CBC: Raritan Estuary

This morning and afternoon I participated in my third Christmas Bird Count of 2005 - the Raritan Estuary Bird Count in central New Jersey. For this count I was birding with my mother and sister; we covered areas along the Raritan River near where I grew up. We were a little sparse on the ground, especially compared to the Washington, DC, bird count. Plus we were working against the threat of bad weather in the afternoon. But we managed to complete our four-mile sector before the rains fell.

There were fewer species in our sector this year than last year, but more individuals. Unfortunately we missed winter wren and both kinglets; chickadees also were hardly to be found. Some highlights included great cormorants (uncommon inland), peregrine falcon, common goldeneye, yellow-bellied sapsucker, and brown creeper.

Species	Number
Great Cormorant	5
Double-crested Cormorant	5
Great Blue Heron	1
Turkey Vulture	5
Canada Goose	1518
American Black Duck	1
Mallard	289
Common Goldeneye	3
Common Merganser	23
Cooper's Hawk	1
Red-tailed Hawk	2
Peregrine Falcon	1
Killdeer	2
Ring-billed Gull	121
Herring Gull	165
Great Black-backed Gull	37
Gull sp.	380
Rock Pigeon	24
Mourning Dove	119
Belted Kingfisher	4
Red-bellied Woodpecker	17
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker	1
Downy Woodpecker	11
Northern Flicker	9
Blue Jay	107
American Crow	51
Black-capped Chickadee	1
Tufted Titmouse	22
White-breasted Nuthatch	5
Brown Creeper	2
Carolina Wren	4
American Robin	356
Northern Mockingbird	3
European Starling	405
Song Sparrow	27
White-throated Sparrow	76
Dark-eyed Junco	122
Northern Cardinal	30
Red-winged Blackbird	1
House Finch	29
American Goldfinch	24
House Sparrow	90
Number of Species	41
Number of Individuals	4100

And Happy New Year to all!