The 91st Smithtown Count (Long Island) was conducted during yesterday's noreaster. We tallied 100 species, which at first seemed disappointing but is better than I expected given the punishing field conditions that we encountered. The flooding storm surge coupled with a 10 AM high-tide made shore birding almost impossible for most of the day. While the nasty weather hampered our efforts and contributed to some notable misses, the day was not without its rewards. Additionally, some scouting prior to the count by Brent Bomkamp, Bob McGrath, and Peter Scully and others produced an impressive list of count week birds. Count day highlights, count week birds, and notable misses are all listed below. Finally, 3 species were new to the count this year: Cackling Goose (only count week in years past), Wild Turkey (it was just a matter of time), and Northern Saw-whet Owl. This brings our composite list for the 91 years of the Smithtown Count up to 195 species.
We tallied 100 species and the highlights included: 4 Greater White-fronted Goose 3 Cackling Goose 1 Wood Duck 23 Common Mergansers 13 Wild Turkey 1 Red-necked Grebe 52 Northern Gannet 16 Great Egret 4 Virginia Rail 1 Purple Sandpiper 2 American Woodcock 33 Razorbill 1 Northern Saw-whet Owl 1 Merlin 1 Eastern Phoebe 1 House Wren 27 Winter Wren 4 Common Yellowthroat 1 Audubon's Warbler 1 Savannah Sparrow (Ipswich) 3 Purple Finch 6 Red Crossbill Count Week: Snow Goose Bald Eagle Red-shouldered Hawk American Oystercatcher Killdeer Iceland Gull Lesser Black-backed Gull Misses: Green-winged Teal Canvasback Great Cormorant Harrier Black-bellied Plover Greater Yellowlegs Wilson's Snipe Horned Lark Marsh Wren Common Grackle Brown-headed Cowbird Rich Gostic Compiler -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
