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BIRD FEEDER CLEANING 2010 RAISES ADDITIONAL FUNDS FOR CHAPTER On Saturday June 5, Bergen County Audubon again participated in the annual bird feeder cleaning fundraiser at the Wild Birds Unlimited store on Rt. 17 South in Paramus. A record number of volunteers turned out (22) and had a busy working day, during which we cleaned about 200 feeders for a total of almost $700.00 raised. We are grateful to those who came out and brought their feeders in and for their generous donations. We also extend our thanks to Scott Gunther at the Wild Birds Unlimited store for sponsoring the event. And let us not forget Beth Goldberg - preparation responsibilities that made everything flow smoothly. The twentytwo feeder cleaning volunteers Jean Burton
Time out for a photo.
Volunteers - Demonstrating their prowess at cleaning the many feeders.
The feeders just keep coming.
Spring Migrants Add Up! The 18th Annual BCAS Spring Bird Count was a spectacular success, despite a fairly challenging day that left many of us wondering where all the migrants had gone. Saturday May 15th featured very nice weather, but in many parts of Bergen County the birding seemed rather slow. Altogether our efforts led to identifying 135 species, but the numbers per species were often quite low. The reason we were successful as a whole was the great range of habitats and places that our different teams explored – most groups saw about 50-70 species. As you will notice from the list here, we collectively scored very strongly on meadowlands birds (shorebirds, ducks and herons), where we had three different groups deployed. We also had a very nice list of warblers and flycatchers, although many were only seen in low numbers. Indeed the best passerine birds were mostly found at Garret Mountain and in the Teaneck/Overpeck Park area. There were very few hawks seen anywhere in the county, but we did amazingly well on Osprey. The spring migration itself had seemed rather disorderly all through May, as the foliage emerged almost 3 weeks early, but bird arrivals were scrambled (not early) and more difficult to detect for the many leaves that hid them. May 15 seemed to correspond to the high point in thrush migrations, and Swainson’s Thrush were particularly abundant, especially at Garret. Cliff Swallows were also uncommonly high in number at Oradell Reservoir, and later in May this species was found nesting beneath the Visitor’s Center at DeKorte Park. Collectively, this marks one of the highest species totals that we have achieved in the past 18 years. We are indebted to the many leaders and volunteers who devoted so many hours to our event. Every group turned up something interesting, and we also had a strong list from a backyard count in Hackensack, including a Common Nighthawk! Most of us had a lot of fun on the day. The sun was out, the breezes were strong but not too strong, and we really did hit the peak of this year’s bird migration after all. Finally, I want to thank all of you who donated money to BCAS based upon our Spring Count. You provided extra motivation for us to do our very best. DAVE HALL Dbl-crst. Cormorant 97 Great Blue Heron 6 Great Egret 15 Snowy Egret 8 Green-backed Heron 2 Bl-crn. Night Heron 1 Mute Swan 32 Canada Goose 324 Wood Duck 13 Mallard 181 Northern Shoveler 5 Gadwall 25 Bufflehead 1 Hooded Merg. 7 Ruddy Duck 9 Turkey Vulture 19 Black Vulture 1 Osprey 4 H Bald Eagle 2 Northern Harrier 1 Broad-wing. Hawk 1 Red-tailed Hawk 18 Ring-nkd. Pheasant 5 Wild Turkey 15 Semipalm Plover 1 Killdeer 39 Willet 1 !! Gr. Yellowlegs 20 Ls. Yellowlegs 11 Solitary Sandpiper 12 Pectoral Sandpiper 1 !! Spotted Sandpiper 8 Semipalm. Sandpiper 31 Least Sandpiper 97 Western Sandpiper 1 !! Dunlin 1 ! Ring-billed Gull 37 Herring Gull 14 Gr. Bl-bkd. Gull 7 Forster’s Tern 6 H Rock Dove 67 Mourning Dove 73 Yellow-b. Cuckoo 3 Great-horned Owl 1 Com. Nighthawk 3 Chimney Swift 62 Ruby-thr. Hum’gbird 1 Belted Kingfisher 2 Red-bellied Wdpckr 26 Downy Woodpecker 18 Hairy Woodpecker 5 Northern Flicker 25 Pileated Woodpecker 2 Eastern Phoebe 6 Gr. Crst. Flycatcher 11 Eastern WoodPeewee 15 Olive-sided Flycatcher 2 ! Willow Flycatcher 6 Least Flycatcher 3 Eastern Kingbird 10 Tree Swallow 223 N. Rgh-w. Swallow 15 Cliff Swallow 15 H Bank Swallow 13 Barn Swallow 136 Blue Jay 41 Common Raven 6 H American Crow 27 Fish Crow 3 Bl-cpd. Chickadee 11 Tufted Titmouse 28 White-br. Nuthatch 9 Carolina Wren 9 House Wren 12 Ruby-crnd. Kinglet 3 Blue-gr. Gnatcatcher 17 Veery 20 Hermit Thrush 1 Swainson’s Thrush 50 H Gray-cheeked Thrush 2 ! Wood Thrush 8 American Robin 277 Gray Catbird 102 N. Mockingbird 26 Brown Thrasher 6 Cedar Waxwing 49 European Starling 127 White-eyed Vireo 1 ! Red-eyed Vireo 56 Solitary Vireo 4 Yellow-thr. Vireo 1 ! Warbling Vireo 38 Blue-wngd. Warbler 4 Pine Warbler 5 N. Parula Warbler 23 Yellow Warbler 92 Chestnut-sid. Warbler 7 Magnolia Warbler 23 Cape May Warbler 1 ! Blk-thr. Blue Warbler 15 Nashville Warbler 1 Yellow-rmp. Warbler 13 L Blk-thr Green Wrbler 5 L Blackburnian Warbler 4 Bay-br. Warbler 9 Blackpoll Warbler 29 Blk&White Warbler 14 Amer. Redstart 29 Worm-eat. Warbler 3 Ovenbird 37 N. Waterthrush 4 L. Waterthrush 2 Com. Yellowthroat 38 Hooded Warbler 1 ! Canada Warbler 8 Scarlet Tanager 20 Northern Cardinal 59 Rose-br. Grosbeak 10 Indigo Bunting 6 Ruf-sided Towhee 3 Chipping Sparrow 12 Savannah Sparrow 3 Song Sparrow 70 Lincoln’s Sparrow 5 H Swamp Sparrow 6 White-thr. Sparrow 11 Red-wngd. Blackbird 171 Common Grackle 158 Brn-hd. Cowwbird 42 Orchard Oriole 9 Northen Oriole 79 House Finch 6 American Goldfinch 70 House Sparrow 74 Monk Parakeet 2 135 species including one exotic H indicates High Count, L indicates Low Contact
NJ Audubon for more info. on survey outlined below.
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