Hoover Reservoir CBC Teams Brave the Storm to Find Birds
December 15, 2007 marked the 52nd Anniversary of the Hoover Reservoir Christmas Bird Count. Highlights of the count included setting 3 new record highs for individual species, Ruddy Duck (24), Horned Lark (181), and Lapland Longspur (101), and tying the high for 2 species, Pileated Woodpecker (8) and House Wren (1). We also recorded the first Cackling Goose since 1956 (when they were still Richardson’s Goose) and the first Snow Buntings since 1981. Our final count was 75 species.
Most teams in the field had their best observations before the snow got serious between 11:30 AM and 12:30 PM depending where they were within the circle. Several teams pushed on through the snow which resulted in locating Horned Larks, Lapland Longspurs, and Snow Buntings coming out onto the roads in good numbers.
Again this year Highbanks Metro Park (Suzan Jervey, Lead Naturalist) and Sharon Woods Metro Park (Allison Shaw, Lead Naturalist) coordinated a park program with the Christmas Bird Count for the Hoover Reservoir Circle. This year, all teams except for those covering Hoover Reservoir itself started directly at their respective areas. This seemed to work well and in 2008 we will continue this to save everyone from extra driving.
Statistics
Count Date and time: December 15, 7:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Weather: Temp. 29 F to 33 F. Wind NE, 6-14 mph. Snow depth 0-4 inches. Still water partially frozen. Moving water open. Cloudy in AM, snow during PM.
Count center: 40′ 12 N, 82′ 5 W, as described 1975, center I-71, 7.5 mi. n. Rt. 161.
Observers: 48 in the field in 14-17 parties (non-owling) and 2 Feeder Watch. Total party-hours 85.75; total party-miles 251.25; 68.0 hours and 87.5 miles on foot; 17.75 hours and 163.75 miles by car.
Species List
1 Common Loon
10 Horned Grebe
18 Great Blue Heron
1,722 Canada Goose
1 Cackling Goose
2 Mute Swan
1 Wood Duck
14 Gadwall
88 American Black Duck
617 Mallard
4 Northern Shoveler
9 Northern Pintail
5 Green-winged Teal
11 Ring-necked Duck
1 Lesser Scaup
28 Bufflehead
2 Common Goldeneye
189 Hooded Merganser
7 Common Merganser
10 Red-breasted Merganser
24 Ruddy Duck
6 Bald Eagle
1 Northern Harrier
2 Sharp-shinned Hawk
8 Cooper’s Hawk
21 Red-tailed Hawk
8 American Kestrel
18 Wild Turkey
1 American Coot
1 Killdeer
25 Bonaparte’s Gull
507 Ring-billed Gull
78 Rock Pigeon
231 Mourning Dove
3 Great Horned Owl
4 Barred Owl
7 Belted Kingfisher
3 Red-headed Woodpecker
46 Red-bellied Woodpecker
70 Downy Woodpecker
16 Hairy Woodpecker
43 Northern Flicker
8 Pileated Woodpecker
150 Blue Jay
206 American Crow
181 Horned Lark
222 Carolina Chickadee
2 Black-capped Chickadee
117 Tufted Titmouse
9 Red-breasted Nuthatch
51 White-breasted Nuthatch
1 Brown Creeper
21 Carolina Wren
1 House Wren
47 Eastern Bluebird
150 American Robin
2 Northern Mockingbird
600 European Starling
233 Cedar Waxwing
9 Yellow-rumped Warbler
97 American Tree Sparrow
3 Field Sparrow
57 Song Sparrow
2 Swamp Sparrow
133 White-throated Sparrow
7 White-crowned Sparrow
162 Dark-eyed Junco
101 Lapland Longspur
34 Snow Bunting
268 Northern Cardinal
1 Red-winged Blackbird
2 Purple Finch
272 House Finch
259 American Goldfinch
112 House Sparrow
Count Week Birds: Pied-billed Grebe, Black Vulture, Red-shouldered Hawk, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Golden-crowned Kinglet, and Fox Sparrow.
Totals: 75 Species; 7,383 Individuals.
Compiler: Charles Bombaci, 6715 Henschen Circle, Westerville, Ohio 43082