New Haven CBC Summary
On December 20th, 2014, 84 birders, most of them club members, participated in the 115th annual New Haven Christmas Bird Count. It was a cool, calm, and gray day without precipitation. The birding was good along the coast and inland. A number of interesting and uncommon birds were seen. Notable sightings included Snow Goose (in Bethany), Cackling Goose (two in Orange), Northern Pintail, Redhead (a drake, in Konolds Pond in Woodbridge), Northern Gannet (two off the Branford coast), Black-crowned Night-heron, Clapper Rail, Virginia Rail, Greater Yellowlegs, Iceland Gull (along the Mill River in New Haven), Eastern Phoebe (at the edge of the Beacon Hill Marsh in East Haven), Red-breasted Nuthatch, Marsh Wren, Brown Thrasher, Pine Warbler (in Woodbridge), Palm Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, Vesper Sparrow (with six in one location in North Haven!), Lincoln’s Sparrow, Eastern Meadowlark, Rusty Blackbird, and Pine Siskin. A total of 128 species were observed. The complete results are as follows:
Snow Goose, 1; Brant, 1,100; Canada Goose, 4,569; Cackling Goose, 2; Mute Swan, 60; Wood Duck, 11; Gadwall, 182; American Wigeon, 165; American Black Duck, 424; Mallard, 1,289; Northern Pintail, 3; Green-winged Teal, 31; Redhead, 1; Ring-necked Duck, 99; Greater Scaup, 2,935; Lesser Scaup, 230; White-winged Scoter, 5; Long-tailed Duck, 124; Bufflehead, 444; Common Goldeneye, 475; Hooded Merganser, 278; Common Merganser, 55; Red-breasted Merganser, 372; Ruddy Duck, 11; Ring-necked Pheasant, 1; Wild Turkey, 80; Red-throated Loon, 10; Common Loon, 42; Pied-billed Grebe, 4; Horned Grebe, 50; Northern Gannet, 2; Double-crested Cormorant, 7; Great Cormorant, 11; Great Blue Heron, 18; Black-crowned Night-heron, 2; Black Vulture, 34; Turkey Vulture, 22; Bald Eagle, 13; Northern Harrier, 10; Sharp-shinned Hawk, 11; Cooper’s Hawk, 24; Red-shouldered Hawk, 26; Red-tailed Hawk, 72; American Kestrel, 2; Merlin, 4; Peregrine Falcon, 5; Clapper Rail, 2; Virginia Rail, 1; American Coot, 26; Black-bellied Plover, 7; Killdeer, 3; Greater Yellowlegs, 3; Ruddy Turnstone, 2; Sanderling, 25; Purple Sandpiper, 13; Dunlin, 7; American Woodcock, 2; Ring-billed Gull, 1,908; Herring Gull, 1,915; Iceland Gull, 1; Great Black-backed Gull, 104; Rock Pigeon, 834; Mourning Dove, 613; Monk Parakeet, 148; Eastern Screech Owl, 36; Great Horned Owl, 13; Barred Owl, 4; Belted Kingfisher, 28; Red-bellied Woodpecker, 139; Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, 20; Downy Woodpecker, 243; Hairy Woodpecker, 39; Northern Flicker, 57; Pileated Woodpecker, 4; Eastern Phoebe, 1; Blue Jay, 541; American Crow, 2,225; Fish Crow, 195; Common Raven, 11; Horned Lark, 20; Black-capped Chickadee, 607; Tufted Titmouse, 349; Red-breasted Nuthatch, 7; White-breasted Nuthatch, 198; Brown Creeper, 23; Carolina Wren, 80; Winter Wren, 15; Marsh Wren, 1; Golden-crowned Kinglet, 32; Ruby-crowned Kinglet, 6; Eastern Bluebird, 57; Hermit Thrush, 19; American Robin, 280; Gray Catbird, 7; Northern Mockingbird, 85; Brown Thrasher, 1; European Starling, 2,936; American Pipit, 20; Cedar Waxwing, 40; Yellow-rumped Warbler, 4; Pine Warbler, 1; Palm Warbler, 4; Common Yellowthroat, 1; Eastern Towhee, 1; American Tree Sparrow, 220; Chipping Sparrow, 6; Field Sparrow, 13; Vesper Sparrow, 7; Savannah Sparrow, 46; Fox Sparrow, 11; Song Sparrow, 497; Lincoln’s Sparrow, 1; Swamp Sparrow, 24; White-throated Sparrow, 854; White-crowned Sparrow, 5; Dark-eyed Junco, 882; Snow Bunting, 4; Northern Cardinal, 315; Red-winged Blackbird, 73; Eastern Meadowlark, 12; Rusty Blackbird, 48; Common Grackle, 55; Brown-headed Cowbird, 39; Purple Finch, 23; House Finch, 170; Pine Siskin, 1; American Goldfinch, 361; and House Sparrow, 1,373.
The participants were: Marian Aimesbury, Dewitt Allen, Ross Allen, Ralph Amodei, Toby Appel, Margaret Ardwin, Christin Arnini, Mark Aronson, Bill Banks, Dan Barvir, Bill Batsford, Larry Bausher, Katherine Black, Andrew Brand, Stephen Broker, Lauren Brown, Kevin Burgio, Paul Caron, Michael Carpenter, Jonah Cohen, Kristen Cohen, Jenny Cooper, Lori Datlow, Barbara Dickson, John Farley, Mike Ferrari, Corrie Folsom-O’Keefe, Frank Gallo, Peter Gloor, Mike Horn, Chris Howe, James Hunter, Kris Johnson, Lynn Jones, Tom Kelly, Nita Klein, Bob Lamothe, Bernice Lattanzi, Pat Leahy, Carol and Gary Lemmon, Carol Lohnert, Donna Lorello, Chris Loscalzo, Monica Loscalzo, Frank Mantlik, Steve Mayo, Flo McBride, Dan and Karen Mercurio, Bob Mitchell, Judy Moore, Brendan Murtha, Sean Murtha, Gina Nichol, Michael O’Brien, John Oshlick, Noble Proctor, Bev Propen, Frank and Nancy Ragusa, Linda Rediker, Jason Rieger, Arne Rosengren, Paul Rubino, Sam Saulys, Lee Schlesinger, Jeff Severino, Nancy Specht, Steve Spector, Edward Sprowson, Maria Stockmal, Debbie Tenney, Marge Thomas, John Triana, Marianne Vahey, Peter Vitali, Julie Wagner, Lisa Wahle, Bob White, Maureen and Paul Wolter, George Zepko, and Betty Zuraw.
A great time was had by all. Everyone’s participation is much appreciated. The great success of the count is possible only by virtue of the involvement of all participants and most especially the hard work and expertise of the area captains. A sincere and hearty thank you to all!
Chris Loscalzo
New Haven CBC Compiler