "Cumberland County" Crane flock was counted again and includes an apparent pure Common Crane, at least 6 pure Sandhill Cranes, and some hybrid Cranes. This flock has been growing steadily every year.
Good numbers of "open field" species were found with the highlight being a Lapland Longspur near Cedarville for only the 2nd count record. We also had good numbers of Am. Pipits, E. Meadowlarks, and Horned Larks. We also had 2 Wilson's Snipe and over a dozen Am. Woodcock.
Owling was very tough and most groups opted to skip it, but some owls were found by going deep into sheltered groves and we still recorded a Saw-whet, several Screech and Great Horned, one Barred, and a Long-eared Owl that responded to a Screech Owl imitation probably looking for dinner.
This count is in the most raptor rich part of the state and we did really well for the conditions. A new record for Bald Eagles was seen again with conservatively 88 birds in the count circle! Several pairs were seen locking talons in courtship displays and over 30 were seen going into the Bear Swamp roost along with an adult Golden Eagle. Please continue to separate the age classes of Bald Eagles on your checklists as it helps me eliminate duplicate sightings (a very difficult job).. We also had all three falcons, but accipiter numbers were way down and we missed Rough-legged Hawk this year as well as Short-eared Owl. American Kestrel numbers continue their sad and largely unnoticed decline with a new low of just 3 seen this year.
The big roost near the Cohansey River was counted at dusk as birds were headed in and again had some BIG numbers. It includes over 1000 Fish Crows, 3500 Am. Robins, 14,000 Starlings, 6500 Red-winged Blackbirds, and 18,000 C. Grackles!!!!
Everyone did a great job to make for another stellar count in some not so stellar conditions. Next year’s count will be January 2 2011 and I promise less wind and more birds. I also intend to finish a new updated and more user friendly checklist by next year.
Cheers,
Mike Fritz
Cumberland County CBC compiler
60th Annual CUMBERLAND COUNTY CHRISTMAS BIRD COUNT, January 3, 2010
4 AM to 7 PM. 49 observers in 19 parties. 10 hours and 54 miles owling. Total party-hours = 144.5; total party-miles = 592 (59 hrs and 50 miles on foot, 85 hrs and 542 miles by car) AM: clear, PM: partly clear, wind NW 21-41 mph (highest gust 52mph!). Still water: partly frozen. Snow cover: none. Temps 19° to 28° F.
Snow Goose 32,800
Snow Goose (blue form) 15
Canada Goose 3051
Mute Swan 26
Tundra Swan 6
Gadwall 18
American Black Duck 538
Mallard 895
Northern Pintail 39
Green-winged Teal 37
Ring-necked Duck 103
Lesser Scaup 2
Surf Scoter cw
Black Scoter cw
Long-tailed Duck 2
Bufflehead 70
Common Goldeneye 11
Hooded Merganser 46
Common Merganser 471
Red-breasted Merganser 4
Ruddy Duck 22
Ring-necked Pheasant 3
Wild Turkey 145
Common Loon 1
Pied-billed Grebe 3
Great Blue Heron 96
Great Egret 1
Blk-cr Night-Heron 3
Black Vulture 59
Turkey Vulture 330
Bald Eagle (36 ad!) 88
Northern Harrier 91
Sharp-shinned Hawk 15
Cooper's Hawk 12
Red-shouldered Hawk 6
Red-tailed Hawk 85
Golden Eagle (adult) 1
American Kestrel 3
Merlin 2
Peregrine Falcon 4
Clapper Rail 1
Virginia Rail 3
Sandhill Crane 6
Common Crane 1
Crane sp. 11
Killdeer 10
Greater Yellowlegs 5
Lesser Yellowlegs 3
Dunlin 199
Sanderling 30
Wilson’s Snipe 2
American Woodcock 14
Ring-billed Gull 1809
Herring Gull 4865
Lesser Black-backed Gull 4
Great Black-backed Gull 134
Rock Pigeon 286
Mourning Dove 220
E. Screech Owl 13
Great Horned Owl 7
Barred Owl 1
Long-eared Owl 1
N. Saw-whet Owl 1
Rufous/Allen’s Hummingbird 1
Belted Kingfisher 16
Red-bellied Woodpecker 46
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 10
Downy Woodpecker 36
Hairy Woodpecker 15
Northern Flicker 86
Eastern Phoebe 1
Blue Jay 205
American Crow 986
Fish Crow 1155
Horned Lark 254
Carolina Chickadee 232
Tufted Titmouse 130
Red-breasted Nuthatch 5
White-breasted Nuthatch 38
Brown Creeper 7
Carolina Wren 109
Winter Wren 8
Marsh Wren 1
Golden-crowned Kinglet 69
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 1
E. Bluebird 181
Hermit Thrush 57
American Robin 5275
Gray Catbird 16
N. Mockingbird 96
Brown Thrasher 28
European Starling 14,060
American Pipit 55
Cedar Waxwing 235
Yellow-rumped (Myrtle) Warbler 601
Pine Warbler 1
Common Yellowthroat 1
Eastern Towhee 24
American Tree Sparrow 11 Chipping Sparrow 228
Field Sparrow 211 Savannah Sparrow 37
Fox Sparrow 57
Song Sparrow 221 Swamp Sparrow 108
White-throated Sparrow 1983
White-crowned Sparrow 14
Dark-eyed (Slate-colored) Junco 783
Lapland Longspur 1
N. Cardinal 249
Red-winged Blackbird 6457
E. Meadowlark 101
Yellow-headed Blackbird 1
Rusty Blackbird 31
Common Grackle 18,100
Boat-tailed Grackle 35
Brown-headed Cowbird 427
Purple Finch 2
House Finch 171
American Goldfinch 207
House Sparrow 132
TOTAL SPECIES: 120
TOTAL INDIVIDUALS: 100,339
Record high counts for 3 species. Cumulative total now at 205 with Rufous/Allen’s Hummingbird new to count. Lapland Longspur was 2nd count record and Yellow-headed Blackbird was 3rd count record. The "Cumberland Crane Flock" is now up to 18 birds with one Common Crane, 6 Sandhill Cranes, and 11 hybrids.
Compiler:
Michael Fritz
