[birdky] RPT: Otter Creek Park CBC results
- From: "Palmer-Ball, Brainard (EPPC OOS KNPC)" <Brainard.Palmer-Ball@xxxxxx>
- To: "BIRDKY (E-mail)" <birdky@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 21 Dec 2005 09:34:49 -0500
Count results are not completely in, but we had below-average participation
with perhaps only 5 observers in the field. Most of you probably are not
aware that the Otter Creek Park count is one of the longest-running KY
Christmas Counts, first appearing in The Kentucky Warbler in 1942! I am not
sure if it has been run EVERY year, but I would imagine that poor weather
conditions have caused cancellation a few times. I'm certain of one thing
... that few counts have been conducted on colder days ... at least it
seemed that way to Eddie Huber and myself as we shivered in the early
morning stillness, urging the sun upward every time we got out of the
vehicle. That being said, it was a particularly beautiful day with hoar
frost on all the trees and weeds in the morning.
The species tally will be in the mid-60s, somewhat below normal, but Eddie
and I had two new birds to the count, both somewhat unexpected but for
different reasons. The first was a beautiful LeConte's Sparrow in a weedy
low area in the company of AT LEAST 65 Savannah Sparrows (a new high count
for that species, I feel certain). The second was a seemingly out of place
flock of 25 Eurasian Collared-Doves sitting in a tree in the middle of a
cornfield a couple of miles outside of Flaherty. Both of these to my
knowledge are county records in addition to count-firsts. Other highlights
from our day were plenty of Blue Jays and American Robins -- back in force
in the forests and fields after their absence last winter. We had also all
seven woodpeckers, an Eastern Phoebe (as did Jane and Pat Bell), a Palm
Warbler, a couple of American Tree Sparrows, Rusty Blackbirds, and Purple
Finches scattered widely in small numbers. Raptors and waterfowl were not
much in evidence; I was really surprised that we did not have cranes going
over. Part of our evening was spent following thousands of American Robins
southwestward past Doe Valley Lake to see if we could locate their roost.
Just after sunset we located a cedary ravine where many were dropping in,
but others were flying past. I know nothing about American Robin migration,
but we couldn't figure out if these birds were just deciding to depart
southwestward in the face of the season's coldest weather, or if this spot
was a nightly roost. It would seem that plenty of good roosting habitat is
present on Otter Creek Park and Fort Knox, and why they would be traveling
so far away to roost seemed odd.
bpb, Louisville
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