Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Bird watchers participated in backyard count

Evelyn Cronce El Defensor Chieftain Reporter

ECRONCE     The results are in from the Great Backyard Bird Count. For four days in mid-February, local people counted birds as part of the event sponsored by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the National Audubon Society.

    Groups included four counts done at Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge and 10 counts from around Socorro. The results were published separately.

    The top 10 results from the refuge were snow geese, sandhill cranes, northern shoveler, American crows, northern pintails, American coot, Canada geese, Ross's geese, mallards and green-winged teal. Refuge watchers reported 65 species and 41,665 individual birds.

    "I wouldn't say there were any actual surprises," said Bob Merkel, a naturalist and member of the Friends of the Bosque del Apache. "One rough-legged hawk was reported. They are uncommon in New Mexico and, it turned out, that was the only sighting in the entire state. Three other species which are always kind of exciting to see were a pair of hooded mergansers, eight American white pelicans, and 35 yellow-headed blackbirds. The mergansers are uncommon here in winter but the male is very elegant."

    Merkel said the Bosque del Apache counts have only been done in the last four years; In 2005, there were three counts and 71 species; in 2006, six counts and 99 species; in 2007 again, six counts and 60 species. This year there were four counts and 65 species.

    The top 10 results from individuals in Socorro were American wigeons, sandhill cranes, American coot, dark-eyed juncos, house finch, American crows and ring-necked ducks. Pine siskin and white-crowned sparrows tied for the ninth highest count. Next came Yellow-rumped warblers. Socorroans reported 52 species out of 2,227 birds counted.

    "However, that doesn't tell you how many hours people spent in the field and how diverse were the habitats that they looked at," Merkel commented. "After all, the minimum count would be by someone standing by a window looking at a bird feeder for 15 minutes and (that person) may not be a very knowledgeable observer."

    Of the birds counted in Socorro, more than 1,000 of those were American wigeons, ducks that like to hang out in the water hazards of the Tech golf course. There were quite a number of robins seen but they are very early migrants according to Merkel. More mountain chickadees, pine siskins and Cassin's finches were at people's feeders this winter than usual. Perhaps the most interesting birds seen included one hermit thrush. The thrushes like high mountains and only 11 were seen in the whole state. There was one merlin, a small falcon that was one of only nine counted in the whole state, and some rufous-crowned sparrows.

    "In years when there are big storms during migration times people do get a lot of unusual bird records. That's when oceanic birds show up inland or western bird are seen along the Atlantic coast," Merkel said.

    An Audubon Society press release reported the top 10 most-reported birds in the 2008 count overall were northern cardinals, mourning doves, dark-eyed juncos, downy woodpeckers, American goldfinches, blue jays, house finches, tufted titmouses, black-capped chickadees and American crows.

    Throughout the United States and Canada, participants submitted more than 85,700 checklists. Participants also identified a record 635 species and sent in thousands of stunning bird images from around the continent, the news release said.

    According to the Audubon Society, the data is used to determine trends in bird population relating to environmental changes as well as to count birds. For example, the massive seed production failure in trees across northern Canada was expected to cause a huge influx of northern finches coming south to look for food. As predicted, there were record numbers of pine grosbeaks and a banner year for common redpolls and evening grosbeaks.

    The news release also indicated that yellow-billed magpie numbers hit a new low. Magpies, crows, and jays are especially susceptible to the West Nile virus. For the past few years the population of yellow-billed magpies has declined following the spread of the virus to California. Nationwide, American crow and blue jay numbers appear to have stabilized somewhat, but bear continued monitoring as the populations of these birds continue to adapt to the presence of this new disease.

    The Great Backyard Bird Count charts the explosive geographic expansion of Eurasian collared-doves. The species has spread aggressively since it was introduced in Florida in 1980 and made new inroads this year. For the first time, records of this bird came from British Columbia, Manitoba and Oregon.

    Some species showed up in Great Backyard Bird Count reports for the very first time, including a masked duck in Texas — a bird that is usually found in the tropics, the press release said. An Arctic loon, seldom seen outside Alaska, was spotted in California. An ivory gull wandered down from the high Arctic to show up on a checklist in South Dakota.

    For an even more detailed summary of this year's results, visit the GBBC Web site at www.birdcount.org. You can explore maps, see photos, and see the list cities and towns that topped their state or province for the number of checklists submitted.

    If you missed this year's event, the count is scheduled again for Feb. 13-16, 2009.

    ecronce@dchieftain.com

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