Bald Eagles are regular visitors throughout the year. However, we seem to see more in the Winter months. This immature circled over the main lakes. (Wolf. Oesterreich, 1/10/17)
A total of 48 avian species was recorded this month, ranking this month as the highest January among 20 years of records. This total is 19 species less than last month and 8 more than January 2016.
Based on citations in the 3rd Edition of “The Birds of Story County, Iowa,” by
Stephen J. Dinsmore and Hank Zaletel (2001), plus my personal updates to the
records, the American Coot on the 22nd may set a new extreme late
Fall record (former record set on 16 Jan 2007 at AHHP). The records for the
American Black Duck and Common Merganser may be the 5th and (approximately)
12th Winter records, respectively, for Story County. The Eurasian Tree Sparrow sightings are the first
January records for the County. In this
publication, there are no “Winter” categories for many of the waterfowl, so it
is hard to determine if these sightings represent extreme late “Fall” or
extreme early “Spring” records. Perhaps
this should be changed in the next edition.
The availability of open water and food could be a local result of
climate change. In the table below, I
have listed the 10 waterfowl species and their late and early dates for which I
have January sightings. [Hallett’s
Quarry = what Ada Hayden was before its creation]
SPECIES Extreme Late Fall Extreme Early Spring
Wood Duck 18 Dec 1999 (on Ames CBC) 16-17 Feb 2013 (at AHHP)
18 Dec 2012 (at AHHP)
Gadwall 31
Dec 2006 (at AHHP) 1 Feb 2012 (at
AHHP)
American Wigeon 30 Dec
1988 (at Hickory Grove P.) 19
Feb 1983 (in Story County)
[I also have
records from 2-30 Jan 2012 at AHHP]
Green-winged Teal 4 Dec 2006
(at AHHP) 2 Feb 2006 (at AHHP)
Redhead 6
Jan 2005 (at AHHP) 16 Feb 2005 (at AHHP)
Greater Scaup 6-8
Jan 2003 (at Hallett’s Quarry) 7-9 Mar 2013 (at AHHP)
Lesser Scaup 12 Jan
2002 (at Hallett’s Quarry) 17 Feb 2013 (at AHHP)
[I also have records from 20 Jan 2002 at Hallett’s
Quarry & 26 Jan 2012 at AHHP]
Bufflehead 2 Jan 2012
(at AHHP) 1 Mar 1981 (at Hickory Grove Park)
Common Goldeneye 28 Dec
1998 (at Hallett’s Quarry) 4-5 Feb 2013 (at AHHP)
Hooded Merganser 30 Dec
2015 (at AHHP) 18 Feb 2013 (at AHHP)
Listed below, following the species’ names, are the date(s) of
sighting(s), plus the occasional miscellaneous information regarding numbers,
gender (♂=male, ♀=female), age (im=immature, ju=juvenile, abp=adult breeding
plumage, ad=adult, anb=adult non-breeding), color phase (b=blue, w=white), and
location (BY=back yard, FY=front yard).
The order follows the 57th Supplement (2016) to the American
Ornithologists’ Union Check-list of North
American Birds and the 16th Supplement to the 7th
Edition (1998).
AVIAN
GREATER
WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE: 4 (1), 6 (1), 13 (1)
ROSS’S
GOOSE: 6-9 (1 w im), 12-13 (1 w im), 17-18 (1 w im), 21 (1 w im)
CACKLING
GOOSE: 1-2, 3 (1), 4-13, 16-18, 19-20 (1), 21 (9+), 22 (10+), 23 (16+),
24 (2),
25 (10+), 26-31
