101ST ANNUAL CHRISTMAS BIRD COUNT

Oxford Audubon Society:

Christmas Bird Count, 2000-99-98-97-96-95-94-93

Christmas Bird Count Frequency of Species by Years

• Date: Dec. 16, 2000, sunrise=7:50 am (EST); sunset= 5:16 pm
  
• Official Count Times: 0700 a.m. to 1700 p.m.
  
• Temperature: 39 to 49 degrees F. Humidity = 93%; dewpoint = 37%; Pressure = 29:45 steady;
  
• Wind: calm 8.0 mph NNW. Precipitation = 1.00 in.
  
• Water: 100% Open (not frozen),
  
• AM Cloudy; PM Cloudy; Visability = 2 miles.
  
• Observers: 16 in 13 parties (non-owling) + 2 hour owling
  
• Total Party Hours: 112
  
• Party Miles: 238 @40 hours and 58 miles on foot, 20 hours and 180 miles by car
  
• Total Species: 56
  
• Total Individuals: 5,913
  
• Report filed by Lawrence W. Sherman, 12/18/2000
  
• Paid Participants ($6 each) [12=$72.00](4 first timers=$24.00 paid by Oxford Audubon) = $96.00 total participation fee.
  

Both veteran and first-time birders participated in the annual 101st National Audubon Christmas Count, including:

Paul Anderson, Rob Blair, Alan Cady, Glenn Danielson, Sharon
Edwards, Bill Heck, Chuck Holliday, Sarah Howell, Ben Mattox, Bonni Neff, Bill Pratt, Jim
Reid, Larry Sherman, Leslye Sherman, Ryan Stander and Ray White.

A special note of thanks to each of the 12 "trip leaders"..Paul Anderson, Rob Blair, Alan
Cady, Sharon Edwards,  Bill Heck, Chuck Holiday, Ben Mattox, Bill Pratt, Jim Reid, Leslye
and Larry Sherman, Ryan Stander and Ray White.

Numbers and species seen were: 6 Great Blue Herons, 2 Black Vultures, 50 Turkey Vultures, 1 Tundra Swan, 348 Canada Geese, 9 Black Ducks, 687 Mallards, 9 Gadwall Ducks, 12 American Widgeons, 13 Common Mergansers, 7 Harriers, 1 Sharp-shinned Hawks, 1 Cooper's Hawk, 7 Red-tailed Hawks, 11 Kestrels, 1 Pheasant, 1 Killdeer, 478 Ring-billed Gulls, 3 Herring Gull, 80 Rock Doves (Pigeons), 192 Mourning Doves, 3 Belted Kingfishers, 13 Red-bellied Woodpeckers, 2 Yellow-bellied Sapsucker Woodpeckers, 22 Downy Woodpeckers, 4 Hairy Woodpeckers, 11 Flickers, 2 Pileated Woodpeckers, 6 Horned Larks, 32 Blue Jays, 89 Crows, 101 Carolina Chickadees, 29 Tufted Titmice, 17 White-breasted Nuthatches, 8 Carolina Wrens, 4 Golden-crowned Kinglets, 1 Ruby-crowned Kinglet, 60 Eastern Bluebirds, 1 Hermit Thrush, 493 Robins, 1 Gray Catbird, 12 Mockingbirds, 129 Cedar Waxwings, 1910 Starlings, 97 Cardinals, 2 Rufous-sided Towhees, 49 Tree Sparrows, 1 Fox Sparrow, 9 Song Sparrows, 40 White-throated Sparrows, 5 White-crowned Sparrows, 2 Yellow-rumped (Myrtle) Warblers, 96 Dark eyed (Slate-colored) Juncos, 52 House Finches, 82 Goldfinches, and 609 House Sparrow.

When the totals were recorded at noon in the Ecological Research Center on Somerville Road where the count started, Liz Woedl and many others, once again supplied the welcome lunch for all participants. Many Thanks to Liz and everyone else who brought on the food! Larry Sherman, assisted by Bill Heck, compiled the results and has also made them available on the WWW at the following URL: http://miavx1.muohio.edu/~oascwis. Three years ago we were part of an experimental project (along with twenty other chapters throughout the nation, we were known as "DOVEKIES") that submitted our data via the Internet to National Audubon's Christmas Bird Count Center in Ithaca, New York at Cornell University. We have done the same this year and people interested in seeing the total results for North America are advised to go to their web site, BIRDSOURCE, at the following URL:

http://birdsource.cornell.edu/