[va-bird] The Plains/Airlie CBC (almost official) Results, 2002

Greetings...

On Sunday 15 December 2002, The Plains/Airlie Christmas Bird Count was 
conducted for the fifth time.  Located entirely on the Piedmont, it covers 
from about Lake Manassas in the east, just west of Wildcat/Watery Mountain in 
the west, north to The Plains, and south to the Fauquier County Landfill.  
The majority of territory covered is in Fauquier County, with a small area of 
Prince William covered.  Fifty-seven people participated in the count this 
year, about ten fewer than last year.  The count was established in 1998, but 
in that year it was conducted on a weekday with only a couple dozen 
participants.  Since 1999 it has been held on a Sunday.  The count circle was 
also slightly shifted before the 1999 count to include Lake Manassas, North 
Fork Wetlands, Lake Brittle, and the Fauquier Landfill.  The species totals 
for the five years have been 77 in 1998, 100 in 1999, 101 in 2000, 105 in 
2001, and 101 in 2002.  The cumulative total of species seen over the five 
years is 122, one of them being the first Piedmont record (California Gull in 
1999).  Waterfowl certainly makes the difference in this Piedmont count.  

Many thanks go to the participants of this fine count, as well as to the many 
landowners that have granted us access to bird their property.  Notably 
Airlie for allowing access to their several thousand acres, and for donating 
the space for our compilation, complete with refreshments.  

Only one new species was noted this year, Lapland Longspur by Craig Tumer and 
party at North Fork Wetlands.  Many species set new count highs (outright, 
not adjusted for effort), notably frugivores.  Eastern Bluebird, Hermit 
Thrush, American Robin, Northern Mockingbird and Cedar Waxwing all reached 
high marks (Mockingbird actually tied last years high count).  All of those 
species were ranked in the top five highest counts in Virginia in 2001 
(Mockingbird was first), two of them were ranked in the top five nationally, 
Eastern Bluebird second, and Mockingbird fifth.

Raptors had a good showing with new highs set for four of the eight species 
found.  2001's 55 Red-shouldereds was good for second highest in Virginia, 
and twenty-fifth in the country suggesting that this year's 81 birds will 
have similar or better rankings.  

Waterfowl had mixed results.  For the first time since moving the circle, 
many of the small ponds were frozen, dispersing ducks to larger lakes, some 
probably out of the count circle.  As a result, some species were missed 
completely (Northern Shoveler for the first time since 1998), and others had 
considerably lower totals (19 Green-winged Teal and 56 Black Ducks; we 
usually expect two or more times those numbers).  That said, we did manage to 
find our first Snow Goose or Snow/Ross's hybrid, located by Alex Merritt.  
Canada Geese had their highest total ever, perhaps due to better coverage, or 
maybe due to over-counting.  The flocks aren't stationary and double-counting 
almost certainly occurs.  Still, the number of them (around ten thousand) is 
consistent with Sue Heath's extensive waterfowl survey numbers for the past 
three years in almost the same territory.  The two other "celebrity" 
waterfowl species were tallied on count day, those being the Eurasian Wigeon 
and Greater White-fronted Goose that have been present since early fall 
spending most of their time on private ponds.  This marks the ninth 
consecutive year that Eurasian Wigeon has returned to the same few lakes in 
Fauquier County.  

Several regular species were missed completely this year or had very poor 
showings.  Some species were missed for the first time since moving the 
circle, including Shoveler, Wilson's (ne Common) Snipe, and Red-breasted 
Nuthatch (the first time ever missed).  Finches we nearly absent with no 
siskins and only three Purple Finches.  A surprising miss would have been 
Killdeer if not for the one bird found by Alex Merritt.  The roving blackbird 
flock that has been seen in the area much of this winter was not found during 
the count.  We did still manage to find a single Rusty Blackbird (C. Tumer 
and party). 

A look at the numbers.  There are still some adjustments to be made, and a 
couple accurate totals yet to be submitted.  Effort has yet to be calculated. 
 

