121st Annual New Haven Christmas Bird Count Summary
The participants in this year’s New Haven Christmas Bird Count faced many challenges. The most serious one was conducting the annual survey during a global pandemic. COVID-19 prompted us to modify the way in which we conducted our surveys: we eschewed carpooling and maintained safe social distancing while birding. And, we had to replace our traditional (and scrumptious) compilation dinner with a virtual meeting. Additional challenges included dealing with a foot of freshly fallen snow and subfreezing temperatures on the day of the count. Despite these challenges, we had a very successful census. We had a higher than usual number of participants, as we welcomed a great number of new birders to our ranks, and we saw a great variety and number of birds. The most remarkable was a Northern Parula, a first-time ever observation for our 121 year-old census, observed at the water treatment plant in Branford. The bird was there for over a month (and continues to be seen there as of this writing) and demonstrates how productive these water/sewage treatment sites are for finding out-of-season insectivores. A review of our data reveals trends in populations of species in late fall/early winter in our local area over time. Species that are on the upswing in our area include: Common Eider, Black Vulture, Cooper’s Hawk, Barred Owl, and Carolina Wren. Sadly, there are more species that are showing a downward trend over time. These include: Mute Swan, American Black Duck, Green-winged Teal, Greater Scaup, Sharp-shinned Hawk, American Kestrel, Monk Parakeet, Northern Mockingbird, Yellow-rumped Warbler, and Rusty Blackbird. Documenting these trends is made possible by our collective detemination to conduct the census in a thorough and similar way every year. The success of our count can be attributed in large part to the experience, dedication and expertise of our Area Captains and their assistants. Thank you to all who participated in this year’s challenging and memorable New Haven Christmas Bird Count.
The species observed were (with rarities in boldface): Brant, 809; Canada Goose, 4185; Cackling Goose, 1; Mute Swan, 68; Wood Duck, 24; Gadwall, 82; American Wigeon, 83; American Black Duck, 313; Mallard, 799; Northern Shoveler, 5; Northern Pintail, CW; American Green-winged Teal, 17; Canvasback, 2; Ring-necked Duck, 184; Greater Scaup, 914; Lesser Scaup, 46; Common Eider, 9; Surf Scoter, 30; White-winged Scoter, 12; Black Scoter, 3; Long-tailed Duck, 437; Bufflehead, 335; Common Goldeneye, 333; Hooded Merganser, 246; Common Merganser, 126; Red-breasted Merganser, 131; Ruddy Duck, 10; Wild Turkey, 49; Red-throated Loon, 26; Common Loon, 36; Horned Grebe, 62; Double-crested Cormorant, 1; Great Cormorant, 4; Great Blue Heron, 30; Black Vulture, 38; Turkey Vulture, 43; Bald Eagle, 37; Northern Harrier, 11; Sharp-shinned Hawk, 6; Cooper’s Hawk, 32; Red-shouldered Hawk, 36; Red-tailed Hawk, 108; Rough-legged Hawk, CW; American Kestrel, 1; Merlin, 10; Peregrine Falcon, 5; Clapper Rail, 1; American Coot, 7; Black-bellied Plover, 1; Killdeer, CW; American Oystercatcher, 1; Ruddy Turnstone, 2; Sanderling, 53; Purple Sandpipler, 7; Dunlin, 6; American Woodcock, CW; Ring-billed Gull, 2028; Herring Gull, 2607; Iceland Gull, 1; Glaucous Gull, 1; Great Black-backed Gull, 54; Rock Pigeon, 824; Mourning Dove, 763; Monk Parakeet, 12; Screech Owl, 5; Great Horned Owl, 5; Barred Owl, 8; Belted Kingfisher, 20; Red-bellied Woodpecker, 116; Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, 22; Downy Woodpecker, 216; Hairy Woodpecker, 44; Northern Flicker, 45; Pileated Woodpecker, 11; Blue Jay, 412; American Crow, 925; Fish Crow, 237; crow, sp., 175; Common Raven, 25; Horned Lark, 117; Black-capped Chickadee, 507; Tufted Titmouse, 298;
Red-breasted Nuthatch, 6; White-breasted Nuthatch, 182; Brown Creeper, 4; Carolina Wren, 206; Winter Wren, 10; Marsh Wren, 4; Golden-crowned Kinglet, 9; Ruby-crowned Kinglet, 5; Eastern Bluebird, 37; Hermit Thrush, 11; American Robin, 271; Gray Catbird, 11; Northern Mockingbird, 112; Brown Thrasher, 1; European Starling, 5137; American Pipit, 12; Cedar Waxwing, 37; Northern Parula, 1; Yellow-rumped Warbler, 3; Palm Warbler 1; Pine Warbler, 1; Ovenbird, 1; Eastern Towhee, 7; American Tree Sparrow, 67; Chipping Sparrow, 5; Field Sparrow, 24; Vesper Sparrow, 6; Savannah Sparrow, 200; Fox Sparrow, 17; Song Sparrow, 627; Lincoln’s Sparrow, 1; Swamp Sparrow, 24; White-throated Sparrow, 758; White-crowned Sparrow, 5; Dark-eyed Junco, 1027; Lapland Longspur, 1; Snow Bunting, 1; Northern Cardinal, 324; Red-winged Blackbird, 1799; Eastern Meadowlark, 8; Rusty Blackbird, 19; Common Grackle, 2282; Brown-headed Cowbird, 329; Baltimore Oriole, 1; Purple Finch, 2; House Finch, 314; Common Redpoll, 33; Pine Siskin, 10; American Goldfinch, 273; House Sparrow, 1300. Total: 127 species on count day, four more during count week.
The 89 participants were (with new NH CBC participants in boldface): Dewitt Allen, Ralph Amodei, Toby Appel, Christin Arnini, Mark Aronson, Phil Asprelli, Bill Batsford, Courtney Bauknecht, Larry Bausher, Stephen Broker, Lauren Brown, Dana Campbell, Michael Carpenter, Nancy Clark, Glen Cummings, John Deming, Sophie Duncan, John Farley, Michael Ferrari, Corrie Folsom-O’Keefe, Frank Gallo, Andrew Gullberg, Ed Haesche, Stacy Hanks, Sharon Hirsch, Michael Horn, Christine Howe, James Hunter, Nord Isacson, Tina Isacson, Lynn James, Deborah Johnson, Kris Johnson, Leslie Johnson, Lynn Jones, Emily Keating, Tom Kelly, Tom Kenefick, Acadia Kocher, Albert Laguna, Bernice Lattanzi, Pat Leahy, Carol Lemmon, Gary Lemmon, Cody Limber, Alex Lin-Moore, Chris Loscalzo, Alan Molina, Frank Mantlik, Gail Martino, Steve Mayo, Flo McBride, Pat McCreless, John McEachern, Jeff Meyer, Linda Meyer, Judy Moore, Gina Nichol, Michael O’Brien, John Oshlick, Phil Pivawer, Bev Propen, Frank Ragusa, Nancy Ragusa, Cate Rauch, Dave Rauch, Pam Reeser, Brendan Reilly, Laurie Reynolds, Brian Roach, Lee Schlesinger, Abby Sesselberg, Arthur Shippee, Jim Sirch, Paul Smith, Nancy Specht, Charla Spector, Steve Spector, Howie Sternberg, Maria Stockmal, John Triana, Severin Eubbing, Marianne Vahey, Lisa Wahle, Chris Woerner, David Woolery, Andrew Wormser, and George Zepko. My sincere apologies if I missed anyone.
Chris Loscalzo,
NH CBC Compiler
January 4, 2021