[birdky] Re: One more 2008 bird summary !
- From: "joe swanson" <gailandjoe@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <kistlers@xxxxxxxxx>, "'birdky'" <birdky@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 4 Jan 2009 00:40:05 -0500
Thanks, Steve for all the work you do on this list. I second your "atta boy"
to Brainard.
As a transplant to KY and a fairly new serious birder (since I retired in '05
or '06) I appreciate all the help I can get.
Joe Swanson
Lexington
----- Original Message -----
From: Kistler
To: 'birdky'
Sent: Saturday, January 03, 2009 11:45 PM
Subject: [birdky] One more 2008 bird summary !
As we wrap up a pretty great year in Kentucky birding, I'm looking at the
graph generated by our collective reporting. There are some fascinating trends
to be found in all those little X's. Here is my extremely unscientific take on
the avian year in the commonwealth. If I ramble on too much, please refer to
the "delete" key on your keyboard.
All told, we reported a total of 301 species during the year. Plus whooping
cranes.
Let's dispose of those oversized white galoots first. There are currently
three flocks in the U.S. There is a great description of their status at
Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership's website,
http://www.bringbackthecranes.org/recovery/recv2008.html#Florida.
Here's the short version: the original wild flock (Texas to Canada) has
steadily increased to over 300 birds. They're doing well.
There is also a nonmigrating flock in Florida which has hatched and fledged 9
chicks in the wild since 1993. There are 30 birds in that flock.
The eastern U.S. flock, established in 2001 from hatchery birds, is growing
well. They are up to 91 cranes in that flock. Some of these birds have tried to
nest in recent years, but none have been successful. So far, all the birds we
are seeing go through Kentucky are hatched-and-released birds. As such, they
are not "countable" on most state lists or personal life lists.
Looking at our list for the year, I dug out Brainard's books, the Annotated
Checklist (2003), and the Breeding Bird Atlas (1996). These remain among our
best Kentucky references; thank you Brainard!
Just for fun, I have tried to divide those 301 species into easily digestible
categories. Naturally, some of them choose to defy categorization, but that's
what living critters like to do.
In 2008, we had 64 species which lived year-round (mostly) and bred somewhat
regularly in the state. (Cardinals, mallards, etc). A few of these were
reported only 11 months during the year, because their populations fluctuate as
they migrate (pine warblers, cowbirds, etc). They are still in my
"year-round-breeding-bird" category.
Four of those resident breeding species are scarce or hard to find, and they
were reported far fewer than 12 months in 2008. (Ruffed grouse, 4 months;
woodcock, 7 months; barn owl and raven, only 2 months each.)
On the flip side of that, we had 7 nonbreeding species which were reported
throughout the year (11 or 12 months) as individuals moved through the state
(white pelican, n. shoveler, coot, lesser scaup, least sandpiper, and
ring-billed and herring gulls.)
There were72 additional species which breed regularly in Kentucky but are
migratory (orioles, green herons).
We also had 57 species which were here for the winter months, although some
of them lingered well into spring (juncos, most waterfowl, saw-whet owls).
One more: 70 species of spring and/or fall migrants who have no intention of
hanging around (sora, Swainson's thrush, Connecticut warbler). I have forced
most shorebirds into this box, but some of their migration schedules are
unusual to say the least. In several species, late north-bound birds meet their
early south-bound counterparts en route. Check this year's graphs for lesser
yellowlegs, pectoral sandpipers, and several others.
That leaves the vagrants, those unexpected feathered friends that show up
whenever they please and elicit responses ranging from "hey, check out this
bird" all the way up to "holy &%$^ %*@#!!".
I pulled 34 such birds from the 2008 list. As far as I can determine, the
underlined species, if accepted by the rare birds committee, will be new to the
state list. (I should repeat my usual admonition that we just repeat what's
reported, with no attempt to verify authenticity or ID). My personal picks for
"birds-of-the-year" are : western, red-necked, and eared grebes; brown pelican,
least bittern, tricolored heron, glossy ibis, roseate spoonbill, fulvous
whistling-duck, snowy owl, snow bunting, rufous hummingbird, red crossbill,
hooded oriole, Nelson's sharp-tailed sparrow, clay-colored sparrow, sandwich
tern, Thayer's gull, ruff, marbled and hudsonian godwits, piping plover,
mottled duck, harlequin, swallow-tailed kite, wood stork, white ibis, Say's
phoebe, northern shrike, western kingbird, brown-headed nuthatch, yellow-headed
blackbird, a December eastern kingbird, and western meadowlark. Some of these
aren't really vagrants, just rare migrants. But most are still capable of
making avid Kentucky birders plead temporary insanity as they sprint out of the
house.
That's the wrap. Here's to a great year in '09.
Steve Kistler
Hart Co
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