Date: Fri, 20 Dec 2002 14:47:40 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Kurt Gaskill Subject: Preliminary Results Potomac Basin Waterfowl Count, Dec. 7, 2002 Comments: To: va-bird@freelists.org MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Preliminary Results Potomac Basin Waterfowl Count, Dec. 7, 2002 Fairfax Audubon Society sponsored a waterfowl count extending over the Potomac River basin area in the larger metropolitan DC area Dec. 7, 2002. The count totally encompassed the District of Columbia, Arlington and Fairfax Counties and included cities and covered large percentages of Loudoun and Prince William Counties. Portions of Montgomery, Prince Georges, Charles and Fauquier counties were also included. 25 teams and over 75 people covered these areas. There was a significant freeze and snowfall before the count and nearly all ponds and marshes were frozen on count day – essentially, only large bodies of water and rivers and streams were unfrozen. Some areas early in the morning of count day were affected by thick fog. Most populous species was Canada Goose, with over 29,000 tallied. The next most populous species was, technically, Mallard with over 5,600 noted. But, Lesser Scaup probably outnumbered Mallards as over 5,100 Lessers were counted along with 2,500+ scaup sp. where most of the latter are likely Lesser. Both Snow Goose (DC) and Brant (Fairfax Co. piedmont) were tallied on the count, both of which are decidedly rare at the beginning of December in the count area. Most significant miss was Common Loon, whose regional numbers may have been greatly affected by the freeze/snowfall a few days before the count. No scoters or Long-tailed Ducks were noted. With regard to other species, 7 of the Great Egrets were at T. Roosevelt Island; the others were at Hunting Cr. Bay. Other interesting species noted were Merlin, Peregrine Falcon, Greater Yellowlegs, and Dunlin. The following are preliminary totals for the count, also broken down by state. A full summary and report will be available in the early spring. Kurt Gaskill Species Total VA MD Pied-billed Grebe 101 36 65 Horned Grebe 10 5 5 DC Cormorant 128 47 81 Great Egret 9 2 7 Snow Goose 1 0 1 Canada Goose 29112 19711 9401 Brant 1 1 0 Mute Swan 5 5 0 Tundra Swan 1130 213 917 Wood Duck 24 20 4 Gadwall 586 25 561 Am. Wigeon 49 8 41 Am. Black Duck 2297 1164 1133 Mallard 5610 3169 2441 Am. Bl. Duck/Mall hyb. 3 2 1 No. Shoveler 175 23 152 No. Pintail 523 23 500 Green-winged Teal 282 133 149 Canvasback 77 8 69 Redhead 9 0 9 Ring-necked Duck 1701 177 1524 Greater Scaup 12 0 12 Lesser Scaup 5113 1416 3697 scaup. sp. 2512 1 2511 Bufflehead 388 80 308 Com. Goldeneye 4 1 3 Hooded Merganser 710 410 300 Common Merganser 711 289 422 Ruddy Duck 722 147 575 ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================