2010 Christmas Bird Count Results
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Lakewood (west
side of Cleveland) Count Circle
Compiler: Nancy Howell
With temperatures hovering in the
mid to lower 20’s and overcast skies one would think this would not
be a bad winter day. It was
the wind that made it tough, not only on the CBC participants, but
on the birds as well. Twenty mile per hour winds with gusts to 30
made it mighty cold, especially along the lake. Several inches of
snow on the ground since Thanksgiving and below normal temperatures
in December really tightened up the winter and froze ponds, lakes
and streams.
The Lakewood Christmas Count species numbers were down
a little from previous years, but the number and effort of
participants was terrific. Sixty-nine (69) species were sighted the
day of the CBC and three (3) species during count week. Seventy (70)
participants spent 59.50 hours out in the field and 13.75 hours
watching feeders.
Another .50 hours was spent owling.
Lake Erie
was ice covered close to shore and the fierce winds made it not only
cold but difficult to see through teary eyes. Waterfowl and gulls
were not as concentrated nor as diverse as in the past.
The teams
along the Lake Erie shoreline did a fabulous job, no doubt about
that. Big water ducks were low in diversity and in number. All three
species of Mergansers were seen but in low numbers. Singles of
Canvasback, Redhead, Surf Scoter and White-winged Scoter were nice
finds. Common Goldeneye (169) was the largest number of big water
ducks sighted. What was
especially great was a single female Harlequin Duck.
How it was seen and identified must be a story in itself. Two
Tundra Swans were also nice sightings.
Continuing with
Lake Erie sightings, gull numbers were respectable, but
some were much lower that usual. Ring-billed Gulls, while
outnumbering other gulls, were way down in number. A single
Bonaparte’s Gull and Iceland Gull were wonderful finds. Note that no
Double-crested Cormorant, nor loons or grebes were found.
A few species of dabblers Wood Duck, Mallard, American Black
Duck, and Northern Pintail were found at a few inland sites.
These were fortunate
sightings since most inland ponds and lakes were frozen and even
slower moving waters on streams and along larger rivers were icing
up which left only faster flowing water and lakes with aerators. A
single Great Blue Heron, and only a couple American Coot and Belted
Kingfisher were seen again due to lack of open water.
The number of Wild Turkey is increasing year by year.
Diurnal raptors were fairly visible with 13 Bald Eagles sighted.
Three American Kestrels were found in different areas and a
single Merlin was noted. Oops, where were the Peregrine Falcons? Too
windy? While seen during count week, they were not seen on count day
which is highly unusual.
Two Great Horned Owls and two Barred Owls rounded out
the nocturnal raptors.
Woodpecker numbers were down in
general – again, the wind?
Red-headed Woodpeckers were seen at a couple of sites. Nice.
In general the numbers of songbirds
seemed a bit lower. Was
it the continued snow cover, cold or wind? The feeder-friendly birds
such as chickadee, titmouse and nuthatch numbers were good. Neither
Red-breasted Nuthatch nor Brown Creeper was tallied.
Carolina Wrens are surviving
around feeders. Winter Wren and Golden-crowned Kinglets were nice
touches. It is hard to
imagine these tiny birds surviving the tough weather.
There is plenty of fruit around
(honeysuckle, flowering crabapple, hawthorn and decorative pear)
which attracted some of the fruit eaters, such as Eastern Bluebird,
American Robin and European Starling (ugh).
Oops, where were the Cedar
Waxwings? Why not more Northern Mockingbirds?
A single mocker was found which is the lowest number we have
had in years. No
Yellow-rumped (Myrtle) Warblers were seen this year.
Have they eaten all the poison ivy fruits already?
Sparrow sightings were fairly good.
A single Eastern Towhee, Fox Sparrow and White-crowned
Sparrow were goodies. A single Chipping Sparrow was noted during
count week. The blackbirds did not appear in numbers with the
exception of Common Grackle which were noted by several teams. A
single Brown-headed Cowbird was seen on count week.
A single Common Redpoll and a few
Pine Siskins rounded out the list nicely.
**********************************************
As usual, there were ups and downs with the
numbers of certain species.
Some of more
noteworthy species are in
bold and count week are in
italics. Below is the list of species and numbers.
Jim McCarty
wrote about our Christmas Bird Count in his column Aerial View.
Read
it here.
Species |
|
|
Count |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1.
Canada Goose |
1272 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2.
Tundra Swan
|
2 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
3.
Wood Duck |
6 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
4.
American Black Duck |
23 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
5.
Mallard |
850 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
6.
Northern Pintail |
1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
7.
Redhead |
1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
8.
Canvasback |
1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
9.
Lesser Scaup |
16 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Scaup ssp. |
6 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
10.
Surf Scoter |
1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
11.
White-winged Scoter |
1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
12.
