Bedford Audubon Society

2004-2005 Christmas Bird Counts

Pawling Bird Count
January 1, 2005
By Carena Pooth

With each new year comes the Pawling Christmas Bird Count. The circle includes eastern Dutchess north to Wingdale, bounded on the west by Poughquag and Greenhaven. In addition, the northern portion of Putnam County, including Kent, Carmel, and Patterson, is part of the circle, as are Sherman, parts of New Milford, and Danbury, CT.

11,578 birds were counted with 74 species plus one in count week. This was down from 13,923 individuals and 80 species plus two in count week last year.

The weather once again spoiled us, even more than the last two years. This made the birding pretty cushy for January but probably depressed our numbers somewhat. The temperatures ranged from 34° to 50°. The day was partly cloudy and we had no rain or snow. Unlike last year, however, the previous week had been quite cold, so most lakes and ponds had little open water. As was true last year, the lack of snow cover caused many birds to stay away from roadside edges as they successfully foraged in the fields. Our numbers were lower this year than last, but better than two years ago.
Owls were a little harder to find this year; maybe it was too warm! There were no Northern Saw-whet Owls (as opposed to 5 last year), but we did find 16 Eastern Screech (including 13 in Connecticut), 2 Great Horned, and 4 Barred Owls.

Waterfowl numbers and diversity were generally low. The bright spots on this part of the chart include 10 Buffleheads and a Common Loon.

Since we were all having so much trouble finding some of the common birds, we were under the impression that Red-tailed Hawks were everywhere. As it turns out, though, we saw "only" 68 of them compared with 100 last year. American Kestrel, Merlin, and Northern Harrier all eluded us. The nice surprise among the raptors this year was a Golden Eagle in Pawling. Bald Eagles were also well represented with a count of 7, including 3 on the New York side.

Black Vultures were plentiful; in fact, we had a record high count for them with a total of 26. We only started seeing this species on the count in 1999 (cw).

Among the corvids, our American Crow count was a healthy 1,160 (a stable population compared with past years), but Ravens were down from 29 last year to 10 this year. We had a new high count of 8 for Fish Crow, a species that first appeared on the Pawling count in 1997.

American Robins were out in force with a count of 474, which is unusually high. Last year, American Pipits were found, the first on the count since 1977, and this species again made the list this year—thanks to our Connecticut team for both of these records.

Sparrow numbers were again low, presumably due to lack of snow cover. And we all noted that American Goldfinch sightings were very few and far between this year.

Many thanks to our 41 field observers and 12 feeder watchers. The field observers were:
In NY: John Askildsen, Barbara Butler, Betsy Carswell, Binnie Chase, Peggy Fasciani, Dot Fleury, Carol & Ken Fredericks, Sibyll Gilbert, Kelly Liao, Chris Luchini, Allan & Barbara Michelin, Judy Kelley Moberg, Nanette Orr, Maryanne Pitts, Carena Pooth, Lauri Taylor, Herb Thompson, Chet Vincent, and Bill Wallace.
In CT: Janet & Lorraine Amalavage, Pat Bailey, Don Breeger, Bob Cartoceti, Angela Dimmitt, Larry Fischer, Carol & Linton Hamilton, Carolyn Hartel, Bill & Nancy Liedlich, Carolyn Longstreth, Nancy Nichols, Linda Potter, Dave Rosgen, Sally Spence, and Nick Thold.

Angela Dimmitt compiled the Connecticut results and Carena Pooth handled the NY side of the count.

 Total Birds: 11,578; Total Species: 74+1cw

Main Christmas Bird Count Page

Copyright © 2005 Bedford Audubon Society
e-mail questions or comments webmaster