Christmas Bird Count

The Sandwich Christmas Bird Count was held on Thursday, December 29, 2011 and was certainly the most interesting count in our 17 years. National Audubon has over 2,200 Christmas Bird Counts in North America and Latin America. Our count circle encompasses a 7.5 mile radius from the middle of Center Sandwich.

The day began with temperatures near 10 and winds gusting to 30 mph making wind chills as low as -10. The afternoon was still cold and windy but at least the temperature got to the low 20′s and the wind wasn’t quite as strong. Because most of December was so very warm we had much more open water than usual and we had more variety of waterfowl than in any previous year.
For many residents like the common woodpeckers, Blue Jays, B-C Chickadees, nuthatches, etc. numbers were only 30 – 60% of the16 year means. Some of that was due to the cold wind. Meanwhile the old record of 135 robins was shattered with an astounding 429. Likewise Common Mergansers with 403 easily breaking the old record of 28.
The number of stragglers was far more than we’ve had before and included: 1 Green-winged Teal (drake, first count record) 2 Belted Kingfishers (last year was the 1st count record) 2 Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers (miles apart, 1st count record) 3 Northern Flickers (together, 3rd count record)

And also 1^st count week records of Northern Pintail and Red-necked Grebe.
Other count highs included: Am. Black Duck 43 Common Goldeneye 6 Ring-billed Gull 8 Am. Crow 214
Even though we missed birds that we usually see on count day like Boreal Chickadee, Northern Shrike, and House Sparrow, other birds like Common Loon, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Eastern Bluebird, White throated Sparrow, and both Red and White-winged Crossbills picked up the slack. The 48 species broke the old record set last year by two. The total of 3164 birds was the 4^th highest in our 17 years.

Here is the list with the 17-year mean in parentheses.

• CanadaGoose           17
• Am. Black Duck          43  (5)
• Mallard                          48  (19)
• Green-winged Teal      1
• Com. Goldeneye         6  (0.6)
• Hooded Merganser  9  (2)
• Common Merganser 403  (3)
• Ruffed Grouse             4  (6)
• Wild Turkey                    6  (63)
• Common Loon           4  (0.8)
• Bald Eagle                  2  (0.6)
• Red-tailed Hawk       1 (1)
• Sharp-shinnd Hawk  1  (0.9)
• Cooper’s Hawk         1  (0.2)
• Ring-billed Gull        8 (0.9)
• Rock Pigeon              18 (16)
• Mourning Dove           180  (127)
• Barred Owl                1  (3)
• Great Horned Owl       1  (0.5)
• Belted Kingfisher       2  (0.2)
• Red-bld Woodpecker 1  (0.6)
• Yellow-bld Sapsucker 2
• Downy Woodpecker    26  (46)
• Hairy Woodpecker      34  (46)
• Northern Flicker          3  (0.3)
• Pileated Woodpeckr  4  (6)
• Blue Jay                      58  (221)
• American Crow           214  (57)
• Common Raven         7  (17)
• B-C Chickadee           349  (831)
• Tufted Titmouse           32  (58)
• Red-br Nuthatch        27  (66)
• White-br Nuthatch       51  (106)
• Brown Creeper          17  (12)
• Golden-cr Kinglet       19  (15)
• Eastern Bluebird         6 (2)
• American Robin           427  (20)
• European Starling      170  (90)
• Cedar Waxwing            60  (37)
• Am. Tree Sparrow      5  (21)
• White-thrtd Sparrow  1  (3)
• Dark-eyed Junco          187  (101)
• Northern Cardinal          6  (12)
• Purple Finch                    7  (7)
• Red Crossbill               8  (9)
• White-wngd Crossbill   5  (7)
• Pine Siskin                   179 (66)
• Am. Goldfinch              499  (374)

Totals:  48 species  (42)

3164 individuals  (2834)

Count Week birds:  Northern Pintail, Red-Necked Grebe, Northern Goshawk, Herring Gull, Bohemian Waxwing