Birdathon 2021 Results
By Kyke Bardwell - PHAS Board Member
The night before a Birdathon is always a mixed bag of emotions for me. The excitement builds for a 24-hour period of competitive birding. At the same time the anxiety strengthens on what the weather will produce in terms of concentrations of migrants. I can spend hours watching the same wind forecast and radar loop, thinking in my head if we made the right decision on where to start in our given territory.
Regardless of the weather and concentration of migrants during the Birdathon, it always ends up a great time with great birds and this year was the same case. As has been the deal for the Putnam Highlands Audubon (PHAS) Birdathon, teams set out in strict birding territories and have 24 hours to identify and count as many bird species as possible. This year the Birdathon started at 5PM sharp on May 7th and went until 5 PM on May 8th. This date is a little earlier than previous PHAS Birdathons and this can be seen in the species mix.
This year we had a team birding the Putnam/Dutchess counties territory, one team birding the Sullivan/Ulster/Orange counties territory, and one birding the Westchester County/Long Island territory.
These territories have been the backbone of most PHAS Birdathons going back close to thirty years. I get the pleasure of birding on the ‘Bogtrotters’ team consisting of Marc Breslav and Ralph O’Dell who have participated in this PHAS event since the beginning. Other long active ‘Bogtrotter’ members who helped included Rich Anderson and Jane Alexander. Sean Camillieri and I have helped lead the ‘Bogtrotters’ on the May Birdathon the past three years and have used the knowledge of the veterans to devise the most efficient plans. For this Birdathon we started at Marshlands Conservancy in Rye on Friday evening. We had a great evening walk down to the marsh which included some Warbler activity highlighted by a Blackburnian Warbler. We would eventually make our way to Edith Reade in Rye where we scanned the sound until nightfall. We went looking for an odd continuing Winter Duck or for signs of waterfowl movement on the sound. We were not disappointed, as we ticked the Long-Tailed Duck that has been hanging for some time. These are not usual for the Long Island Sound in May, as they should be heading up north to their breeding territories. This was the same for the fly by White Wing Scoter and Red Necked Grebe.
We started early in the morning on the day of May 9th, at a freshwater wetland. Sean picked up the bird of the day in an American Bittern. We got other great birds including Common Gallinule and Virginia rail. We would move on to some lackluster birding at Croton Point Park, before going to Rockefeller State Park for some essential pickups including Yellow-throated Vireo and Chestnut Sided Warbler. Then left to hit Tarrytown Lakes in the drizzle. Swallows including cliff and bank were in the mix feeding over the lake. A stop at Cranberry Lake Preserve helped out with some other essentials including Lincolns Sparrow and Hooded Warbler. To finish the day off strong, I set south to bird the other piece of our allotted territory, Long Island.
The coastal habitat of Long Island expands the bird diversity for the Birdathon significantly. Although time was running low before the Birdathon officially ended, three short stops added a whole list of birds. Jones Beach Coast Guard Station, Point Lookout and Marine Naure Study Area. Shorebird species like black bellied plover, red knot, Dunlin are all hard to get in the Hudson Valley. Other birds like Laughing Gull, Saltmarsh Sparrow, and Waders were other valuable pick-ups down on the island. My final bird was a Saltmarsh Sparrow at marine nature study area just before 5 PM.
The Results:
· The Bogtrotters team ended with a total of 136 species of birds seen over the 24-hour time period. The Winner!
· The team birding Sullivan/Orange/Ulster ended with 84 species over the 24-hour time period.
· The team birding Putnam/Dutchess ended with 124 species over the 24-hour time period.
Each team was valuable in finding something unique to put towards an outstanding total of 171 species seen on the Birdathon. Detailed Results Here
Thank you to all teams and especially Cassie Ward, Suzanne Kavic, Steve Rappaport, Sean Camillieri for posting on ebird, see our lists here:
Putnam Highlands Audubon eBird
Apollo Plaza, Monticello Sullivan County NY
We would like to thank these donors who helped make Birdathon 2021 a success
