[Maine-birds] Stanton Lewiston / Auburn CBC

The Stanton Bird Club held its 35th Christmas Bird Count on Saturday December 20. The weather was bright and sunny, near freezing but not windy, definitely nice weatherwise. Much water was frozen, the exception being Lake Auburn, while the Androscoggin River was running very fast. Most waterfowl had moved on, although many Mallards remain but well below average. It is not an irruptive year for winter finches either. The total species count was 44, under the average since 2000 of 48.

There were no first time species added to the list however a Rough-legged Hawk found by Linda Seaman's group is only the second record. It was well photographed by Nancy Muir. Four Cooper's Hawks were found edging out the old maximum count by one. But the Peregrine Falcon was not found. Tufted Titmice set a new maximum with 66 while Blue Jays were also high. Purple Finches were high, with 25 found in one tree by Bob Kleckner's group. On the other hand, gulls were much lower with Herring Gulls setting a new low count for two years in a row with only 36, while 36 Ring-billed Gulls was also very low. No Great Black-backed Gulls were sighted. The closing of Delecto's feed lot certainly contributed to this. Still Tom Hayward's team found one Iceland Gull at the Lewiston "Dump."

Special sightings include five Eastern Bluebirds by Stan DeOrsey's team, the fourth year in a row Bluebirds have been found. A Hermit Thrush was found by Bob Kleckner team. Four Pine Siskins by Tom Hayward's team was the only "winter finch."

A Snowy Owl was reported third-hand as stopping traffic on Minot Ave. on Thursday which is in Count Week. Apparently photos were taken. Does anyone know about this or was anyting in the news about it?

The full list is:

Mallard - 176
Green-winged Teal - 1
Lesser Scaup - 28
Common Goldeneye - 57
Hooded Merganser - 6
Common Merganser - 5
Wild Turkey - 149
Common Loon - 4
Bald Eagle - 10 adult +2 first year
Cooper's Hawk - 4
Red-tailed Hawk - 9
Rough-legged Hawk - 1, photos
Ring-billed Gull - 36
Herring Gull - 36
Iceland Gull - 1
Rock Pigeon - 598
Mourning Dove - 222
Red-bellied Woodpecker - 1
Downy Woodpecker - 28
Hairy Woodpecker - 15
Pileated Woodpecker - 1
Blue Jay - 201
American Crow - 742
Common Raven - 1
Black-capped Chickadee - 402
Tufted Titmouse - 66
Red-breasted Nuthatch - 9
White-breasted Nuthatch - 42
Brown Creeper - 1
Carolina Wren - 1 count week
Eastern Bluebird - 5
Hermit Thrush - 1
American Robin - 56
Northern Mockingbird - 3
European Starling - 559
American Tree Sparrow - 42
Song Sparrow - 2
White-throated Sparrow - 18
Dark-eyed Junco - 34
Northern Cardinal - 42
House Finch - 35
Purple Finch - 25
Pine Siskin - 4
American Goldfinch - 85
House Sparrow - 80

44 species and 3845 individual birds.

--   Stan DeOrsey  jsmd@att.net