Overview
Results of the Sixth Annual Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park Mid-Winter Bird Survey (the “Count”), and this report, are being circulated by email to the participant list, including those who were unable to actually count this year due to weather or conflicts. The materials will also be posted on DC Audubon’s website at www.dcaudubon.org [0], and available in hard copy from me. Participants received the initial version for comment by email in late May. The subsequent delay, again, is attributable to the coordinator, and almost beyond apology. Perhaps I could plead that October is a slower birding month than April or May when the final results and report should have come out. (March 31 is still the target date, realistic or not.)
The weather was uncooperative and reduced the coverage, but most participants reported an enjoyable experience anyway. Four species were new to the Count – Cackling Goose in Mile 105, Green-Winged Teal in Mile 11, White-Winged Scoter in Mile 31, and Merlin in Mile 6. Eleven other species, noted below, were new highs for the six years since inception of the Count. Species total of 85, and individual total of 18,489, (12,556 excluding Canada Goose) were midrange for the six years.
Coverage and Participation
Saturday, January 24, 2004 was cold, with two to six inches of accumulated snow on the towpath, forecasted snow, and falling snow. Early morning temperatures were in single digits in the up-river portions of the park, and in the teens in Frederick-Montgomery-DC. Winds were mostly light to moderate, but temperatures did not rise more than ten degrees or so.
Deep snow and bad road conditions made it impossible or imprudent for some intended participants to reach their assigned areas, particularly in Washington and eastern Allegany Counties where coverage is the thinnest anyway, and in areas where the Canal can only be accessed by unimproved dirt road. Credit is due to those who could and did brave the weather, and as in other years, to birders in Allegany County who covered 5-and 6-mile stretches.
The upshot was that 150 mile-segments were covered, out of the possible 185 (or 183 excluding closed miles 86 and 87.) At least 72 individuals participated, per reports of the 50 nominal principal observers. All observations were properly counted and reported on a milepost-to-milepost basis.
Two counts aggregating five miles were made on Sunday, January 26th. This was in accordance with a change in structure of the Count made this year. It occurred belatedly to the coordinator that the significance of year-to-year comparisons, such as it is, is not materially reduced by allowing the following day as a make-up day. Sunday data for 2004 and future counts are therefore accepted and tabulated the same as Saturday’s. But Sunday is a make-up day, not a free option – count on Saturday unless prevented by weather or a personal conflict.
Coverage in 2004 might have been better but for two omissions of the coordinator. I should have gotten the Sunday policy into the initial participant letter or a general follow-up, and I was pretty much out of touch on Count day itself. More miles could have been eked out by reassignments and Sunday counts, given the enthusiasm of participants, but we still could not have approached the 2002 high of 178 miles covered. I can do better in the future, but I must accept that weather may cause less than 100% coverage of a mid-winter count. I don’t want to make SUV ownership a requirement for committing to this Count, or to lose sight of the birds and the enjoyment in an overly serious logistic effort.
Data Presentation
The spreadsheet for the 2004 Count is a an Excel® 2002 worksheet of about 100kb. The file can be found here. [0] It should display with Excel or Microsoft Spreadsheet Works, and other spreadsheet programs. The print format is multi-page, similar to 2003’s, but four less pages because only 150 mile-segments are tabulated. The spreadsheet will print legibly on 18 8.5”x11” pages, numbered left to right (ascending mile-segments of the Canal) and then top to bottom (non-passeriforms and passeriforms), plus two pages of summary data for prior years. Pages 1-16 each display a species row, a row with mile numbers, and a row with initials of the reporting principal observer. Column totals are the number of species and numbers of individual birds in a mile-segment. Row totals are, for each species, the total number counted and number of mile-segments in which any were observed. Pages 15 and 16 display row totals at the far right. Pages 17 and 18 display totals and comparative aggregate data from 1999 through 2003. The comments on certain mile-segments are text at the bottom of the page, flagged by an asterisk for that mile-segment column.
The mile-segments are numbered starting with “0”, and thus correspond to the milepost marking the downstream endpoint of that sector. This numbering is the least confusing way to report segments covered, and to correlate with the instructions provided to participants, and maps and descriptions in Hahn’s Towpath Guide. The order of species is the same as on the checklist provided to participants.
Species Comments
Canada Goose was the plurality bird (and an overwhelming majority of the biomass) for this count, as it has been every year and will be for the foreseeable future. Next were Starling, Junco, White-Throated Sparrow. The ranking reflects nothing weightier than urban Starling flocks in evidence this year for one reason or another. Downy Woodpecker was the most widespread bird (number of mile-sectors), followed by Red-Bellied Woodpecker and White-Breasted Nuthatch.
Waterfowl: The Cackling (Richardson’s) Goose in Mile 105 was a harbinger of more careful looks at geese, now that Cackling is recognized as a full species. (See MDOSPREY postings at 2004-187, -188, -190, -197, and David Sibley’s recent page at http://www.sibleyguides.com/canada_cackling.htm [1].) White-Winged Scoter in Mile 31 was a Count first, a surprise, and documented by a photo, also a Count first. Green-Winged Teal in Mile 11 was a Count first, perhaps overdue. Bufflehead and Common Merganser were new highs for the Count. The Black Duck to Mallard ratio was a new high, possibly evincing a trend. Wood Duck was missed for the first time in the Count.
Raptors and Owls: A Merlin in Mile 6 was a first for the Count. As we are noting all Count highs, Cooper’s Hawk (5) and Screech Owl (2) are in this category..
Woodpeckers: Red-Headed returned with a singleton in Mile 24. Sapsucker, Flicker, and Pileated all attained Count highs, as did the total woodpeckers of all species. It is a likely inference that actual mid-winter populations of woodpeckers along the Canal were higher than usual in 2004, and a strong inference for Sapsuckers, with their distant breeding grounds.
Passerines: Numbers and distribution were not strikingly different from prior Counts, though totals for most woodland species seemed agreeably high, allowing for coverage and weather. New highs for the Count were Starling, Song Sparrow, White-Throated Sparrow, and Junco. Passerines seen in 2004 but of less than every-year occurrence in the Count were Catbird (including a surprising sighting in Mile 181), Purple Finch, Fox Sparrow, and, truth be told, Towhee, Swamp Sparrow, Rusty Blackbird, Brown-Headed Cowbird. Red-winged Blackbird was a first- time miss in 2004.
The 2005 Count will be Saturday, January 22. Thanks again to all participants and supporters.
Mike Milton
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