FreeLists / tn-bird / [TN-Bird] Knox CBC results --- at last

[K Dean EDWARDS <kde@xxxxxxx>]

With one excuse or the other, I never got around to sending out a
full report on this year's Knoxville CBC.  So here goes.

Dean Edwards
compiler, Knoxville CBC



The Knoxville CBC hits 100 species!!

The Knoxville Christmas Bird Count was held on Saturday, 5 January 2008.
We set a number of records including hitting 100 species for the first
time ever on this count.  That accomplishment smashed the old record of
96 species set in 2004-2005.  We also tied a record with 56 observers.

No new species were added to the count history but several good birds were 
found including:
- 1 "Blue" Snow Goose,
- 2 Blue-winged Teal at different locations in Blount Co,
- an Osprey at Solway seen by 2 parties,
- a Merlin in Blount Co,
- a Dunlin at Lackey Creek in Louisville,
- 2 American Woodcock at Haw Ridge Park in Anderson Co.,
- Rufous Hummingbird at Susie Stout's feeder,
- a Fish Crow at Northshore Greenway,
- and a BLUE-GRAY GNATCATCHER by Patty Ford (and later photographed by
Lyn Bales) at the boat ramp on Alcoa Hwy across from Looney Island.

Record counts were tallied for Canada Goose, Hooded Merganser, Wild
Turkey, Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, Black Vulture, Bonaparte's
Gull, Eastern Phoebe, American Crow, White-breasted and Brown-headed
Nuthatches, Eastern Bluebird, and Fox Sparrow (with 8 of the 12 Fox
Sparrows found by Ed LeGrand at Haw Ridge Park).  It has been a good
year for Red-breasted Nuthatches, and 20 were found on the count.
Twelve Purple Finches were the only winter finch to be reported.

The worst misses were Bufflehead, House Wren, and several species
that are declining in the area including Northern Bobwhite, Loggerhead
Shrike, Horned Lark, and Rusty Blackbird.  Continuing the decline in
wintering blackbirds seen over the past several years (likely due to
development within the West Knoxville based circle), we missed Brown-
headed Cowbird and Common Grackle and only tallied 6 Red-winged Blackbirds.
These 3 species and Rusty Blackbird were often found in the thousands
or tens-of-thousands in the 1970s and 1980s but the last large count
was in 1993-1994 when roughly 30,000 each of red-wings and grackles
were reported.

Full details follow.


Knoxville Christmas Bird Count
Saturday, 5 January 2008


Weather:AM: Partly Cloudy
         PM:  Mostly Cloudy w/ light rain after 22:00
High Temperature:       50F
Low Temperature:        27F
Precipitation:  light rain after 22:00
Winds:  light
Notes:  Shallow water frozen, deep water open, no snow cover


PARTY HOURS:
by foot 103.27
by car  39.87
by boat 1.00
other   1.00
   TOTAL (CBC)   145.13
owling  10.45
feeder watching 19.25
   GRAND TOTAL   174.83

PARTY MILES:
by foot 67.30
by car  632.40
by boat 1.50
other   2.00
   TOTAL (CBC)   703.20
owling  72.95
   GRAND TOTAL   776.15

Start-end times:
00:00-00:15
05:30-18:15
21:00-22:00

SPECIES

  SWANS GEESE and DUCKS
  Snow Goose     1    (blue morph)
  Canada Goose   1178
  Wood Duck      11
  Gadwall        92
  American Wigeon        13
  American Black Duck    1
  Mallard        435
  Blue-winged Teal       2
  Northern Shoveler      16
  Northern Pintail       --CW--
  Green-winged Teal      1
  Redhead        1
  Ring-necked Duck       5
  Lesser Scaup   5
  Hooded Merganser       169
  Ruddy Duck     1

  PARTRIDGES GROUSE and TURKEYS
  Wild Turkey    28

  LOONS
  Common Loon    1

  GREBES
  Pied-billed Grebe      54
  Horned Grebe   10

  CORMORANTS
  Double-crested Cormorant       40

  BITTERNS and HERONS
  Great Blue Heron       216
  Great Egret    4
  Black-crowned Night-Heron      18

  AMERICAN VULTURES
  Black Vulture  114
  Turkey Vulture 18

  KITES HAWKS EAGLES and ALLIES
  Osprey 1
  Bald Eagle     2     (adult 1, immature 1)
  Northern Harrier       1
  Sharp-shinned Hawk     8
  Cooper's Hawk  12
  Red-shouldered Hawk    14
  Red-tailed Hawk        47
     Buteo sp.   2

