Orange County Christmas Bird Count , 1 January 2011

      Our 10th annual Christmas Bird Count started out with a record 12 participants. A pretty crisp New Years day greeted us for the 111th Audubon season with the north wind gusting to 25mph. We were able to break into 4 parties and cover more areas this season. Despite the wind and previous days one inch plus rain and drought like summer the extra help kept us at our average of 128 total species. While our high counts of 134 and 132 were seen pre-Rita and Ike, we are slowly getting back to these levels.

       We again thank all you helped as well as Entergy Texas for their access and the wonderful people of the Brown Center and Sam Watters at Pinehurst Gardens as well as a new member Lynn Wallace for the boat and the quest of birds in Bessie Heights marsh.

      Ducks and geese made a fair showing. All our expected species were found in low numbers. Snow geese, found in large numbers in coastal Louisiana and Jefferson County, are always hard to find here, so the (20) found was rare. A bright spot was the large number of Wood Ducks (86) found on Mansfield Ferry Road. The Morgan Ranch is our reliable spot for Common Goldeneye and Hooded Merganser – these ducks like to winter there. Cormorants, Pelicans, Herons and Egrets were in normal range with once again all the Night-Herons being found at Entergy. The increase in American White Pelican was attributed to the help of the better marsh coverage in the boat.

       Raptors seem normal with our resident nesting Bald Eagle making the count again. Coots and Moorhens, easily overlooked, proved so with the miss of American Coot this season. It was a nice surprise to see Sandhill Cranes being found again, reported by two parties. Large flocks are seen both east and west of the circle but rarely here.

       Our limited shoreline and mudflats restricts shorebirds to the smaller waders, but the ones we do find are doing well. It was nice see American Woodcock back it seems this is a record year for them with many counts reporting this species. We had two parties reporting some with the Brown Center having them twice in the past years.

       Gulls and Terns have the marsh and river to feed and numbers reflect this. Our second well documented Lesser Black-backed gull was found and photographed Doves can tolerate rural urban areas so it is nice to see White-winged doves in larger numbers. Owls and hummingbirds were a no show. We sorely miss our lone Eastern Screech-Owl at the Nelda Stark unit on Bessie Heights. Owls are hard to get anytime but this may be due the New Year's Day count or is it habitat? Hummingbird numbers can be increased with feeder watchers.

       Woodpeckers are doing well since the storms with plenty of nesting trees but the miss of Pileated Woodpecker is hard to explain. Jays and crows are doing ok but we missed Fish Crow this year for the first time in 5 years. This may be due to the wind limiting birds calling and moving. We usually get one White-eyed Vireo but the record low Blue-headed count was puzzling if it was condition related. Shrikes, thrushes, thrashers and wrens were in normal range. Both kinglets and

chickadees were well represented but the low number of Blue-gray Gnatcatchers was odd.

       Warblers were covered by our winter "fab four" though Common Yellowthroat was on the low side. Wintering sparrows, ever a challenge in the wind, had a good showing with the hard to get Dark-eyed Junco and Eastern Towhee being counted. Overall blackbird and grackle numbers were down; these larger birds tend not to move much in the wind. House Finch was a nice surprise with two parties reporting them.

Species Seen: Snow Goose (20); Ross's Goose (2); Wood Duck (89); American Wigeon (4); Gadwall (333); Green-winged Teal (17); Mottled Duck (2); Northern Shoveler (26); Ring-necked Duck (3); Lesser Scaup (56); Common Goldeneye (21); Bufflehead (1); Hooded Merganser (22); Pied-billed Grebe (14); Neotropic Cormorant (144); Double-crested Cormorant (47); cormorant sp (1); Anhinga (2); American White Pelican (339); Brown Pelican (59); Tricolored Heron (6); Little Blue Heron (22); Snowy Egret (146); Great Blue Heron (29); Great Egret (53); Black-crowned Night-Heron (47); White Ibis (46); Dark Ibis Species (450); Roseate Spoonbill (4); Black Vulture (52); Turkey Vulture (47); Osprey (20); Bald Eagle (1); Northern Harrier (2); Cooper's Hawk (1); Red-shouldered Hawk (15); Red-tailed Hawk (23); American Kestrel (10); Clapper Rail (2); King Rail (2); Sora (1); Common Moorhen (15); Sandhill Crane (15); American Woodcock (3); Wilson's Snipe (1); Greater Yellowlegs (69); Lesser Yellowlegs (12); Spotted Sandpiper (3); Willet (8); Long-billed Dowitcher (802); Dowitcher sp (12); Western Sandpiper (4); Sandpiper species (peeps) (250); Least Sandpiper (207); Dunlin (50); Stilt Sandpiper (3); Black-necked Stilt (40); Black-bellied Plover (17); Semipalmated Plover (20); Killdeer (235); Ring-billed Gull (664); Herring Gull (23); Bonaparte's Gull (20); Laughing Gull (303); Caspian Tern (5); Lesser Black-backed Gull (1); Royal Tern (2); Common Tern (3); Forster's Tern (205); Common Loon (1); Rock Pigeon (120); Eurasian Collared-Dove (23); Mourning Dove (72); White-winged Dove (19); Belted Kingfisher (23); Red-headed Woodpecker (1); Red-bellied Woodpecker (26); Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (10); Downy Woodpecker (13); Northern Flicker (yellow) (5); Pileated Woodpecker (2); Eastern Phoebe (37); Blue Jay (22); American Crow (14); Crow sp (5); Tree Swallow (531); White-eyed Vireo (1); Blue-headed Vireo (1); Loggerhead Shrike (13); Cedar Waxwing (61); Eastern Bluebird (55); Hermit Thrush (3); American Robin (202); Gray Catbird (3); Northern Mockingbird (38); Brown Thrasher (3); European Starling (372); Brown-headed Nuthatch (5); Brown Creeper (2); Sedge Wren (3); Marsh Wren (1); Carolina Wren (21); Winter Wren (5); House Wren (14); Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (3); Ruby-crowned Kinglet (26); Golden-crowned Kinglet (9); Carolina Chickadee (57); Tufted Titmouse (7); American Pipit (15); Orange-crowned Warbler (26); Yellow-rumped (Myrtle) Warbler (435); Pine Warbler (64); Common Yellowthroat (2); Song Sparrow (29); Lincoln's Sparrow (2); Swamp Sparrow (46); White-crowned Sparrow (1); White-throated Sparrow (120); Dark-eyed Junco (1); Savannah Sparrow (38); Chipping Sparrow (33); Field Sparrow (1); Eastern Towhee (2); Northern Cardinal (29); Red-winged Blackbird (590); Eastern Meadowlark (28); Great-tailed Grackle (195); Boat-tailed Grackle (63); Common Grackle (28); Brown-headed Cowbird (15); House Finch (4); American Goldfinch (119); House Sparrow (30); total species seen (128); total number seen (8846).

Participants: Howard Davis, Terry Ferguson, Sherry Gibson, John Haynes, Don Jeane, Gary Kelley, Steve Mayes, Sherry Roden, Christine Sliva, Ken Sztraky, Jana and John Whittle.

Ken Sztraky