[Maine-birds] Stanton Lewiston / Auburn CBC results

The Stanton Bird Club of Lewiston / Auburn held its 34th Christmas Bird Count on Saturday December 14. While the weather was definitely cold, it was dry and lacked wind. However due to an extended cold snap nearly all water was frozen, the exceptions being the middle of Lake Auburn and portions of the Androscoggin River. As a result the waterfowl were generally missed. So far it is not an irruptive year for winter finches either. Thus the total species count was 47, just under the long term average.

However the hi-lights include finding two species for the first time on the Stanton count. Consistent with the recent outbreak of Snowy Owls, Danny Danforth and Carole Jean's team found a Snowy sitting on a fence post on Littlefield Rd. just off  outer Lisbon St. in Lisbon. The other new find was by Stephen Reed's team of a female Eastern Towhee who apparently has been at a feeder for most of the week on Garfield Rd. near Taylor Pond, Auburn. Occasionally a Towhee will be a bit tardy in leaving and linger into the winter at a feeder.

A new maximum count of Wild Turkeys was 265. Eleven Bald Eagles were counted, including three first year eagles. Eleven Red-tailed Hawks was a higher than usually found. Three Peregrine Falcons, all at the old Continental Mill was one more than the previous high. A Barred Owl was seen and heard by the Junior Naturalists team, the first since 1999. On the other hand, gulls were much lower with Herring Gulls setting a new low count of only 45, while 67 Ring-billed Gulls was also low. Normally each is nearer 200. Tufted Titmice and Dark-eyed Juncos were also much higher than average. Two Field Sparrows were seen for the fourth time on a count.

The full list is:
American Black Duck - 4
Mallard - 479
Common Goldeneye - 34
Hooded Merganser - 11
Common Merganser - 35
Wild Turkey - 265
Common Loon - 3
Bald Eagle - 8 adult + 3 first year
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1
Cooper's Hawk - 1
Red-tailed Hawk - 11
Ring-billed Gull - 67
Herring Gull - 45
Great Black-backed Gull - 3
Rock Pigeon - 825
Mourning Dove - 173
Snowy Owl - 1
Barred Owl - 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker - 1
Downy Woodpecker - 36
Hairy Woodpecker - 10
Pileated Woodpecker - 1
Peregrine Falcon - 3
Blue Jay - 113
American Crow - 765
Black-capped Chickadee - 511
Tufted Titmouse - 60
Red-breasted Nuthatch - 1
White-breasted Nuthatch - 47
Brown Creeper - 4
Carolina Wren - 2
Eastern Bluebird - 6
American Robin - 24
Northern Mockingbird - 4
European Starling - 875
Cedar Waxwing - 4
Snow Bunting - 67
Eastern Towhee - 1
American Tree Sparrow - 110
Field Sparrow - 2
Song Sparrow - 2
White-throated Sparrow - 9
Dark-eyed Junco - 205
Northern Cardinal - 41
House Finch - 33
American Goldfinch - 81
House Sparrow - 79

47 species and 5067 individual birds.

--   Stan DeOrsey  jsmd@att.net