Barred Owl, Berkshire Road, 5/12/07
photo by Carena Pooth

On a beautiful day 47 observers and 24 feeder watchers participated in our yearly spring census. The weather was clear with a mild breeze with temperatures in the high 50’s to the low 70’s a perfect day to be out birding. Some amazing results happened this year. Although the species count of 161 dropped from the 173 last year it was considered normal but many species had a new high count and the total number of birds was the second highest. Birds with new high counts were the Double-crested Cormorant, Wood Duck, Cooper's Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk, Wild Turkey, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Warbling Vireo, Bank Swallow, Black-capped Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, House Wren, Palm Warbler, Northern Cardinal, Orchard Oriole, and Baltimore Oriole. That was quite a list. We logged a Merlin the first since 1989. The American Black Duck and Winter Wren were not in the count for the first time in a long time. I want to thank the leaders who stepped up to the challenge and the observers who helped, their efforts make this all possible year after year. A special thanks goes to Elaine Andersen who again hosted the post count pot luck dinner.

Bill Case, Compiler

Full Details: To see the full report of species and counts, take a look at the May Census page.