Damn! I missed the Blogger BioBlitz—for the second year in a row! Either it wasn’t well publicized or I’ve not been keeping up on things, but most likely it was the latter. Luckily, not all is lost. The official dates for the 2008 Blogger BioBlitz were September 20-28. As it happened, I conducted standardized bird counts on seven days during that period, September 20-26, using a protocol defined by eBird as an “area count.” The area that I surveyed included my yard, adjoining Crescent Lake, adjacent scrubby areas, and a hardwoods forest on the opposite side of the lake. Between 1 and 2 hours were devoted to the daily counts.
Rather than submitting my results in the form of a “datasheet download,” I chose to provide a written summary here. I recorded a total of 55 species (min/day: 14, med: 26, max: 42) and a minimum of 1,874 individuals, or 268/day (min: 69, med: 205, max: 595); 17 species were observed just once during the 7 days, while 21 species were observed on 4 or more days. A detailed species list follows:
Canada Goose – 7 days, min. of 152 birds* (30.4/day); max: 65 on 24th Mute Swan – 6 days, 12 birds (2/day, a resident pair) Wood Duck – 6 days, 31 birds (5.2/day); min: 1, med: 5, max: 11 on 21st Mallard – 3 days, 16 birds (5.3/day); max: 7 on 24th Pied-billed Grebe – 1 bird on 25th Double-crested Cormorant – 1 bird on 26th (I watched as this bird flew into and landed on Crescent Lake and then began feeding immediately) Great Blue Heron – 1 bird on each of 4 days (1/day) Great Egret – 1 bird on each of 2 days (25th & 26th) Turkey Vulture – 3 days, 6 birds (2/day); max: 3 on 22nd Red-shouldered Hawk – 3 days, 5 birds (1.7/day); max: 3 on 25th American Coot – 1 bird on 26th Ring-billed Gull – 6 days, 453 birds (75.5/day); min: 1, med: 39.5, max 313 on 25th Mourning Dove – 6 days, 19 birds (3.2/day); min: 2, med: 3.5, max 4 (4 different days) Eastern Screech-Owl – 2 days, 2 birds (1/day, heard calling) Great Horned Owl – 1 bird heard calling on 21st Chimney Swift – 4 days, 35 birds (8.8/day); max: 17 on 24th Ruby-throated Hummingbird – 1 bird on 24th Belted Kingfisher – 1 bird on 26th Red-bellied Woodpecker – 5 days, 11 birds (2.2/day); min: 1, med: 1, max: 6 on 26th Downy Woodpecker – 6 days, 11 birds (2.2/day); min: 1, med: 2, max: 3 on 26th Northern Flicker – 3 days, 16 birds (5.3/day); max: 10 on 26th Olive-sided Flycatcher – 1 bird on 24th Alder Flycatcher – 1 bird on 24th (heard calling) Eastern Phoebe – 6 days, 16 birds (2.7/day); min: 1, med: 1.5, max: 6 on 24th Great Crested Flycatcher – 1 bird on 24th Red-eyed Vireo – 2 days, 3 birds (1.5/day); max: 2 on 26th Blue Jay – 7 days, min. of 109 birds* (21.8/day); min: 15, med: 19, max: 30 on 20th & 24th American Crow – 6 days, minimum of 16 birds^ (4/day); max: 5 on 20th & 24th Northern Rough-winged Swallow – 30 birds on each of 2 days, 21st & 22nd swallow sp. – 2 days, 25 birds (12.5/day); max: 15 on 26th Black-capped Chickadee – 4 days, 4 birds (1/day) Tufted Titmouse – 6 days, 8 birds (1.3/day); min: 1, med: 1, max: 2 on 24th & 26th White-breasted Nuthatch – 7 days, 17 birds (2.4/day); min: 1, med: 2, max: 6 on 24th House Wren – 1 bird on 20th American Robin – 7 days, 240 birds (34.3/day); min: 1, med: 18, max: 110 on 24th Gray Catbird – 6 days, 84 birds (14/day); min: 1, med: 13.5, max: 26 on 26th Brown Thrasher – 4 birds on 26th European Starling – 6 days, 40 birds (6.7/day); min: 1, med: 2, max: 31 on 25th Cedar Waxwing – 3 days, 75 birds (25/day); max: 30 on 20th Magnolia Warbler – 1 bird on 26th Yellow-rumped Warbler – 2 days, 8 birds (4/day); max: 7 on 26th American Redstart – 2 days, 6 birds (3/day); max: 5 on 20th Ovenbird – 2 birds on 24th Common Yellowthroat – 1 bird on 20th Wilson’s Warbler – 1 bird on 26th Eastern Towhee – 2 days, 6 birds (3/day); max: 5 on 24th Chipping Sparrow – 5 days, 78 birds (15.6/day); min: 5, med: 15, max: 23 on 24th White-throated Sparrow – 1 bird on 26th (first of the fall) Northern Cardinal – 7 days, min. of 30 birds** (5/day); min: 2, med: 5, max: 10 on 20th Rose-breasted Grosbeak – 13 birds on 20th Red-winged Blackbird – 3 days, 19 birds (6.3/day); max: 15 on 25th Brown-headed Cowbird – 1 bird on 24th Baltimore Oriole – 3 days, 6 birds (2/day); max: 4 on 24th House Finch – 7 days, min. of 31 birds* (6.2/day); min: 5, med: 7, max: 7 on 3 different days American Goldfinch – 7 days, min. of 180 birds** (30/day); min: 20, med: 30, max: 50 on 26th House Finch – 4 days, 14 birds (3.5/day); max: 10 on 20th
^ Numerical estimates were made on only 4 days for this species
* Numerical estimates were made on only 5 days for this species
** Numerical estimates were made on only 6 days for this species
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