Results of the Orient Christmas Bird Count, by Compiler MaryLaura Lamont
The old Orient Christmas Bird Count was held on Dec. 29, 2007 from 6:00am to 6:00pm. As usual the results of 60 people peeking into every bush, hole, creek, cove and hollow produced some amazing results. A total of 22,677 individual birds were counted for the day, and 116 different species were found. Although the early morning was horrible, in terms of bad weather (we had pea soup fog, high winds, heavy rains, horizontal rains) the overall results were excellent. The bad weather finally departed by about 11:00am so the rest of the day was very productive. The old Orient Count has a 15 mile diameter so all birds seen within this area are counted. It stretches from Peconic east to Plum Island and Shelter Island, and it also covers the peninsulas of the South Fork, such as North Haven, Barcelona Neck, all of Cedar Point County Park in East Hampton, Sag Harbor, and Jessup’s Neck. There are 9 separate sections and 9 group leaders. Every one who participates is contributing good data to ongoing bird studies. From the results of Christmas Counts scientists can determine the rise and fall of bird populations, migrational patterns, and study temporary trends or permanent ones.
Some of the outstanding highlights from this years Count are as follows, with the very rare being in italics.
Black-crowned Night Heron (Sag Harbor)
Brant (Southold South)
Wood Duck (Shelter Island West)
Common Eider (Orient)
Common Merganser (Greenport)
Ruddy Duck (Southold North)
Peregrine Falcon (Orient)
Northern Bobwhite (Southold South)
Spotted Sandpiper (Greenport)
Purple Sandpiper (Orient)
Iceland Gull (Greenport)
Laughing Gull (Southold South)
Razorbill (Orient)
House Wren (Jessup’s Neck)
Sedge Wren (Shelter Island East)
Marsh Wren (Shelter Island East)
Yellow-breasted Chat (Shelter Island East)
Prairie Warbler (Orient)
Spotted during count week, but missed on Count Day were Northern shrike, Barrow’s goldeneye and Redhead.
Overall these results are outstanding, and thanks to all the good people who participated in this count (even in the horizontal rain!), including the 5 feeder watchers, this compiler is grateful. The old Orient Count is one of the oldest in the country, and one of the best!
MaryLaura Lamont
Overall Summary
Species | Count | Species | Count |
|---|
Red-throated loon | 16 | Great horned owl | 9 |
Common loon | 118 | Kingfisher | 15 |
Pied-billed grebe | 1 | Red-bellied woodpecker | 113 |
Horned grebe | 77 | Yellow-bellied sapsucker | 9 |
Gannet | 25 | Downy woodpecker | 91 |
Great cormorant | 7 | Hairy woodpecker | 22 |
Double-crested cormorant | 9 | Flicker | 141 |
Great blue heron | 31 | Horned lark | 83 |
Black-crowned Night heron | 1 | Blue jay | 436 |
Mute swan | 88 | American Crow | 728 |
Snow goose | 8 | Chickadee | 486 |
Brant | 40 | Titmouse | 270 |
Canada goose | 2709 | Red-breasted nuthatch | 17 |
Wood duck | 1 | White-breasted nuthatch | 138 |
Black duck | 1204 | Brown creeper | 21 |
Mallard | 560 | Carolina wren | 195 |
Pintail | 2 | House wren | 1 |
Gadwall | 12 | Winter wren | 7 |
Canvasback | 16 | Marsh wren | 2 |
Ring-necked duck | 31 | Golden-crowned kinglet | 28 |
Greater scaup | 73 | Ruby-crowned kinglet | 4 |
Common Eider | 15 | Bluebird | 38 |
Long-tailed duck | 544 | Hermit thrush | 18 |
White-winged scoter | 916 | Robin | 1026 |
Black scoter | 26 | Catbird | 28 |
Surf scoter | 534 | Mockingbird | 93 |
Goldeneye | 778 | Brown thrasher | 4 |
Bufflehead | 1158 | Cedar waxwing | 8 |
Hooded merganser | 99 | European Starling | 1624 |
Common merganser | 2 | Prairie warbler | 1 |
Red-breasted merganser | 630 | Orange-crowned warbler | 1 |
Ruddy duck | 10 | Yellow-rumped warbler | 141 |
Harrier | 14 | Palm warbler | 1 |
Sharp-shinned hawk | 15 | Yellow-breasted chat | 1 |
Cooper’s hawk | 7 | Cardinal | 259 |
Red-tailed hawk | 31 | Towhee | 10 |
Rough-legged hawk | 2 | Tree sparrow | 59 |
Kestrel | 3 | Chipping sparrow | 5 |
Merlin | 3 | Field sparrow | 50 |
Peregrine falcon | 2 | Savannah sparrow | 4 |
Turkey | 4 | Fox sparrow | 7 |
Bobwhite | 3 | Song sparrow | 294 |
Greater yellowlegs | 1 | Swamp sparrow | 18 |
Ruddy turnstone | 95 | White-throated sparrow | 812 |
Sanderling | 282 | White-crowned sparrow | 29 |
Spotted sandpiper | 1 | Junco | 351 |
Purple sandpiper | 17 | Snow bunting | 154 |
Dunlin | 107 | Red-winged blackbird | 174 |
Bonaparte’s gull | 36 | Meadowlark | 12 |
Ring-billed gull | 585 | Rusty blackbird | 3 |
Laughing gull | 1 | Grackle | 5 |
Herring gull | 1856 | Cowbird | 24 |
Iceland gull | 1 | Purple finch | 25 |
Great black-backed gull | 198 | House finch | 381 |
Razorbill | 3 | Redpoll | 4 |
Rock pigeon | 116 | Pine siskin | 21 |
Mourning dove | 445 | Goldfinch | 286 |
Screech owl | 5 | House sparrow | 316 |
| Total Species | 116 | Total Individuals | 22677 |
Shelter Island Summary
Okay everyone here is the species and count summary for the Shelter Island Christmas Bird Count held on Saturday 12/29/2007. All numbers are organized by west of Route 114 (my team)/east of Route 114 (Rich Suatkulis' team)/Mashomack (Mike Scheibel's team) and then the total for each.
