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Christmas Bird Counts Underway and Already Yielding Great Surprises

Paul Hurtado / flickr

The week just passed had a remarkable assemblage of birds found on the Cape and Islands from across the taxonomic realm of birds found in New England. The first Christmas Bird Counts were conducted with the Outer Cape Count being conducted on December 14. Also on this day was the Newport R.I./Westport, MA. CBC and the Greater Boston Count. All counts enjoyed spectacular weather. The winds were light and variable with periods of sun and partial overcast-ideal and rare conditions for a Christmas Bird Count!

The Outer Cape Count has its center point in Town Cove in Orleans and extends from there for a radius of 7 and a half miles in all directions. So parts of South Wellfleet, Eastham, Orleans, Harwich, Chatham and Brewster are all in the count circle. At the tally at day’s end at compiler Blair Nikula’s house, the day's results of all the various groups out in the field were revealed. This count did very well and recorded 130 species of birds including some most unexpected finds.

Perhaps the rarest bird was a sparrow that is hard to find where they breed in the Dakotas and winter in tall grasslands in the south. They are considered a good find in their normal range but to have one discovered on an abandoned driving range in Eastham stretches credibility. Fortunately the bird was fairly cooperative, well photographed and seen by many observers. They are a really beautiful sparrow and their scarcity makes them seem even more exotic.

Another surprise to all but a few was one of North America’s smallest birds - a Rufous Hummingbird that has been attending a feeder in Brewster for some time. These hummingbirds breed in the extreme northwestern U.S. and winter in Mexico. The bird has been banded by Sue Finnegan and its specific identification is certain. This is saying quite a lot as immature and female hummingbirds are a major hassle to identify and details of certain feathers along with actual measurements of the length of wings, tail, beak, etc. are necessary to ascertain the birds’ identity. A trend is starting to appear as this is the 4th Rufous Hummingbird on this count and all are relatively recent.

A Yellow-throated Warbler, another fabulous count bird, a southern species that is distinctively marked was discovered in East Orleans on count day. The theme here being when you flood an area with good birders they go places that are not visited by birders and they stay in an area and work it all day-turning up great birds while attempting to count every bird of every species. The Outer Cape Count had many more birds and some high counts of Great Egrets and Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers among others. Bird counts are great fun and perfect for first-timers to experts.

Other birds of note this week were a drake Tufted Duck on Salt Pond in Falmouth, a Greater White-fronted Goose and a female type Painted Bunting on Nantucket as well as a Common Murre that was found hiding under a Stop and Shop trailer at the steamship dock. It was taken to a rehab facility and hopefully will do well with care, food and shelter.

The Newport/Westport Count totaled 131 species with many waterfowl but no real barn burners for rarities. The Greater Boston Count had 120 species including 13 Snowy Owls at Logan.