Central Mass Bird Census Archive, 2012

Central Mass Bird Census Archives, 2012

This is an archive of bird census data from breeding bird surveys, Christmas Counts, or other comprehensive bird surveys in central Massachusetts. To contribute, you can email to rsquimby@wpi.edu or call Rick Quimby at (508) 835-6567 for information on how to submit the census data.

12/15/12 -- Worcester Christmas Count

Greater White-fronted Goose (1 - 3rd count record, 2nd in 2 years)
Canada Goose (1741)
Mute Swan (16)
Gadwall (4)
American Black Duck (100)
Mallard (829)
Blue-winged Teal (2 - 2nd count record)
Green-winged Teal (4)
Ring-necked Duck (count week)
Greater Scaup (138 - New Count High)
Bufflehead (10)
Common Goldeneye (119)
Barrow's Goldeneye (2 females)
Hooded Merganser (274)
Common Merganser (427 - New Count High)
Ruddy Duck (22)
Ruffed Grouse (1)
Wild Turkey (53)
Common Loon (10)
Horned Grebe (2)
Double-crested Cormorant (1)
Great Blue Heron (7)
Bald Eagle (1 adult)
Sharp-shinned Hawk (6)
Cooper's Hawk (7)
Accipiter Species (1)
Red-shouldered Hawk (2)
Red-tailed Hawk (62)
Merlin (1)
Peregrine Falcon (1)
American Coot (2)
Ring-billed Gull (1533)
Herring Gull (43)
Great Black-backed Gull (7)
Rock Pigeon (345)
Mourning Dove (245)
Eastern Screech-Owl (5)
Great Horned Owl (22 - New Count High)
Barred Owl (4)
Northern Saw-whet Owl (2)
Belted Kingfisher (13 - New Count High)
Red-bellied Woodpecker (42)
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (4 - New Count High)
Downy Woodpecker (190 - New Count High)
Hairy Woodpecker (48 - New Count High)
Northern Flicker (20 - New Count High)
Pileated Woodpecker (7 - New Count High)
Blue Jay (236)
American Crow (1162)
Fish Crow (1 - 2nd count record)
Common Raven (8 - New Count High)
Horned Lark (24)
Black-capped Chickadee (1373 - New Count High)
Tufted Titmouse (292)
Red-breasted Nuthatch (114)
White-breasted Nuthatch (324)
Brown Creeper (14)
Carolina Wren (52 - New Count High)
Winter Wren (8 - New Count High)
Golden-crowned Kinglet (50)
Ruby-crowned Kinglet (2)
Eastern Bluebird (174 - New Count High)
Hermit Thrush (4)
American Robin (996)
Gray Catbird (3)
Northern Mockingbird (42)
European Starling (881)
Cedar Waxwing (34)
PINE WARBLER (1 - NEW COUNT SPECIES)
Eastern Towhee (1)
American Tree Sparrow (65)
Fox Sparrow (1)
Song Sparrow (138 - New Count High)
Swamp Sparrow (8 - New Count High)
White-throated Sparrow (98)
Dark-eyed Junco (1108)
Northern Cardinal (196)
Red-winged Blackbird (2)
Common Grackle (2)
Pine Grosbeak (77)
Purple Finch (1)
House Finch (196)
Red Crossbill (2)
White-winged Crossbill (4)
Common Redpoll (135)
Pine Siskin (7)
American Goldfinch (401)
Evening Grosbeak (1)
House Sparrow (795)

12/18/12 -- Sturbridge Christmas Count

On TUESDAY DECEMBER 18, the 17th annual STURBRIDGE CHRISTMAS BIRD COUNT was held. The circle includes parts of the following towns: Brookfields; Warren; Sturbridge; Charlton; Brimfield; Spencer; Southbridge. The weather was variable to say the least: downpours early in the morning (parts of Worcester had an ice storm), rain, showers, mist and fog, clearing as the day ended. But the temps stayed in the low 40s (RANGE 37F-46F) and there was no snow cover. Moving water was open, but still water was partially frozen. To me, this is near perfect CBC weather. Generally when it's sunny at this time of the year, it's cold and often windy.