  CARACARAS and FALCONS
  American Kestrel       8
  Merlin 1

  RAILS GALLINULES and COOTS
  American Coot  171

  CRANES
  Sandhill Crane 5

  PLOVERS and LAPWINGS
  Killdeer       199

  SANDPIPERS PHALAROPES and ALLIES
  Dunlin 1
  Wilson's Snipe 18
  American Woodcock      2

  SKUAS GULLS TERNS and SKIMMERS
  Bonaparte's Gull       768
  Ring-billed Gull       2098

  PIGEONS and DOVES
  Rock Pigeon    575
  Mourning Dove  665

  TYPICAL OWLS
  Eastern Screech-Owl    5
  Great Horned Owl       3
  Barred Owl     2

  HUMMINGBIRDS
  Rufous Hummingbird     1

  KINGFISHERS
  Belted Kingfisher      59

  WOODPECKERS and ALLIES
  Red-headed Woodpecker  2
  Red-bellied Woodpecker 143
  Yellow-bellied Sapsucker       49
  Downy Woodpecker       109
  Hairy Woodpecker       17
  Northern Flicker       58
  Pileated Woodpecker    16

  TYRANT FLYCATCHERS
  Eastern Phoebe 20

  JAYS MAGPIES and CROWS
  Blue Jay       494
  American Crow  8630
  Fish Crow      1

  TITMICE and CHICKADEES
  Carolina Chickadee     491
  Tufted Titmouse        312

  NUTHATCHES
  Red-breasted Nuthatch  20
  White-breasted Nuthatch        90
  Brown-headed Nuthatch  19

  CREEPERS
  Brown Creeper  6

  WRENS
  Carolina Wren  260
  Winter Wren    11

  KINGLETS
  Golden-crowned Kinglet 21
  Ruby-crowned Kinglet   40

  OLD WORLD WARBLERS and GNATCATCHERS
  Blue-gray Gnatcatcher  1

  THRUSHES
  Eastern Bluebird       464
  Hermit Thrush  18
  American Robin 1413

  MOCKINGBIRDS THRASHERS and ALLIES
  Northern Mockingbird   315
  Brown Thrasher 10

  STARLINGS and ALLIES
  European Starling      8105

  WAGTAILS and PIPITS
  American Pipit 73

  WAXWINGS
  Cedar Waxwing  184

  WOOD-WARBLERS
  Orange-crowned Warbler 1
  Yellow-rumped "Myrtle" Warbler  331
  Pine Warbler   2
  Palm Warbler   12

  NEW WORLD SPARROWS and ALLIES
  Eastern Towhee 138
  Chipping Sparrow       61
  Field Sparrow  152
  Savannah Sparrow       13
  "Red" Fox Sparrow    12
  Song Sparrow   440
  Swamp Sparrow  59
  White-throated Sparrow 629
  White-crowned Sparrow  11
  Dark-eyed Junco        157

  CARDINALS BUNTINGS and GROSBEAKS
  Northern Cardinal      689

  BLACKBIRDS and ORIOLES
  Red-winged Blackbird   6
  Eastern Meadowlark     43

  FINCHES
  Purple Finch   12
  House Finch    400
  American Goldfinch     464

  OLD WORLD SPARROWS
  House Sparrow  78

Total species:  100 + 1 CW
Total individuals:      32204
Birds per party hour (CBC):     221.89
Birds per party hour (ALL):     184.198

OBSERVERS:
56 observers in 33 parties
(includes 13 feeder watchers in 9 fw parties)

Jean Alexander
Mary Ann Antonucci
Richard Antonucci
Mark Armstrong
Andy Avel
Lyn Bales
Robin Barrow
Deanna Busick
Mark Campen
Gail Clendenen
Steve Clendenen
Louise P. Conrad
Louise S. Conrad
Audrey Crawford
Linday Crawford
Marcia Davis
K. Dean Edwards (compiler)
Chuck Estes
Lola Estes
Linda Fippin
Patty Ford
Reid Gerhardt
Carole Gobert
Paul Hartigan
Deborah Hartman
Gary Hartman
Ron Hoff
Angela Hoffman
Tom Howe
Susan Hoyle
Jim Human
David Johnson
Tony King
Ed LeGrand
Ed Manous
Seth McConchie
Janet McKnight
Dollyann Myers
Charles P. Nicholson
Barbara Parrish
Josh Pihl
Joe Pyle
Jo Roy
Kelly Roy
Martha Rudolph
Michael Ryon
Frank Spilker
Susie Stout
Beth Summers
Fred Symonds
Allan Trently
David Trently
June Welch
Chris Welsh
Jack Williams
Corwin Witt

=================NOTES TO SUBSCRIBER=====================

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first and last name, CITY (TOWN) and state abbreviation.
You are also required to list the COUNTY in which the birds
you report were seen.  The actual DATE OF OBSERVATION should
appear in the first paragraph.
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