From Coordinator, Charlie Scheim, To all Big Day participants…
I want to thank you all for devoting your time on Saturday to our Big Day count. I hope you all had as much fun as I did during the count. While it is wonderful that we are able to find so many species in a single day in our area, equally as important is that we were all able to get outdoors and connect with nature.
Attached to this note is a complete list of all species found Saturday. As you check it over, please do let me know if you think I’ve left out a species that you found. It’s easy for me to make errors when assembling the list.
Overall, we assembled 15 teams of 20 total birders this spring, with 7 teams of one, 10 teams of two, and 1 team of six counters. The teams ranged over our DOAS region, with reports coming in from Otsego, Delaware, and Schoharie counties. Some teams ranged over extensive areas by car, some walked our meadows and forests, and some folks simply observed their backyard birds.
There were a number of species that were found by just a single team (a few examples: Cooper’s Hawk, Black-billed Cuckoo, Eastern Screech Owl, Swainson’s Thrush, Hooded Warbler, and others), which shows just how important it was to our effort to have so many teams scouting our area. Birding is to some degree a matter of being in the right place at the right time. The more teams, the more likely it is that someone will be around when seldom seen species show up!
In total, we found 116 different species. Among these were three species of sandpipers (Spotted, Solitary, and Least), six raptors (Turkey Vulture, Osprey, Bald Eagle, and Cooper’s, Red-tailed, Broad-winged Hawks), six woodpecker-type species (Downy, Hairy, Pileated, Red-bellied, Northern Flicker, and Yellow-bellied Sapsucker), six flycatchers (Least, Great-crested, Alder, Willow, Phoebe, Kingbird), five swallows (Barn, Tree, Cliff, Bank, Rough-winged), four vireos (Yellow-throated, Blue-headed, Red-eyed, and Warbling) seven sparrow species (Chipping, Field, Savannah, Song, Swamp, and White-throated) and twenty-two species of warblers (see the list!). A complete listing of all of this year’s sightings will also be posted on OSBirds and (eventually) on the Delaware-Otsego Audubon Society website www.doas.us.
Thank you all for your birding contributions….
Charlie
