The Winter Season December 1, 1974 -March 31, 1975
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The Winter Season December 1, 1974 -March 31, 1975 HUDSON-ST. LAWRENCE REGION status as a local half-hardy: Am. Bittern, Wood Duck, Merlin, Turkey Vulture, Am. Coot, Com. Snipe, Am. / P. A. Buckley and Richard Kane Woodcock, Dunlin, LaughingGull, Belted Kingfisher, Corn. Flicker, Red-headed Woodpecker, Yellow- The winter of 1974 - 1975 was uniformly charac- bellied Sapsucker(I 5 in n. New Jersey alone), all three terized as beingextraordinarily mild, relativelydiffer- mimids, Am. Robin, Hermit Thrush, Ruby-crowned ent terms on the south shoreof Long Island and the Kinglet, (n. to the Adirondacks), LoggerheadShrike, north shore of the St. Lawrence, but nonetheless in Palm Warbler (seven in one day at Mecox Bay, L.I. in agreement.Snowfall and snow cover were very light, in late January), Corn. Yellowthroat, Baltimore (N.) Oriole (eight on L.I., ten in N.J., two in w. Mas- sachusetts.one in n.e. Pennsylvania, etc.), Field Spar- row, Chipping Sparrow, Rufous-sidedTowhee (n. to • I •' ' .:::. severallocationsin P.Q.), White-throatedSparrow (dit- 0 •l•'e.An•e •delo Poc•'•reP •':'"• to), White-crowned Sparrow and Swamp Sparrow. The mild weather and open water were probably in largest measureresponsible for somegreat increasesover pre- viously high counts on the annual mid-January N.Y.S. [ lroisRiv[.... •q•¾o .. • waterfowl censusin the N.Y.C.-LI. area; e.g. Gadwall 848, up 136%;Pintail 400, up 101%;Green-winged Teal 410, up 73%; Blue-winged Teal 30, up 207% (and see later text); Wood Duck 53, up 253%; and Am. Coot 1582, up 96%. Aside from having been a winter finch year only in the extreme northern part of the region, it was a raptor year only in the north as well. Northern Shrikes, Rough- • - :q ' u Northamp• leggedHawks, Snowy Owls were all quite scarceafter somegood November countsin the south. AIcids and eiders were conspicuouslylow as well, as were other typical half-hardies(but insecteaters) as E. Phoebeand Tree Swallow. More unusualwinter lingerers are dis- cussed in the appropriate place in the following text, and there are many indeedthis year. For someobserv- someareas as to setnew lows. Water remain• openfor ers, especially,again, further north, the winter highlight record-breWing•riods, somet•es not closingat all; was the unprecedentedincursion of both speciesof p•ts of the St. LawrenceRiver never•oze and •ke three-toedwoodpeckers. Other outstandingrarities this Champlainwas clos• for onlythe •6• Feb. 13-6. In winter included N. Fulmar, Franklin's Gull, Hawk the northland,cone crops on virtually all con•ers were Owl, Boreal Owl, Mountain Bluebird, Painted Bunting extraordinarilygood; coupled•th equally abundant and Black-throated Sparrow, with a host of lesser ber• and •uit crops, t•s kept most winter finches luminariesalso reported. (exceptof coursethe increasin•yinde•ndent Evening Grosbeaks) well to the nofih. With few exceptions, most •ere not s•n south of the Adiroodack-Green- GREB'ESTHROUGH HERONS -- Only two Eared •hite •ountains line. The fine ber• and fruit crops Grebes surfaced this winter, one on Onondaga L., allowedmany passetinesto remaininland in record Syracuse, Dec. 14-26 (Bill Brosseau, FGS et al.), and numbersuntil they had depletedtheir natu•l foodslate another at Great Kills, Staten I. remained through at in the season.Consequently, coastal Christmas Bird least Dec. 7 (m.ob.). No coastal N. Fulmars were re- Countsdid not fare as well, relatively, as •ny inland ported, but one on L. Ontario just east of Oswego counts did. Waterfowl, too, remained inland in almost harbor, N.Y., wasonly the secondlocal record, the first unprecedentednumbers. Ve• cold weatherand snow found dead a few years ago (FGS, PDeB, DWC). What • whenthey did finally comein late Februaryand early can only be described as extraordinary numbers of pressedMarch, after it -- springprobablyhad hit arrived, many as birds most hard, observers althoughex- Double-crested Cormorants occurred throughout the regionthis winter, on many CBCs, and severalsurvived kills were not co•ented on as in some recent years. the winter. One Feb. 14 - Mar. l0 at Oswego was only Vifiually all observersdid commenton the incredible the third local wintering record in 21 years (m.ob.); numbersof h•f-hardies, againa relativeterm. But the most of the remainder were coastal, with 13 found in the followings•cies were ch•cte6z• as in abnormally (Long Island - New York City) area on the mid-January high n•bers, dependingof courseon tbe• normal (New York State) waterfowl census (SD). Volume29, Number3 667 The mild weather allowed numerous heron overwin- were generally rather scarce in Canadian parts of the termgs or attempts, with astonishingnumbers of white region, in good numbers in upstate N.Y. and then herons,notably 8-10 Great Egretsand six