Common Loon, count week, seen by Sue Heath on 12 December.
Pied-billed Grebe, 6.
Double-crested Cormorant, 2.
Great Blue Heron, 18, ties the high count.
Black Vulture, 247.
Turkey Vulture, 448.
Greater White-fronted Goose, 1, A. Merritt.  By breast pattern, this is the 
same bird as last year.
Snow Goose (possibly Snow X Ross's), 1, a new bird for the count (though 
gotten count week in 2001).
Canada Goose, over 10000, with some locations of large flocks needing to be 
checked with the observer for birds along bordering territories.
Tundra Swan, 11.
Mute Swan, 4.  
Wood Duck, 6.
Gadwall, 136, lowest ever.
Eurasian Wigeon, 1 found by Bill Sladen and party.
American Wigeon, 65 lowest since 1998.
American Black Duck, 56 lowest ever.
Mallard, 458, a new high but likely due to access to perviously uncounted 
pond.
Northern Pintail, 7. 
Green-winged Teal, 19, lowest ever.
Canvasback, 5.  
Redhead, 2.
Ring-necked Duck, 1059, second highest total.
Lesser Scaup, 11.
Bufflehead, 114, lowest since 1998.
Hooded Merganser, 142. 
Common Merganser, 453, new high count, all on Lake Manassas. 
Ruddy Duck, 60.
Bald Eagle, 10, six paired adults.
Northern Harrier, 12, new high count.
Sharp-shinned Hawk, 21, new high count.
Cooper's Hawk, 7.
Red-shouldered Hawk, 81, new high count.
Red-tailed Hawk, 96, second highest count.
American Kestrel, 22, second highest count.
Merlin, 1, found by Bart Hutchinson et al, second ever for the count.
Wild Turkey, 17, new high count.
Northern Bobwhite, 8.
Killdeer, 1, A. Merritt.
American Woodcock, 1, C. Tumer and party.
Ring-billed Gull, 1137.
Herring Gull, 292.
Lesser Black-backed Gull, 8.  Seven at Landfill by Steve Rottenborn, one at 
Lake Brittle by Laura Catterton and party.  This is a good piedmont count for 
this species. 
Great Black-backed Gull, 58, new high count.
Pigeon, 284.
Mourning Dove, 568.
Eastern Screech-Owl, 7, well below the 2001 total of thirty, due largely to 
effort, but also to a very windy morning.
Great Horned Owl, 4.
Barred Owl, 5.
Northern Saw-whet Owl, at least 2.
Belted Kingfisher, 15.
Red-headed Woodpecker, 6.
Red-bellied Woodpecker, 245, new high count.
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, 77.  Our 2001 total of 100 was best in the state 
and second in the country.
Downy Woodpecker, 175.
Hairy Woodpecker, 24.
Yellow-shafted (Northern) Flicker, 225.
Pileated Woodpecker, 37.
Eastern Phoebe, 7.
Blue Jay, 662.  Our 734 in 2001 was the most in Virginia.
American Crow, 1428, about average. 
Fish Crow, 125, new high count.
Common Raven, 7.
Horned Lark, 20.
Carolina Chickadee, 520.
Tufted Titmouse, 350.
White-breasted Nuthatch, 175, second highest count.
Brown Creeper, 19, new high count.
Carolina Wren, 252. 
Winter Wren, 7, ties high count.
Golden-crowned Kinglet, 79.
Ruby-crowned Kinglet, 15.
Eastern Bluebird, 831, new high count.
Hermit Thrush, 62, new high count.
American Robin, 4233, new high count.
Gray Catbird, 3. 
Northern Mockingbird, 331, ties previous high count.
Brown Thrasher, 1, second ever recorded.  Found by Bob Abrams and Joan 
Boudreau.
Starling, 4361.
American Pipit, 66, new high count.
Cedar Waxwing, 2633, new high count.
Myrtle (Yellow-rumped) Warbler, 363.
Eastern Towhee, 16.
American Tree Sparrow, 5. 
Field Sparrow, 193, new high count.
Savannah Sparrow, 22.
Fox Sparrow, 7. 
Song Sparrow, 437.
Swamp Sparrow, 39, second highest count.
White-throated Sparrow, 1199, new high count.
White-crowned Sparrow, 29.
Dark-eyed Junco, 1301.
Lapland Longspur, 1.  New species to count, discovered by C. Tumer and party 
at North Fork Wetlands, flying over, calling. 
Northern Cardinal, 675, likely to be top 25 nationally.
Red-winged Blackbird, 43.
Eastern Meadowlark, 54. 
Rusty Blackbird, 1, C. Tumer and party.
Common Grackle, 97.
Brown-headed Cowbird, 156.
Purple Finch, 3.
House Finch, 367.
American Goldfinch, 393.
House Sparrow, 148, new high count.  

Cheers...

Todd

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Todd M. Day
Jeffersonton, VA
Culpeper County
BlkVulture@xxxxxxx
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