Owling pre-dawn was pretty much a miss due to weather; but some owls were seen during the day and some teams did a bit of owling at the end of the day.

Our efforts turned up 86 species (plus 1 other species count week) and 17740 individuals. 86 species ties for the second highest species count for this circle. The highest species count was 88 in 1999. Some year we will break that 90 species ceiling! The only new species was seen during "count week": a HOARY REDPOLL. But there were an astonishing 15 new HIGH COUNTS OF SPECIES!

The count:

Pied-billed Grebe (2): High Count. Single birds seen on only 3 other counts.
Great Blue Heron (11)
Mute Swan (2)
Canada Goose (1028). We had a flock of geese out on one of our farm fields
that turned out to be decoys. We almost passed another flock of real geese
that we initially thought were decoys. This was the first year that we had
hunters out on kayaks on the Quabog River.
Black Duck (65: declining in circle)
Mallard (772)
N Pintail (1f)
Green-winged Teal (1f)
Ring-necked Duck (30) High Count
Lesser Scaup (1)
Greater Scaup (28) High Count
Canvasback (1)
Bufflehead (13) High Count
C Goldeneye (8)
Hooded Merganser (278) High Count
Common Merganser (1396) High Count. Previous high was 1019 in 2001.
Red-breasted Merganser (1)
Ruddy Duck (69)
Bald Eagle (5)
Sharp-shinned Hawk (5)
Cooper's Hawk (2)
Red-shouldered Hawk (1)
Red-tailed Hawk (29)
Ring-necked Pheasant (4: really all just released birds)
Ruffed Grouse (4: dramatically declining in circle)
Wild Turkey (94)
Virginia Rail (2)
Wilson's Snipe (1)
Ring-billed Gull (533)
Herring Gull (90)
Great Black-backed Gull (8)
Rock Pigeon (655)
Mourning Dove ( 538)
E Screech Owl (8)
Great Horned Owl (5: low due to weather)
Barred Owl (11) tied for High Count. We had 3 out in the day.
N Saw-whet Owl (3)
Belted Kingfisher (18)
Red-bellied Woodpecker (52)
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (1)
Downy Woodpecker (283) High Count
Hairy Woodpecker (57)
N Flicker (14)
Pileated Woodpecker (5)
Horned Lark (51)
Blue Jay (300)
A Crow (226)
C Raven (7)
Black-capped Chickadee (1815)
Tufted Titmouse (615)
Red-breasted Nuthatch (89) High Count, but still much lower than I expected.
White-breasted Nuthatch (343)
Brown Creeper (19)
Carolina Wren (80) High Count
Winter Wren (8)
Marsh Wren (2)
Golden-crowned Kinglet (50)
E Bluebird (152) High Count
Hermit Thrush (1)
A Robin (1627)
Gray Catbird (1)
N Mockingbird (18)
Cedar Waxwing (34)
E Starling (1224)
Yellow-rumped Warbler (1)
Common Yellowthroat (2) High Count. Single birds have been noted on 4 other
counts.
N Cardinal (320)
A Tree Sparrow (397)
Chipping Sparrow (2)
Field Sparrow (8) High Count
Fox Sparrow (1)
Song Sparrow (134)
Swamp Sparrow (9)
White-throated Sparrow (160)
Dark-eyed Junco (1895)
Red-winged Blackbird (2: very low and no grackles either!)
Brown-headed Cowbird (26)
Pine Grosbeak (25)
Purple Finch (4)
House Finch (358)
Red Crossbill (3)
Common Redpoll (310) High Count
Hoary Redpoll (count week)
Pine Siskin (15)
A Goldfinch (406)
Evening Grosbeak (6)
English Sparrow (859)

Mammals included several river otters; beaver; muskrat and a huge baying pack of coyotes.

Additional count information:

Narratives
2012 Results by sector
Count trends by year
(report from Mark Lynch/Sheila Carroll).

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