This was the 38th consecutive Kodiak Christmas Bird Count. Sixty four people participated this year. We tallied 80 species and 11,805 individual birds on count day, and an additional 6 species in Count Week (the period three days before, and three days after Count Day). Count Week birds were Eurasian Wigeon, Sharp-shinned Hawk, Sanderling, American Three-toed Woodpecker, Brown Creeper, and White-throated Sparrow. The Count Day total was very good in spite of a dearth of birds at feeders. Our best ever Count Day total, 86, is the high count for the State. The post-count compiling party, held at Claudia and Stosh Anderson's house, was fabulous. Lots of people and lots of great food. A good time was had by all. Thank you Claudia and Stosh.
Fourteen upland field parties included three Ptarmigan SWAT teams, a Great Blue Heron SWAT team and, for the first time, a Frugivore SWAT (FSWAT) team. As usual, we had two boats participating. This year, as last, they were the Ursa Major II and the Mythos.
Bird feeder Counts were made from Monashka to Bells Flats at 15 feeders. The number and diversity of birds at feeders this year was extremely low, following a pattern established early in the fall. Only 11 species were found at feeders this year, compared to about 21 last year. The two most abundant species at feeders were Black-billed Magpie (46) and Pine Grosbeak (46). Sparrows were extremely scarce all around. No crossbills, no redpolls, and only one Pine Siskin were reported from a feeder. One species (Golden-crowned Sparrow) was found only at a feeder on Count Day, compared with four species unique to feeders last year. Across the board, the feeder statistics are dismal. Even the rare White-throated Sparrow, that has been attending the Heitman feeder since November, failed to show on Count Day, although it did make an appearance in Count Week.
There were all-time high counts of five species this year: Tundra Swan (1), Golden Eagle (4), Black-billed Magpie (425), American Dipper (30), and Lapland Longspur (1). All three eiders were seen in very low numbers: Steller's Eider (310), King Eider (1), and Common Eider (18). This is the smallest number of Steller's Eiders seen on the count since the first count in 1973-1974. Two regularly occurring sparrows went entirely missing (all winter): American Tree Sparrow and Lincoln's Sparrow.
Two species, Tundra Swan and Lapland Longspur, were new to Count Day, although Tundra Swan had been seen once previously in Count Week. The Sanderling seen in Count Week was new to the count. Other species seen this year that have been seen fewer than ten times on Count Day, with the number of times seen, are: Northern Shoveler (6), Northern Harrier (3), Rough-legged Hawk (2), Gyrfalcon (4), and Thayer's Gull (8). Count Week species seen this year that have been seen fewer than ten times in Count Week (all seven days) are: American Three-toed Woodpecker (8), White-throated Sparrow (3; all at Heitman feeder!).
What are the commonest wintering birds in the Kodiak area? These 29 species have been seen on all 38 consecutive Kodiak CBC's: Mallard, Greater Scaup, Steller's Eider, Harlequin Duck, Surf Scoter, White-winged Scoter, Black Scoter, Long-tailed Duck, Bufflehead, Common Goldeneye, Red-breasted Merganser, Horned Grebe, Double-crested Cormorant, Pelagic Cormorant, Bald Eagle, Mew Gull, Glaucous-winged Gull, Common Murre, Pigeon Guillemot, Black-billed Magpie, Northwestern Crow, Common Raven, Black-capped Chickadee, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Winter Wren, American Dipper, Golden-crowned Kinglet, Varied Thrush, Song Sparrow.
For the third time in many years, Kodiak did not have the highest Count Day species total in the state. For the third straight year, the title goes to Ketchikan, which this year mustered 82 count day species. Although Juneau had a relatively modest seventy species on Count Day, they found a phenomenal 17 Count Day/Week species for a combined total of 87 species.
We are very fortunate to have large vessels covering the marine waters in the count circle. This year's vessels were the Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge's Ursa Major II, skippered by Jeff Lewis, and Dave Kubiak's F/V Mythos. We appreciate the major effort they make to support the count.
