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Jordan Lake (NC) spring count




Jordan Lake Spring Bird Count 2001

         May 13, 2001, was a pleasant day with temperatures ranging from 
60F at dawn to 80F at midday.  Sixty-one observers (a tie for our highest) 
in 29 parties (a new high) counted 8,906 individuals (our third highest) of 
121 species (below our average of 128), during 169 hours in the field (also 
a new high).  Perhaps as a result of this fairly thorough coverage, we 
recorded 15 (!) species in new record high numbers (or ties for the record):
Records were set or tied for Great Blue Heron (76), Turkey Vulture (205), 
Canada Goose (157), Osprey (44), Bald Eagle (34), Hairy (16), and Pileated 
(40) Woodpeckers, Blue-headed Vireo (11), American Crow (369), Fish Crow 
(31), White-breasted (12) and Brown-headed (86) Nuthatches, Brown Thrasher 
(71), Pine Warbler (311), and Northern Cardinal (356).

The new records for Ospreys (44 up from 24) and Bald Eagles (34 up from 14) 
represent huge jumps.  I did my best to ferret out overlaps, but without 
better time-of-sighting information, these numbers were my best 
estimates.  Perhaps next year I will add time-of-sighting space on the 
recording form.

Woodpeckers continue to be present in large numbers.  Is Hurricane Fran 
still providing these birds with food aplenty?  The record numbers of 
vultures and crows might just say something about our landfills or trash 
habits.

We did garner a few unusual species:
1 Red-breasted Merganser (Douglas & Shannon Pavlov, Shelley Theye)
1 Lesser Yellowlegs (Anson & Dwayne Cooke, Maurice & Steve Graves, Jane 
Lewis, Harriet Sato)
1 Semipalmated Sandpiper (Brian Bockhahn)
5 Least Sandpipers (Kyle Blankenship, Barbara Coffman, Kyle and Michael Mills)
1 Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (John Frederick)
2 Grasshopper Sparrows (Catherine & Joseph Kay, Robin Moran)
8 Evening Grosbeaks (Anson & Dwayne Cooke, Maurice & Steve Graves, Jane 
Lewis, Harriet Sato)

         So it was a good count, though not a great one.  It was certainly 
a very pleasant day to be in the field.  Thanks to all who took part.

Norm Budnitz

***********************************************************
Norman Budnitz, nbudnitz@duke.edu
919-684-3592 (day), 919-383-0553 (eve),919-660-7293 (fax)

(work) Biology Dept, Duke Univ, Box 90338, Durham NC 27708
(home) 4115 Garrett Drive, Durham NC 27705

PROGRESS: the victory of laughter over dogma.
(Tom Robbins, Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas)