by Will Cook
The sixth Chatham County Fall Bird Count on 9/16/2000 went well, despite a near total lack of shorebirds and ducks. We ended up with 107 species, tied for second best after the fallout count of 115 last year, and 3887 birds, second best after last year's 4609. We had slightly more party-hours than last year with the same number of parties (13) and fewer counters (23).
Six species are new to the count: Snowy Egret (Ginger Travis and Lena Gallitano), Black-crowned Night-Heron (Josh Rose and Frank Rheindt), Willow/Alder (Traill's) Flycatcher (Will Cook and Toni Rexrode), Philadelphia Vireo (Doug Shadwick), Bay-breasted Warbler (Cook and Rexrode), and Swamp Sparrow (Tom Palmer). Another outstanding early bird was a Red-breasted Nuthatch (Lisa Gosselin), which we also got last year. Though many groups had trouble finding any migrants, we did well overall, with an outstanding 21 species of warblers (second only to last year's 23). Toni and I had the best luck, finding 65 species total, including 16 warblers (my best for this count).
We set a bunch of record highs (which is not surprising considering how young the count is) and three record lows: Yellow-throated Vireo (1), Chestnut-sided Warbler (1), and Palm Warbler (missed).
NOTES: NC = New to Count, H= Record High, L=Record Low
2 Pied-billed Grebe 99 Double-crested Cormorant 34 Great Blue Heron 71 Great Egret 2 Snowy Egret NC 7 Green Heron H 1 Black-crowned Night-Heron NC 24 Black Vulture H 142 Turkey Vulture H 99 Canada Goose H 9 Wood Duck 7 Mallard 23 Osprey H 12 Bald Eagle 6 ad., 6 imm. 10 Sharp-shinned Hawk H 2 Cooper's Hawk 21 Red-shouldered Hawk 2 Broad-winged Hawk H 18 Red-tailed Hawk H 5 American Kestrel H 6 Wild Turkey 6 Northern Bobwhite 13 Killdeer 2 Solitary Sandpiper 1 Spotted Sandpiper 3 Caspian Tern 7 Rock Dove 108 Mourning Dove 12 Yellow-billed Cuckoo H 1 Eastern Screech-Owl 5 Great Horned Owl 3 Barred Owl 5 Whip-poor-will H 78 Chimney Swift 4 Ruby-throated Hummingbird 17 Belted Kingfisher H 29 Red-headed Woodpecker H 61 Red-bellied Woodpecker 63 Downy Woodpecker 8 Hairy Woodpecker 28 Northern Flicker 21 Pileated Woodpecker H 7 Eastern Wood-Pewee 1 "Traill's" Flycatcher NC 1 Empidonax sp. 14 Eastern Phoebe 3 Great Crested Flycatcher 12 White-eyed Vireo 6 Blue-headed Vireo H 1 Yellow-throated Vireo L 1 Philadelphia Vireo NC 16 Red-eyed Vireo 175 Blue Jay 313 American Crow H 12 Fish Crow 283 Carolina Chickadee 279 Tufted Titmouse H 1 Red-breasted Nuthatch 10 White-breasted Nuthatch 89 Brown-headed Nuthatch H 111 Carolina Wren 4 House Wren H 57 Blue-gray Gnatcatcher H 74 Eastern Bluebird 3 Swainson's Thrush H 10 Wood Thrush 18 American Robin 20 Gray Catbird 21 Northern Mockingbird 7 Brown Thrasher 72 European Starling 8 Cedar Waxwing 2 Blue-winged Warbler 5 Tennessee Warbler 2 Nashville Warbler 10 Northern Parula 1 Chestnut-sided Warbler L 15 Magnolia Warbler 5 Black-throated Blue Warbler 9 Black-throated Green Warbler H 2 Blackburnian Warbler 5 Yellow-throated Warbler H 380 Pine Warbler H 3 Prairie Warbler 2 Bay-breasted Warbler NC 1 Blackpoll Warbler 17 Black-and-white Warbler 13 American Redstart 3 Ovenbird 1 Northern Waterthrush 25 Common Yellowthroat 2 Hooded Warbler 2 Canada Warbler H 21 Summer Tanager 24 Scarlet Tanager H 28 Eastern Towhee 17 Chipping Sparrow 8 Field Sparrow 1 Swamp Sparrow NC 157 Northern Cardinal 5 Rose-breasted Grosbeak 16 Blue Grosbeak 187 Indigo Bunting H 7 Red-winged Blackbird 100 Common Grackle 2 Baltimore Oriole 14 House Finch 95 American Goldfinch TOTAL SPECIES 107 TOTAL INDIVIDUALS 3887 Start 0530 End 1945 Regular Party Hours: Total 88.25 H Party Hours: On Foot 72.75 H Party Hours: By Car 4.5 Party Miles: By Boat 11 H Party Miles: Total 99 L Party Miles: On Foot 49 H Party Miles: By Car 41 L Party Miles: By Boat 9 H Owling Hours 4 Owling Miles 5.6 (birds observed while owling will be separated out for the official NAMC report) Weather in brief: low 46, high 70, no precipitation, mostly sunny, wind NW 5-10 mph Counters and Areas: Big Woods Road - Karen & Joe Bearden Farrington Point, WOS, NE Cr. Impdt. - Will Cook, Toni Rexrode Tody Goodwin Road - Claudia Egelhoff, Russell Herman, Lisa Gosselin Vista Point, Seaforth - Chris Eley Wilderness Island by canoe - Randy Emmitt, Glaeshia O'Rourke, Hart Pillow 751 bridge area - John Frederick, Tom Palmer Hank's Chapel-Gum Springs Rd. - Rachel Harden Bynum Ridge, Pokeberry Creek - Terry Logue Parker's Creek SRA - Judy Murray Harris and Jordan Dams - Bob & Rena Perkins Ebenezer Point, Horton's Pond, Poplar Point - Josh Rose, Frank Rheindt Old Hope Valley Farm Road - Doug Shadwick Morgan Creek by kayak - Ginger Travis, Lena Gallitano