Nick Hamblet
Species | West | East | Mashomack | Total |
|---|
Red-throated Loon | 0 | 5 | 0 | 5 |
Common Loon | 10 | 33 | 5 | 48 |
Pied-billed Grebe | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Horned Grebe | 14 | 9 | 10 | 33 |
Great Cormorant | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
Double-crested Cormorant | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
Great Blue Heron | 2 | 2 | 3 | 7 |
Mute Swan | 6 | 10 | 6 | 22 |
Canada Goose | 208 | 132 | 29 | 369 |
Wood Duck | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
American Black Duck | 2 | 72 | 716 | 790 |
Mallard | 79 | 57 | 179 | 315 |
Northern Pintail | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Greater Scaup | 0 | 62 | 0 | 62 |
Long-tailed Duck | 24 | 297 | 49 | 370 |
Surf Scoter | 58 | 124 | 8 | 190 |
White-winged Scoter | 0 | 26 | 10 | 36 |
Black Scoter | 0 | 17 | 0 | 17 |
Common Goldeneye | 11 | 142 | 227 | 380 |
Bufflehead | 80 | 90 | 92 | 262 |
Hooded Merganser | 6 | 15 | 17 | 38 |
Red-breasted Merganser | 27 | 70 | 37 | 134 |
Northern Harrier | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
Sharp-shinned Hawk | 0 | 4 | 1 | 5 |
Cooper's Hawk | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
Red-tailed Hawk | 2 | 6 | 5 | 13 |
American Kestrel | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
Ruddy Turnstone | 0 | 6 | 14 | 20 |
Sanderling | 0 | 0 | 108 | 108 |
Dunlin | 0 | 100 | 0 | 100 |
Bonaparte's Gull | 0 | 15 | 0 | 15 |
Ring-billed Gull | 29 | 58 | 25 | 112 |
Herring Gull | 63 | 154 | 89 | 306 |
Great Black-backed Gull | 8 | 15 | 11 | 34 |
Rock Pigeon | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
Mourning Dove | 12 | 38 | 18 | 68 |
Eastern Screech Owl | 0 | 3 | 1 | 4 |
Great Horned Owl | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
Belted Kingfisher | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 |
Red-bellied Woodpecker | 6 | 22 | 20 | 48 |
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker | 1 | 5 | 1 | 7 |
Downy Woodpecker | 0 | 14 | 14 | 28 |
Hairy Woodpecker | 0 | 5 | 4 | 9 |
Northern Flicker | 4 | 25 | 9 | 38 |
Blue Jay | 25 | 62 | 59 | 146 |
American Crow | 58 | 68 | 44 | 170 |
Black-capped Chickadee | 27 | 76 | 22 | 125 |
Tufted Titmouse | 7 | 41 | 31 | 79 |
Red-breasted Nuthatch | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
White-breasted Nuthatch | 2 | 29 | 23 | 54 |
Brown Creeper | 2 | 10 | 6 | 18 |
Carolina Wren | 9 | 63 | 20 | 92 |
Winter Wren | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4 |
Marsh Wren | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
Sedge Wren | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Golden-crowned Kinglet | 3 | 4 | 6 | 13 |
Ruby-crowned Kinglet | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Eastern Bluebird | 0 | 4 | 14 | 18 |
Hermit Thrush | 0 | 16 | 1 | 17 |
American Robin | 104 | 173 | 12 | 289 |
Gray Catbird | 1 | 11 | 4 | 16 |
Northern Mockingbird | 12 | 19 | 4 | 35 |
Brown Thrasher | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
Cedar Waxwing | 0 | 6 | 0 | 6 |
European Starling | 195 | 202 | 56 | 453 |
Yellow-rumped Warbler | 6 | 62 | 5 | 74 |
Palm Warbler | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Yellow-breasted Chat | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Northern Cardinal | 20 | 51 | 10 | 81 |
Eastern Towhee | 0 | 5 | 4 | 9 |
American Tree Sparrow | 0 | 8 | 24 | 32 |
Field Sparrow | 1 | 2 | 26 | 29 |
Savannah Sparrow | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Ipswich Sparrow | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Song Sparrow | 9 | 6 | 18 | 33 |
Swamp Sparrow | 1 | 3 | 0 | 4 |
White-throated Sparrow | 44 | 184 | 77 | 305 |
Dark-eyed Junco | 22 | 8 | 24 | 54 |
Snow Bunting | 21 | 23 | 0 | 44 |
Red-winged Blackbird | 0 | 1 | 81 | 82 |
Rusty Blackbird | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
Brown-headed Cowbird | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Purple Finch | 0 | 13 | 1 | 14 |
House Finch | 16 | 66 | 6 | 88 |
Common Redpoll | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
American Goldfinch | 10 | 17 | 7 | 34 |
House Sparrow | 18 | 8 | 0 | 26 |
Total Species | 50 | 81 | 59 | 87 |
Total Individuals | 1275 | 2902 | 2302 | 6479 |