Bufflehead |
73 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
13.
Common Goldeneye |
169 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
14.
Common Merganser |
3 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
15.
Red-breasted Merganser |
52 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
16.
Hooded Merganser |
2 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
17. Harlequin Duck |
1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
18.
Wild Turkey |
29 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
19.
Great Blue Heron |
1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
20.
Bald Eagle |
13 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
21.
Cooper’s Hawk |
6 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
22.
Red-shouldered Hawk |
4 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
23.
Red-tailed Hawk |
20 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
24. American Kestrel |
3 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
25.
Merlin |
1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Peregrine Falcon |
1 |
count week |
|
|
|
|
|
|
26.
American Coot |
2 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
27.
Bonaparte’s Gull |
1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
28.
Ring-billed Gull |
9409 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
29.
Herring Gull |
1514 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
30.
Great black-backed Gull |
37 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
31. Iceland Gull |
1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
32.
Rock Pigeon |
752 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
33.
Mourning Dove |
195 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
34.
Great Horned Owl |
2 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
35.
Barred Owl |
2 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
36.
Belted Kingfisher |
2 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
37. Red-headed
Woodpecker |
5 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
38.
Red-bellied Woodpecker |
72 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
39.
Downy Woodpecker |
78 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
40.
Hairy Woodpecker |
18 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
41.
Northern Flicker |
2 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
42.
Pileated Woodpecker |
2 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
43.
Blue Jay |
207 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
44.
AmericanCrow |
80 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
45.
Black-capped Chickadee |
249 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
46.
Tufted Titmouse |
141 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
47.
White-breasted Nuthatch |
88 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
48.
Carolina Wren |
5 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
49.
Winter Wren |
3 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
50.
Golden-crowned Kinglet |
2 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
51.
Eastern Bluebird |
4 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
52.
American Robin |
643 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
53.
Northern Mockingbird |
1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
54.
European Starling |
1481 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
55.
Eastern Towhee |
1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
56.
American Tree Sparrow |
81 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
57.
Song Sparrow |
34 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
58.
Swamp Sparrow |
3 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
59. Fox Sparrow |
1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
60.
White-throated Sparrow |
47 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
61. White-crowned
Sparrow |
1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Chipping Sparrow |
1 |
count week |
|
|
|
|
|
|
62.
Dark-eyed Junco |
247 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
63.
Northern Cardinal |
164 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
64.
Common Grackle |
77 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Brown-headed
Cowbird |
1 |
count week |
|
|
|
|
|
|
65.
House Finch |
183 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
66. Common Redpoll |
1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
67. Pine Siskin |
5 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
68.
American Goldfinch |
204 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
69.
House Sparrow |
873 |
|
|
Nancy Howell, compiler Lakewood CBC
Western Cuyahoga Audubon Society
www.wcasohio.org
A HUGE thank you to all 70 participants in the
2010 Christmas Bird Count.
If you were outdoors, watched feeders, tooled around in your
car remember all of your hard work is deeply appreciated and it
shows in the results. The following are the participants:
Jan Auburn, Ken and Lois Ballas, Mary Bartos,
Howard Besser, Dennis and Kit Birch, Sarah Boumphrey, Nancy Brewer,
Erik Bruder, Diane Busch, Lee and Mary Cavano,
Daniel Cica, Sally Deems-Mogyordy, Bill Deininger,
Mark Eberling, Maria and Chuck Finchum, Bob Finkelstein, Jerry
Friedman, Lisa Giba, Ted Gilliland, Joanne and Terry Gorges, Dave
Graskemper, Betty Green, Paul Grubach, Jim Heflich, Jan Holkenborg,
Don and Nancy Howell, Mary Lou Hura, Larry Keeger, Ethan Kistler,
Claire Kluskens, Claire Kovacs, Jeff and Marian Kraus, JoAnn
Kubicki, Ray Kutnar, Dave LeGallee, Paula Lozano, Terri Martincic,
Jim McCarty, Lucy McKernan, Marie Monago, Gary Neuman, Marianne
Nolan, Penny O’Connor, Steven Ollay, Michael Pasek, Earl and Martha
Peck, Chris Pierce, Larry Richardson, MaryAnne and Tom Romito, Larry
Rosche, Jeremiah Roth, Scott and Christine Rush, Inga Schmidt,
Andrea and Robert Segedi, Judy Semroc, Paul Sherwood, Page Stephens,
Kathleen Tiburzi and Julie West.
|
Birders at Lakefront © Paula Lozano
Bald Eagles over Lakewood Park © Paula Lozano
Brr!! © Paula Lozano
Really cold © Paula Lozano
Coopers Hawk in Lakewood © Paula Lozano
Barred Owl at Willow Bend © Mary Anne Romito
Having fun birding the Zoo © Mary Anne Romito
|