Snowies,at scarcesouthward. A pair of GoldenEagles wintered on J B.W.R. (m.ob.), oneof the latter overwinteringin the QuabbinRes., Mass. (SK & B.N.W.M.), asdid an adult H M. (RK et al.). Little Blueswere scatteredthrough- and immature on Stissing Mt., Dutchess Co., N Y out December, the maximum being a flock of eight on (THD et mult. al.). Bald Eagleswere usually scattered the OakBeach marsh Dec. 15(m.ob.), andwhile the last singles,but up to 15 againwintered at MongaupRes , report receivedwas one Jan. 22 at Tobay (L. Schore, SullivanCo. N.Y. (fide RKa). Two or three Ospreys W Baumann),one at J.B.W.R. Mar. 2 (THD) probably were reported into late December in New Jersey and alsowintered locally. Two Yellow-crownedNight He- Connecticut,but detailswere lacking.One at Quabbm rons were noted, one adult remaining until Jan. 4 at Res. Nov. 25 was seen beingattacked and killed by a SouthhavenCo. Park, Shirley, L.I. (JB). One Least GoldenEagle, a strikingexample of howwintering Os- Bittern overwintered in the vast Hackensack Meadows preys are selected against. The only Gyrfalcons re- (H M.) (DS), only the secondknown to have done so in ported were two in January in Qu6bec, where not ex- the N.Y.C. region.Curiously, no late or wintering ceedinglyrare, and one in the black phaseJan. 2, s of GlossyIbis werereported; is this in any way relatedto Selkirk, Albany Co., N.Y. (K. Able and R. Ferren) the apparentdecline in their L.I. breedingnumbers in Two non-lingering,widely separatedPeregrines were 1974 (see AB, 29:133)? also reported. King Railswere reported on the OldLyme-Saybrook WATERFOWL THROUGH RAPTORS -- Prob- and New Haven, Conn., and Boonton,N.J. CBCs, at ably now safe to consider a trend is the increasing leastone overwinteredon the H.M. (DS) and at Tobay incidence of overwintering Whistling Swans in this re- Pond, JonesBeach, where it was still presentin late glon, evident again this year even as far inland as May (m.ob.)! Common Gallinules apparently also Fairhaven Beach S.P., near Oswego, N.Y. (M. Rusk) in overwintered at Sage Pond, Lawrence, L.I, at mxd-January, and up to 12 on Hook Pond, Eas- J.B.W.R, on the H.M. (27+ !), and perhapsat Cmger's thampton, L.I. (m.ob.). Blue-wingedTeal respondedto I., Dutchess Co. (O.T.W.B.C.); one at Brielman's the mild weather, a pair overwintering at Fairhaven Marsh, Pittsfield,Mass. Feb. 23 mighthave also(R J S P. (PDeB et al. ) asdid an unprecedentedflock of up to Goodrich).Despite the mild weather,Clapper and V•r- 22 at tiny Sage Pond in Lawrence, L.I. (RKe et al.). giniaRails seemedto be in only ordinarynumbers, but Canvasback seem to be increasingdramatically in our Sora was reported on the Old Lyme-Saybrook(2), region: previously virtually unknown in the Essex Co., Smithtown, L.I., Putnam Co. N.Y. and Lower Hudson N Y., area, "thousands" were found on L. Champlain CBCs -- more than usual. m fall 1974 (Vt. Fish & Game Dept.), with up to 1270 still there on the waterfowl censusin mid-January; 9000 wintered in Upper N.Y. Bay's last remaining natural SHOREBIRDS THROUGH ALCIDS -- An Am shallowsat Caven Pt., N.J. (now threatenedby landfill Oystercatcherreached Moriches Inlet Mar. 22 (D L development); and the L.I. - N.Y.C. portion of the Larsen), parallelingrecent years' dates. Late-lingering N Y.S. waterfowl censusin mid-Januaryreported al- shorebirdswere legionthis year, highlightsbeing: up to most 11,000,in increaseof 90% over any count sincethe four SemipalmatedPlovers at JonesBeach (AW); up to winter of 1968-69(SD). A pair of Tufted Ducks wintered 60 (!) Ruddy Tumstoneson the Orient Pt., L.I. CBC, 20 again in the East R. under the Triborough Bridge in on the Staten I. CBC, with other smaller flocks and N Y.C. (m.ob.). What wasoriginally suspected of being scatteredsingles noted. Greater Yellowlegswere more a Com. Pochard on a coastal pond in Monmouth Co. numerousthan usual, five overwinteringon the H M N J. has apparentlybeen identified as a probably Red- (RKa et al.) possiblyaccompanied by one Lesser;peep head x Canvasbackhybrid (PW Smith). The Barrow's were scarce,a Western Dec. 7 & 8 and a White-rumped Goldeneye returned to Shark R., N.J. Dec. 28 and Dec. 8 at Old Lyme (BB), a Pectoral Sandpiperon the stayed through Mar. 15 (m.ob.), for the sixth consecu- Lower Hudson CBC Dec. 15 (RR) and 12 Sem•pal- tive winter. Eiders and Harlequin Ducks were almost mateds on the S. Nassau Co. CBC (E. Levine, J unreported the entire winter. All three scoters, on the Zaretsky), being most noteworthy. One Marbled God- other hand, turnedup at a variety of inlandlocations: L. wit stayedat ShinnecockInlet to Dec. 8 (AJL, THD et Champlain, L. Ontario, St. Lawrence R. and lakes in al.); successfuloverwintering is overdue. western Massachusetts. Two Pomarine Jaegers were seen ca. 22 miles e of Similarly respondingto the milder weather, Turkey the mouth of Shark R., Monmouth Co., N.J.