Greetings to all:
The Banister River WMA Christmas Count was conducted on 17 December 2006.
We had a total of 8 parties with 11 participants in the field this year.
The day started off with a cool 30 degrees and ended with a high of 70
degrees with only a slight breeze in the late afternoon. The weather was
just to warm to find large flocks of birds feeding and at several stops that
Debbie Henderson and I made in the afternoon we couldn't find a single bird,
it was that slow.
However the count wasn't a total flop, we did end up with a total of 82
species and one CW which were Purple Finches that I saw at my backyard
feeders on the day before and the day after count day. We also added one
more species to the count list which if accepted is Great Egrets with 3 of
them seen by Freddy Collins at Aaron Creek where it joins the Dan River.
Debbie and I started the day owling and found 3 Eastern-screech Owls, 4
Great Horned Owls and 5 Barred Owls. Adam D'Onofrio reported 3 Great Horned
and 1 Barred Owls and Grace McCrowell reported 1 Great Horned and 1 Barred
Owl also.
We also had a great report of Woodcocks with 2 counted by Debbie and myself
early in the morning, 1 additional myself at the end of the day, 1 by Grace
and 1 more by Laura Slaughter for a total of 6 American Woodcocks for the
day.
Snipes were found by Debbie and myself and 9 reported by Adam.
Bald Eagles counted this year totaled 5 with 1 adult and 4 immatures which
were 1 seen by Debbie and myself, 1 by Freddy, 2 by Adam, and 1 by John and
Thelma Dalmas.
I would like to thank my participants that made this count possible this
year and we managed to put in a total of 52.50 hours and covered a total of
258.50 mile along with 1.75 hrs owling and 8.00 miles owling and counted a
total of 4,263 birds.
If you are looking for somewhere new to bird during next year's Christmas
Counts you may want to join us. There are 5 WMA's within the Banister River
Count circle and we don't have enough people to help with covering them all.
Some would require a 4x4 or a great deal of walking to cover but there in no
telling what you might find in them.
Happy New Year to all
and Great Birding Always
Jeff Blalock
103 Elizabeth Court
South Boston, VA 24592
(434) 470-8071
jcbabirder@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
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