Bird Notes
Bird Notes 2/28/08
Feb 29, 2008

%u201CWe%u2019ve got a hungry heron eating lots of goldfish this winter on West Mountain,%u201D writes Deirdre McClain of Ridgefield, who photographed this Great Blue Heron at her pond. %u201CHe ate three when I took these pictures last week. Looks prehistoric on his landings and take-offs. Fun to watch, well, except for the goldfish. Maybe next winter we won%u2019t keep the waterfall pools warm and let the goldfish torpor under the ice.%u201D

The Great Backyard Bird Count was Presidents Day weekend and across North America, a total of 78,740 checklists had been turned in to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology as of Sunday night, Feb. 24. They reported a total of 645 species and 9.1-million birds seen!

Here are some of the results:

* Reports submitted from communities in the BirdNotes readership area: Ridgefield (ranked fourth highest in the state in number of checklists), 28 reports with a total of 39 species; Wilton, 13 reports, 36 species; Katonah, 12 reports, 37 species; Greenwich, 10 reports, 30 species; Bedford, eight reports, 32 species; South Salem, seven reports, 31 species; Pound Ridge, five reports, 24 species; Darien, five reports, 21 species; Weston, five reports, 17 species; New Canaan, three reports, 12 species; Georgetown, one report, 11 species; Old Greenwich, one report, 11 species; Waccabuc, one report, 13 species.

* Since Ridgefield’s 28 checklists was the high number of reports for our area, we offer you what they saw, in order of numbers of birds: Mallard, 254; Dark-eyed Junco, 149; Canada Goose, 123; Ring-necked Duck, 101; Mourning Dove, 99; Black-capped Chickadee, 96; Tufted Titmouse, 82; American Goldfinch, 81; American Crow, 77; Red-winged Blackbird, 73; Common Grackle, 65; White-throated Sparrow, 60; Northern Cardinal, 59; Downy Woodpecker, 54; Brown-headed Cowbird, 49; Blue Jay, 35; White-breasted Nuthatch, 30; Mute Swan, 28; Red-bellied Woodpecker, 28; House Finch, 26; Common Redpoll, 22; European Starling, 19; Hairy Woodpecker, 15; Hooded Merganser, 12; Purple Finch, 11; Red-breasted Nuthatch, 11; Pine Siskin, 10; Carolina Wren, 7; House Sparrow, 7; Red-tailed Hawk, 5; Song Sparrow, 5; Turkey Vulture, 4; Brown Creeper, 3; Pileated Woodpecker, 3; American Robin, 2; American Tree Sparrow, 2; Herring Gull, 2; Rusty Blackbird, 2; and Swamp Sparrow, 2.  

* The top 10 most populous birds in Connecticut: American Crow, 11,105; Canada Goose, 7,872; European Starling, 5,448; Dark-eyed Junco, 5,253; Mourning Dove, 3,844; Black-capped Chickadee, 3,587; Ring-billed Gull, 3,127; Common Grackle, 2,932; Mallard, 2,860; American Robin, 2,685 (interesting that so few robins were seen in Ridgefield, but so many in the state).

* The least populous Connecticut birds (only one of each was reported): Bonaparte’s Gull, Cackling Goose, Eastern Phoebe, Eurasian Wigeon, Glaucous Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Northern Pintail, Northern Shrike, Orange-crowned Warbler, Palm Warbler, Pied-billed Grebe, Redhead, Ruffed Grouse, Surf Scoter, and Western Tanager.

* In Connecticut, the most species reported from one community came from Groton, where 21 people saw 61 kinds of birds (shore towns invariably get the most). Newtown had the most reporters, 37 people who saw 31 species. In New York, 15 people in Highland (on the Hudson River) saw 67 species.

* Across the continent, the 10 most frequently reported birds were: Northern Cardinal, 40,513 reports; Mourning Dove, 38,797; Dark-eyed Junco, 36,612; Downy Woodpecker, 31,318; American Goldfinch, 29,430; Blue Jay, 28,562; House Finch, 27,829; Tufted Titmouse, 25,871; Black-capped Chickadee, 25,058; White-breasted Nuthatch, 24,605.

* Across the continent, the 10 most populous birds were: Snow Goose, 886,404 birds counted; Canada Goose, 773,131; European Starling, 738,520; American Robin, 514,387; Common Grackle, 478,638; American Crow, 341,415; American Goldfinch, 312,068; Dark-eyed Junco, 284,440; Red-winged Blackbird, 283,122; and Mourning Dove, 246,245.

* New York State had the largest number of reports, 4,969.

* Texas had the most species, 329 (Connecticut had 136 and New York, 162).

* New Jersey had the most birds counted, 611,396 (Connecticut had 83,067 and New York, 383,404).

* The “best” place to go birding in North America? Perhaps Corpus Christi, Texas, the locality reporting the most species, a total of 186 counted by its reporters. Second place was Savannah, Ga., with 166.

To check out the results of the count yourself, and to compare them with previous years, visit birdsource.org/gbbc/

Coming Up
Birding the Bay State, day trip to Cape Cod and to Massachusetts Audubon, Wednesday, March 5, $65/$75, Connecticut Audubon, pwood@ctaudubon.org, 860-767-0660.

Hammonasett Hike, looking for spring birds, Saturday, March 8, 8 to 11, free, Connecticut Audubon, pwood@ctaudubon.org , 860-767-0660.

Bald Eagle Survey at the Croton Dam, and visit to Black Rock Park, Croton-on-Hudson, to see ducks, Sunday, March 9, 3:30 5 p.m., Bedford Audubon, jebecker@bedfordaudubon.org 914-232-4806

Connecticut’s State of the Birds, talk by Milan Bull of Connecticut Audubon on latest conservation report, Wednesday, March 12, 7 to 8:30 p.m., $12/$10, New Pond Farm, 101 Marchant Road, West Redding, reservations required at 203-938-2117.

Field Trip to Jones Beach, with Joan and Richard Becker, many shore and some migrating species, bring lunch, Saturday, March 15, leave by 7:30 a.m. from Katonah, Bedford Audubon, register with Joan Becker, jebecker@bedfordaudubon.org or 914- 232-4806.

Eagle Viewing Boats Tours, through March 16, Tuesdays/Thursdays, 10 a.m., Saturdays and Sundays, 9 and 11, Connecticut Audubon Society, 860-767-0660, pwood@ctaudubon.org

Bird walks with Luke Tiller, Saturdays at 8:30 a.m. $5 each; to register, www.sunrisebirding.com/walks.htm; 203-981-9924, luke.tiller@gmail.com.

First Sundays, birding at Greenwich Point with Meredith Sampson of Wild Wings, and other guides, March 2, April 6, May 4, 9 a.m., meet at the second concession stand, 203-637-9822.

Bird walks, first Saturday at 7:30 a.m., free, meet at Wild Bird Center of Norwalk, 335 Westport Avenue (Route 1), www.wildbird.com/Norwalk, 203-846-BIRD.