The 56th annual Martha's Vineyard Christmas Bird Count was held on Saturday, Jan. 2. The cold and blustery weather didn't deter 61 Island birders, who fanned out across the Island in teams of 13 to take a census of the Island's feathered population.
The teams tallied up 22,035 individuals of 121 species, and five additional species were observed during count week, which is three days before and three days after the count.
During the 2015 bird count, which took place during milder weather, 28,789 individual birds and 122 species were observed.
There were some exciting finds this year, including four shearwaters flying off Lambert's Cove that were likely Manx shearwaters, a western kingbird at Squibnocket, and a rusty blackbird.
There were record high numbers of fish crows, mute swans, bald eagles and great egrets. Teams observed a scarcity of seaducks, and a declining number of Carolina wrens and barn owls. This is the first year since 1977 that red-necked grebes were not found.
The data generated is sent to the National Audubon Society, where Vineyard results are combined with results of other counts across America. The data is used to determine population trends.
The final results list how many of each species was observed on the count. CP means the species was observed three days before or after the count, but not on count day.
Snow goose (white morph), CP
Brant, 70
Canada goose, 1,433
Mute swan, 369
Gadwall, 4
American wigeon, 148
American black duck, 737
Mallard, 652
Northern pintail, 6
Green-winged teal, 11
Ring-necked duck, 49
Greater scaup, 445
Lesser scaup, 20
Common eider, 490
Harlequin duck, 59
Surf scoter, 596
White-winged scoter, 680
Black scoter, 993
Scoter species, 150
Long-tailed duck, 29
Bufflehead, 1,043
Common goldeneye, 276
Barrow’s goldeneye, 3
Hooded merganser, 114
Common merganser, 3
Red-breasted merganser, 778
Ruddy duck, 101
Wild turkey, 110
Pacific loon, CP
Red-throated loon, 414
Common loon, 130
Pied-billed grebe, 3
Horned grebe, 19
Red-necked grebe, CP
Shearwater sp. (Manx), 4
Northern gannet, 414
Double-crested cormorant, 18
Great cormorant, 27
Great blue heron, 23
Great egret, 2
Black-crowned night-heron, 6
Turkey vulture, 84
Bald eagle, 2
Northern harrier, 8
Sharp-shinned hawk, 4
Cooper’s hawk, 8
Red-tailed hawk, 57
Merlin, 1
Peregrine falcon, 3
Virginia rail, 1
American coot, CP
Black-bellied plover, 16
Greater yellowlegs, 8
Sanderling, 271
Dunlin, 176
American woodcock, CP
Black-headed gull, 1;
Bonaparte’s gull, 34;
Ring-billed gull, 164;
Herring gull, 1,370;
Great black-backed gull, 163
Black-legged kittiwake, 27
Razorbill, 55
Alcid species, 3
Rock pigeon, 123
Mourning dove, 252
Barn owl, 2
Eastern screech-owl, 11
Great horned owl, 1
Snowy owl, 1
Northern saw-whet owl, 1
Belted kingfisher, 7
Red-bellied woodpecker, 47
Yellow-bellied sapsucker, 3
Downy woodpecker, 82;
Hairy woodpecker, 14
Northern flicker, 42
Eastern phoebe, 2
Western kingbird, 1
Blue jay, 257
American crow, 1,394
Fish crow, 558
Horned lark, 1
Black-capped chickadee, 1,175
Tufted titmouse, 180
Red-breasted nuthatch, 13
White-breasted nuthatch, 93
Brown creeper, 8
Carolina wren, 36
House wren, 1
Winter wren, 5
Marsh wren, 1
Golden-crowned kinglet, 30
Ruby-crowned kinglet, 9
Eastern bluebird, 24
Hermit thrush, 18
American robin, 401
Gray catbird, 22
Northern mockingbird, 27
Brown thrasher, 1
European starling, 1,040
Cedar waxwing, 92
Orange-crowned warbler, 4
Yellow-rumped warbler, 412
Pine warbler, 2
Prairie warbler, CP
Palm warbler, 11
Ovenbird, CP
Common yellowthroat, 1
Yellow-breasted chat, 2
Eastern towhee, 25
American tree sparrow, 8
Chipping sparrow, 7
Field sparrow, 17
Savannah sparrow, 6
Fox sparrow, 1
Song sparrow, 253
Swamp sparrow, 11
White-throated sparrow, 329
Dark-eyed junco, 255
Northern cardinal, 401
Red-winged blackbird, 34
Eastern meadowlark, 10
Rusty blackbird, 1
Common grackle, 4
Brown-headed cowbird, 2
Baltimore oriole, 2
House finch, 508
American goldfinch, 57
House sparrow, 412
Comments
Comment policy »