CANADA
GOOSE: 1-13, 16-31
TRUMPETER
SWAN: 1 (48), 2 (50), 4 (48), 5 (5), 6 (53), 7-8 (57), 9 (50+), 10 (64), 11
(2),
12-13 (75), 16,
17 (56), 18 (5), 19 (27), 20 (28), 21 (67), 22 (3 ju), 23 (9), 25 (67), 26
(55),
27
(79), 28 (81), 29 (84, my new high total for the Park)
WOOD
DUCK: 4 (1♂ + 1♀), 6 (2♂ + 1♀), 7 (1♂ + 1♀), 8 (2♂ + 1♀), 13 (2♂ + 1♀), 21 (1♂)
GADWALL:
7 (4), 18 (1♂)
AMERICAN
WIGEON: 4 (2♀), 5 (1♀), 28 (1♀)
AMERICAN
BLACK DUCK: 4 (1♂)
American
Black Duck X Mallard: 25-26 (1♀)
MALLARD:
1-13, 16-31
GREEN-WINGED
TEAL: 22 (1♂), 26-27 (1♂)
REDHEAD:
1-13 (1♀), 17-21 (1♀), 22 (8♂ + 3♀), 23-25 (1♂ + 1♀), 26-31 (1♀)
GREATER
SCAUP: 1-13 (1♂), 17-31 (1♂)
LESSER
SCAUP: 7-13 (1♂), 17-21 (1♂), 22-26 (2♂ + 3♀), 27 (1♂ + 3♀), 28 (2♂ + 2♀),
BUFFLEHEAD:
1-13 (1♂), 17-31 (1♂)
COMMON
GOLDENEYE: 17-18 (1♀)
HOODED
MERGANSER: 12 (1♀), 19 (1♀)
COMMON
MERGANSER: 12 (1♂)
RING-NECKED
PHEASANT: 7 (1), 10, 17 (4), 23, 28, 31
MOURNING
DOVE: 5 (3 BY + 2), 6 (1), 7 (4 BY), 11 (1 BY), 16 (1 BY), 18 (1 BY),
26 (2
BY), 28-29
(1 BY)
AMERICAN
COOT: 1-13 (1), 17-22 (1)
BALD
EAGLE: 2 (2 ad), 3 (6 ad + 2 im), 4 (1 ad + 1 im), 5 (1 ad), 6-7 (1 ad + 1 im),
8 (1 ad), 9 (1 im), 10-11
(1 ad + 1 im), 12 (1 im), 21 (1 ad + 1 im), 24 (1 ad + 1 im),
29
(1 ad + 2 im), 30 (1 ad + 1 im), 31 (1 ad)
COOPER’S
HAWK: 2 (1 im BY), 8 (1 ad BY), 12 (1 ad), 13 (1 ad BY), 30 (1)
RED-TAILED
HAWK: 1 (1), 4 (1), 5 (4), 6 (2), 7 (2 + 1 dark ju), 8 (1), 9 (2), 10-13 (1),
17 (2),
19 (1), 23-24
(2), 26 (2), 27-28 (1), 30-31 (1)
BELTED
KINGFISHER: 6 (1), 21 (1)
RED-BELLIED
WOODPECKER: 1, 3, 7 (1 BY), 8 (1), 13 (1 BY), 18 (1 BY), 21, 24, 29
DOWNY
WOODPECKER: 1-4, 6-11, 13, 17, 19, 21-22, 25-26, 28-30
HAIRY
WOODPECKER: 1, 7 (1 BY), 28-29 (1)
NORTHERN
FLICKER (Yellow-shafted): 7 (2)
AMERICAN
KESTREL: 4 (1♂), 10 (1♂), 23 (1♂), 28 (1♂)
BLUE
JAY: 1-3, 7-8, 13, 24, 28-29
AMERICAN
CROW: 1-5, 7-11, 13, 16-17, 19-21, 24-31
BLACK-CAPPED
CHICKADEE: 1-13, 16-31
WHITE-BREASTED
NUTHATCH: 1, 4, 18-19, 21, 29
EASTERN
BLUEBIRD: 2 (2♂), 3 (1♀), 17 (4)
AMERICAN
ROBIN: 1 (1), 24 (1), 28 (9+), 29 (20+), 31 (25+)
EUROPEAN
STARLING: 5, 7, 16, 28-30
CEDAR
WAXWING: 28 (10 BY), 29 (46+)
HOUSE
SPARROW: 1-13, 16-31
EURASIAN
TREE SPARROW: 27-29 (1♂ BY)
HOUSE
FINCH: 1-13, 16-19, 21, 23-31
AMERICAN
GOLDFINCH: 2 (1), 7 (7), 8 (1 BY), 17 (1), 24 (3), 28
AMERICAN
TREE SPARROW: 1-11, 13, 18 (2), 19 (15+), 20-21, 23-24, 26-30
SONG
SPARROW: 2 (1), 26 (1)
SWAMP
SPARROW: 1 (1)
WHITE-THROATED
SPARROW: 8 (1 BY), 11 (1 BY), 26 (1 BY), 28 (1 BY)
DARK-EYED
JUNCO (Slate-colored): 1-13, 16-31
NORTHERN
CARDINAL: 1-9, 11, 13, 16-31
Unless indicated otherwise, the
White-tailed Deer were antlerless.
MAMMALIAN
RED
FOX: 2 (1)
WHITE-TAILED
DEER: 1 (4), 2 (8 + 2♂), 4 (8), 6 (17 + 4♂), 7 (5), 8 (5 + 5♂), 9 (9),
10 (19 +
2♂), 12
(4♂), 17 (13), 18 (3 + 3♂), 19 (9 + 3♂), 20 (6), 23 (6 + 2♂),
24 (2 + 2♂), 25
(4), 26 (2 BY), 28 (2)
FOX
SQUIRREL: 1-11, 13, 16-18, 20-25, 28-30
MEADOW
VOLE: 4 (1)
MUSKRAT:
26 (1)
EASTERN
COTTONTAIL: 1-2, 4, 7-8, 16-17, 19-20, 26-29
No comments:
Post a Comment