Our Audubon Christmas Bird Count: January 2nd, 2022 by Charlie Roberto
FDNY Captain Charlie Roberto is a self-taught naturalist who educates people about wildlife and helped create the annual Eagle Fest in Westchester County. Here the FDNY veteran is pictured with a Northern Harrier, a bird of prey. (Charlie Roberto)
The Putnam Christmas bird count day, Sunday, January 2nd, was another challenging day weather-wise, with rain overnight and fog and mist on and off all day, making birds harder to see. That aside, the warmer than normal December temperatures and ample food supply kept many birds in the region. Despite the continuing decline of Hemlocks and almost no White Pinecones, many plants and trees had a bumper crop this year.
Poison Ivy Berries and Virginia Creeper that are normally stripped clean, continued with fruit. Multiflora Rose and Winterberries were loaded with fruit/berries. Norway Spruce had a bumper crop of cones, as did Oaks, and Birch seeds were at levels I can't remember. This helped account for record count numbers in a number of species of birds on the Putnam CBC 68th year.
Red-bellied Woodpeckers, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Northern Pintails, Northern Flicker, Common Raven, Hermit Thrush, American Robin, Gray Catbird, White-crowned Sparrow, White-Throated Sparrow, Song Sparrow, and Common Grackles all had count highs and benefitted from this abundance of food. The warm weather had an effect on other highs such as Common Yellow Throats (2) found in two territories. A Baltimore Oriole was found at Little Stony Point. Northern Pintails were in numbers at Barrett Pond that is normally frozen. A count first was an Osprey, originally found by Amelia Batchelor in December, that was spotted on Lake Casse on count day. Two Common Yellow-throats and a near record number of Yellow-rumped Warblers also stayed as did two Kestrels. A Saw Whet Owl was again found by team 4 and The Gochfelds heard a calling Long-eared Owl. We had 6 areas go out for owls before sunrise, a sign of the dedication of our many participants. We had 3 feeder counts which I'd love to see more members do, especially because we heard a local feeder had a Western Tanager a few days before the count and a few days after.
We had a great team of dedicated counters that totaled 68 and 3 feeder watchers, one of whom was Ralph Odell, who has done every count since the first one 68 years ago. This year Judy Kelly-Moberg took over for her brother as an area Captain. She did her first count as a pre-teen in the 50's. Also out in the field was Mike Gochfeld who did the first Peekskill CBC in 1955. He was joined by his brother Bob who started doing bird counts a year or two later. Another long timer is Lew Kingsley who may have reached 50 years as a citizen scientist. Special thanks go to Anne Swain, the executive director of Saw Mill Audubon, who set up the zoom meeting for the compilation. Thanks to the Area captains who help make my job easier.
Please remember Marty McGuire and the scholarship in his name; donations can be made through Putnam Highlands Audubon. National Audubon doesn't charge to participate in the Christmas Bird Count anymore and you can donate through their website. Thanks to the local Audubon chapters Bedford, Putnam Highlands and Saw Mill Audubon that help recruit birders for the count
Next year we will be holding the count on Friday December 30th so mark your calendars and plan ahead. If you would like to take part in another count, the Peekskill CBC will be Saturday Dec 17th, 2022.