RSS Feed
|
WATERBIRD COUNT 2017
Summary Sunset Point, Presque Isle State Park, Erie County, Pa. By Jerry McWilliams Time in the field this year was 128 hours, up from 109 hours last year. Open water farther north allowed waterfowl, which typically would be passing through our region at this time, to stay put. Therefore we had relatively low counts for many species. Even though Red-breasted Merganser totals are still far lower than a few years ago, this season’s total was nearly double that of last year. Redheads had the most significantly flight of any of the other species of waterfowl breaking the all-time season total of 1776 set last year to 2275 birds this season. Redheads also broke the record high daily total at 1065 birds. Though no record was broken for scaup, there was a significant number counted. Two new species of waterbirds were added to the count this year, Piping Plover and Least Tern. Thanks to all of the birders who stopped by and helped at times with the count. I would also like to thank the park staff at Presque Isle State Park, especially the Operations Manager, Mathew Greene, for giving me permission to conduct the survey, by car, from the hard pan sand ridge adjacent to Sunset Point. This site allowed me a clear 180 degree scan of the lake, and the increased elevation gave me the height needed to identify distant birds. Below are the specifics of the count: Time period: Sept. 28, 2017 to Jan. 2, 2018 Hours observed: 128 Total species of water related birds: 42 Total species of other birds: 19 Total of all species of birds: 61 Total individuals of water related birds: 94276 Total individuals of other species of birds: 408 Total of all individuals: 94684 Season Totals by Species Waterbirds Brant 1 Canada Goose 203 Tundra Swan 168 Wood Duck 27 Gadwall 89 American Wigeon 99 American Black Duck 420 Mallard 216 Northern Shoveler 31 Northern Pintail 183 Green-winged Teal 120 Canvasback 497 Redhead 2275 Ring-necked Duck 23 Greater Scaup 450 Lesser Scaup 25486 Scaup species 19933 Eider species 1 Harlequin Duck 1 Surf Scoter 201 White-winged Scoter 328 Black Scoter 30 Surf/Black Scoter 174 Long-tailed Duck 307 Bufflehead 375 Common Goldeneye 522 Hooded Merganser 39 Common Merganser 88 Red-breasted Merganser 38461 Ruddy Duck 12 Red-throated Loon 108 Common Loon 1318 Loon species 20 Pied-billed Grebe 1 Horned Grebe 641 Red-necked Grebe 9 Double-crested Cormorant 626 Black-bellied Plover 48 Piping Plover 1 Sanderling 74 Purple Sandpiper 2 Dunlin 633 Unidentified shorebird 2 Little Gull 1 Common Tern 2 Common/Forster’s tern 30 Least Tern 1 Non-water related birds Turkey Vulture 37 Osprey 1 Bald Eagle 22 Northern Harrier 1 Cooper’s Hawk 1 Merlin 6 Peregrine Falcon 6 Mourning Dove 1 Snowy Owl 2 Belted Kingfisher 1 Eastern Phoebe 1 Winter Wren 2 Kinglet species 1 European Starling 1 American Tree Sparrow 1 Lapland Longspur 1 Snow Bunting 188 Small passerine 25 Red-winged Blackbird 100 Non-bird related Unidentified bat 1 Painted Lady 5 Monarch 3 Comments are closed.
|
Bird Gallery
|