Allen Bird Club May Count

There were 14 teams and 29 observers out in Hampden County territories for the count held on May 17-18.  Together they recorded 138 species, which was just above average over the last ten years.

As is typical, most of the common species were near their recent or long-term average, but some were noticeably high or low.  There were especially high counts of Red-tailed Hawk, Least Sandpiper, Bank Swallows (also high last year), Black-and-white Warblers, Tennessee (high count since 1991) and Nashville Warblers, Redstarts, Magnolia, Yellow-rumped, Canada, and Wilson’s Warblers. To everyone’s surprise and delight, there were also high numbers of Raven (highest ever on count), Cape May (highest count since 1978), and Bay-breasted Warblers (highest since 1983), first count of Pectoral Sandpiper since 2013 and first count of Mourning Warbler since 2010.  

Species found in notably low numbers were many of our more common species, Ring-billed Gull, Rock Pigeon, Mourning Dove, Crow, Robin, Grackle, Cowbirds (yay!) and House Sparrows (yay!) and a few less common species, Chimney Swift, Rough-winged Swallow, White and Red-breasted Nuthatches, Brown Creeper, and Brown Thrasher.  Misses this year include Common Merganser, Cooper’s and Sharp-shinned Hawks, Junco, Black Duck, Bittern, Olive-sided and Yellow-bellied Flycatchers.  Never any guarantees on those species.

Click below to view or download complete count results.

2019 May Count Results