These results will be posted on KodiakBirding, the Yahoo Group for Kodiak birders. You can find all CBC results, as they are posted, at: http://www.audubon.org/bird/cbc/
Cheers, Rich MacIntosh, compiler
PARTICIPANTS: Claudia Anderson, Wendy Beck, Celeste Beck-Goodell, Shirley Berns, Rae Jean Blaschka, Stephen Bodnar, Cindy Bower, Kathy Cole, Chris Cooney, Diane Cooney, Robin Corcoran, Pete Cummiskey, Josh Fitzgerald, Sam Friedman, Harvey Goodell, Carolyn Heitman, Pat Heitman, Doug Hogen, Eva Holm, Iver Holm, Oliver Holm, Donna Hurley, Gunnar Johnson, Jeffrey Johnson, Katya Johnson, Dave Kubiak, Debra Kubiak, Linda Lance, Tom Lance, Jeff Lewis, Mary Lukens, Molly MacIntosh, Rich MacIntosh, Mike Milligan, Karen Millstein, Kevin Murphy, Dale Nelson, Rachael Nelson, Hildur Olsen, Dan Olsen, Deedie Pearson, Doug Pederson, Laurie Pederson, Suzanne Peschier, Jeanne Pontti, Bill Pyle, Cecil Ranney, Jacob Resnick, Dick Ross, Patrick Saltonstall, Dave Schuckman, Art Schultz, Lila Schwantes, Tom Schwantes, Mike Sirofchuck, Stacy Studebaker, Pat Trosvig, Tom Trosvig, Cindy Trussell, Annie VanDyke, Paul VanDyke, Esther Waddell, Elizabeth West, Denny Zwiefelhofer.
BIRDS OF THE 2010 KODIAK CHRISTMAS BIRD COUNT
Emperor Goose 592
Canada Goose 22
Tundra Swan 1
Gadwall 55
Eurasian Wigeon cw
American Wigeon 5
Mallard 588
Northern Shoveler 1
Northern Pintail 2
Green-winged Teal 35
Greater Scaup 761
Lesser Scaup 1
Steller's Eider 310
King Eider 1
Common Eider 18
Harlequin Duck 658
Surf Scoter 229
White-winged Scoter 399
Black Scoter 863
Long-tailed Duck 758
Bufflehead 115
Common Goldeneye 223
Barrow's Goldeneye 49
goldeneye sp. 1
Common Merganser 110
Red-breasted Merganser 103
Rock Ptarmigan 33
Pacific Loon 9
Common Loon 22
Yellow-billed Loon 1
Horned Grebe 72
Red-necked Grebe 46
Double-crested Cormorant 59
Red-faced Cormorant 19
Pelagic Cormorant 388
Great Blue Heron 2
Bald Eagle 694
Sharp-shinned Hawk cw
Northern Harrier 1
Northern Goshawk 6
Rough-legged Hawk 3
Golden Eagle 4
Gyrfalcon 1
Peregrine Falcon 1
Black Oystercatcher 392
Black Turnstone 20
Surfbird 18
Sanderling cw
Rock Sandpiper 194
Dunlin 40
Wilson's Snipe 2
Mew Gull 161
Herring Gull 2
Thayer's Gull 1
Glaucous-winged Gull 504
Glaucous Gull 1
Common Murre 169
Pigeon Guillemot 63
Marbled Murrelet 39
Rock Pigeon 219
Belted Kingfisher 18
Downy Woodpecker 6
American Three-toed Woodpecker cw
Northern Shrike 1
Black-billed Magpie 425
Northwestern Crow 465
Common Raven 568
Black-capped Chickadee 243
Red-breasted Nuthatch 28
Brown Creeper cw
Winter Wren 28
American Dipper 30
Golden-crowned Kinglet 399
American Robin 15
Varied Thrush 36
Bohemian Waxwing 9
Fox Sparrow 4
Song Sparrow 11
White-throated Sparrow cw
Golden-crowned Sparrow 1
Dark-eyed Junco 12
Lapland Longspur 1
Snow Bunting 40
Pine Grosbeak 115
Red Crossbill 19
Common Redpoll 105
Pine Siskin 119
siskin/redpoll 30
cw = seen count week only
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