Greater Boston Christmas Bird Count

[rsty...@verizon.net]

The 36th Greater Boston CBC (actually the109th- Belmont and Jamaica Plain have been covered since the very first CBC!) was held on Saturday December 26, postponed from December 20 due to the snowstorm. More than 75 observers were in the field the day after Christmas. Luckily the weather was manageable despite the gloomy forecast. We had some areas with less coverage than normal and the seas were too choppy to get to Spectacle Island and viewing conditions along the shore was not good. The cancellation and snowstorm and very cold weather of the previous weekend may have done in many of the very special birds that were about. We did have teams searching and hoping one of the two MacGillivray's with no luck. The snow squall early in the morning held back some from owling though 13 Great Horned Owls tied the high count. A total of 108 species were recorded on the count with an additional (so far) of four count week birds. High counts were had for Mute Swan, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Red-bellied Woodpecker, EASTERN PHOEBE, and Red-winged Blackbird with 1055 counted most of them feeding on pine cones, the previous high was 175. The Eurasian Green-winged Teal was a new bird for the count.

Thanks again to all the participants and Happy New Year to ALL!

Bob Stymeist, compiler

Arlington, MA

Brant        244
Canada Goose        4066
Mute Swan        93        HIGH COUNT

Wood Duck        18       
Gadwall        2
American Wigeon        6
American Black Duck        820
Mallard        2887
[Northern Shoveler] count week
Eurasian Green-winged Teal        1 New to Count
Canvasback        1
Ring-necked Duck        29
greater Scaup        558
Lesser Scaup        2
Common Eider        590
Surf Scoter         210
White-winged Scoter        704
Black Scoter        2
Long-tailed Duck       16
Bufflehead       433
Common Goldeneye        198
BARROW'S GOLDENEYE        3
Hooded Merganser        156
Common Merganser        139
Red-breasted Merganser        369
Ruddy Duck        11
Ring-necked Pheasant        1
Wild Turkey        41
Red-throated Loon        10
Common Loon        8
Pied-billed Grebe        1
Horned Grebe        38
Red-necked Grebe        16
Double-crested Cormorant        4
Great Cormorant        2
Great Blue Heron        18
Black-crowned Night Heron        2
BALD EAGLE        2  (tied high)
Sharp-shinned Hawk        15
Cooper's Hawk        20
[Red-shouldered Hawk] count week
Red-tailed Hawk        106
ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK        2
American Kestrel        6
Merlin        1
Peregrine Falcon        5
American Coot        18
KILLDEER        1
Ruddy Turnstone        2
Sanderling        2
Purple Sandpiper        1
Dunlin        14
AMERICAN WOODCOCK        1
Ring-billed Gull        2272
Herring Gull        2190
Iceland Gull        1
Lesser Black-backed Gull        3 HIGH COUNT
Great Black-backed Gull        452
Rock Pigeon        1310
Mourning Dove        485
Eastern Screech Owl        29
Great Horned Owl        13 (tie- high count)
Snowy Owl        3
Barred Owl        2
[Long-eared Owl] count week
Short-eared Owl        2
Belted Kingfisher        3
Red-bellied Woodpecker        39 HIGH COUNT
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker        2
Downy Woodpecker        258
Hairy Woodpecker        17
Northern Flicker        34
EASTERN PHOEBE        2 HIGH COUNT
Blue Jay        878
American Crow        629
Horned Lark        49
Black-capped Chickadee        849
Tufted Titmouse        345
Red-breasted Nuthatch        4
White-breasted Nuthatch        281
Brown Creeper        19
Carolina Wren        63
Winter Wren        3
Golden-crowned Kinglet        40
Ruby-crowned Kinglet        2
Eastern Bluebird        3
Hermit Thrush        10
American Robin        4302
Gray Catbird        4
Northern Mockingbird        90
European Starling        7153
Cedar Waxwing        34
Yellow-rumped Warbler        4
YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT        1
Eastern Towhee        3
American Tree Sparrow        157
Savannah Sparrow        10
Fox Sparrow        1
Song Sparrow        288
Swamp Sparrow        8
White-throated Sparrow        513
Dark-eyed Junco        1683
Snow Bunting        28
Northern Cardinal        415
Red-winged Blackbird        1055-HIGH COUNT- previous was 175
Common Grackle        115
Brown-headed Cowbird        3
House Finch        345
[Pine Siskin] count week
American Goldfinch        462
House Sparrow        3180

108 species

Bob Stymeist
Arlington