|
ABSTRACT
The Federation of New York
State Bird Clubs' annual midwinter waterfowl count (FWC) was
held 15-23 Jan 2000 with the target date being 16 Jan. The entire
state was covered by approximately 280 observers, with all Regions
completing their counts in the allotted time.
|
 
Canvasbacks
|
| Of the 44 species
counted, 23 exceeded 1,000 individuals, and nine of these exceeded
10,000 each. Those top nine species, in order of abundance, were:
Canada Goose, Mallard, Greater Scaup, American Black Duck, Common
Goldeneye, Redhead, Canvasback, Brant and Common Merganser. Of
these nine, three species showed >10% decreases and two showed
>10% increases since 1999. The grand total of 382,516 individuals
was up 3.0 percent from 1999, and 45.1 percent above the 27-year
(1973-1999) average of 263,480 |
THE WEATHER
January 2000 began with two weeks of
above normal temperatures across the state, with high temperatures in
the 40s and 50s through 12 Jan. Cold weather hit with a vengeance on the
13th, with temperatures during the count period generally below
freezing, including several days with highs in the single digits. The
one mild day was the target date of 16 Jan with highs in the 30s and 40s.
As a result of this weather pattern, many small inland waters were frozen,
whereas larger lakes and coastal bays remained open to waterfowl use.
Snowfall during January was meager except
in the usual snow belt areas downwind of Lakes Erie and Ontario through
the middle of the count period, when considerable amounts fell in most
areas around 20 Jan.
THE COUNT
The grand total of 382,516 (Table
1) was up 3.0 percent from 1999, and 45.1 percent above the 27-year
(1973-1999) average of 263,480. Counts of all species listed in Table
2 showed losses versus gains over 1999 to be 16 to 5.
Comparing 2000 to 1999 FWC figures (Table
2), the top ten species showed a 7 to 3 split in favor of decreases.
Canada Goose (+51%) and Common Merganser (+26%) showed large increases,
while Brant (-60%), scaup (both species; -36%), Long-tailed Duck (- 44%),
and Ruddy Duck (-42%) showed large declines.
When comparing 2000 FWC figures with
the 27-year (1973-1999) average (Table 3), there
is a 9 to 4 split in favor of decreases. The overall total in Table 3
shows a large percentage increase over the long-term average with Canada
Goose contributing hugely to this. It is encouraging that Common Merganser
numbers have shown an increase over 1999, while it was not encouraging
that scaup numbers decreased.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service midwinter
waterfowl inventory report (Serie and Raftovich 2000) showed total waterfowl
numbers in the Atlantic Flyway (Maine to Florida) down 11.9% from 1999,
but 5.9% above the 10-year (1990-1999) average. Flyway counts indicated
substantial declines from 1999 for many species, including Canada Goose
(-16%), Mute Swan (-17%) Am. Black Duck (-18%), Mallard (-17%), Canvasback
(-15%), scoters (- 23%), Long-tailed Duck (-60%), Common Goldeneye (-26%),
mergansers (-27%) and Ruddy Duck (-17%), whereas Snow Goose (+24%) ,Redhead
(+17%), Ring-necked Duck (+53%), and Bufflehead (+19%) increased substantially.
However, most of these species were within ±15% of their 10-year averages,
except Snow Goose (+70%). Canada Goose (+20%) scaup (-28%), scoters (-64%),
Bufflehead (+33%), and Ruddy Duck (+70%). Concern about declines in scaup
and sea duck populations have resulted in more restrictive bag limits
for hunters in recent years.
FUTURE OF THE
WINTER FWC COUNT
The FWC will be more important than ever
in the coming years. The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
(NYSDEC) plans to terminate their aerial survey of waterfowl wintering
in New York State, after comparing results of the two surveys and concluding
that the FWC provided comparable (and for some species, better) data for
monitoring long-term population trends (Swift and Hess 1999).
NYSDEC will rely on the Federation count
as its standard survey, and they have already become actively involved
in compiling and reporting the annual data. It is essential now that member
clubs and individuals maintain complete and consistent coverage of areas
that they have surveyed in the past to ensure that results are comparable
from year-to-year and over the long- term.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We wish to thank all of the approximately
280 observers who participated this year. A special thanks to the Regional
Compilers who coordinated all those volunteers. Regional Compilers were:
| Region |
Compiler |
Region |
Compiler |
| 1 |
William
Burch |
6 |
Lee
Chamberlaine |
| 2 |
Gregory
Hartenstein |
7 |
John
Peterson |
| 3 |
Eric
Donohue |
8 |
Bryan
Swift |
| 4 |
Leslie
Bemont |
9 |
Michael
Usai |
| 5 |
Marge
Rusk |
10 |
Stephen
Dempsey |
NEXT YEAR
The 2001 Federation Waterfowl Count (FWC
) dates are from 13 through 21 Jan, with Sunday, 14 Jan, as the target
LITERATURE CITED
Serie, J. R. and R. V. Raftovich, Jr.
2000. Atlantic Flyway Midwinter Waterfowl Survey 2000 - Final Report.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Office of Migratory Bird Management,
Laurel, MD 20708. 3 p.
Swift, B. L. and P. J. Hess. 1999.
A comparison of winter waterfowl surveys in New York. Northeast Wildlife
54:85-92.
Table
1. Regional totals for January 2000 Federation Waterfowl Count.
Species/Region 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Total
Loon, Red-throated 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 24 246 270
Common 0 0 5 0 4 1 0 0 5 249 264
Grebe, Pied-billed 8 4 34 0 2 0 0 0 16 113 177
Horned 0 7 21 0 0 0 4 0 8 142 182
Red-necked 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1
Cormorant, D.-crested 41 1 1 0 8 0 0 0 0 159 210
Great 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 43 169 214
Goose, Snow 0 0 120 0 0 0 606 10 1 200 937
Canada 4169 4603 33765 4281 11830 4971 3708 34721 15004 45948 163000
Brant 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 10682 10687
Swan, Mute 0 110 1 1 2 0 2 117 287 1186 1706
Trumpeter 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2
Tundra 139 4 139 0 0 8 0 0 0 4 294
Wood Duck 5 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 9 13 31
Gadwall 47 31 81 0 14 10 0 0 34 1208 1425
Wigeon, Eurasian 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 3
American 35 6 25 1 3 0 1 0 154 1442 1667
Am. Black Duck 122 838 1234 201 193 289 478 722 1246 12584 17907
Mallard 6897 8941 6999 1779 3235 1029 2774 1872 3645 12343 49514
Mallard X Black 0 5 0 1 0 0 2 0 12 41 61
Blue-winged Teal 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Northern Shoveler 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 18 520 538
Northern Pintail 0 0 4 0 4 1 0 0 9 264 282
Green-winged Teal 0 2 5 0 0 0 0 0 10 597 614
Canvasback 7420 48 659 1 0 0 0 1000 780 1506 11414
Redhead 445 5125 6095 0 87 300 0 0 1 35 12088
Ring-necked Duck 25 41 176 1 127 0 8 3 345 489 1215
Tufted Duck 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Scaup, Greater 11965 1111 160 0 1906 2764 75 0 4849 6976 29806
Lesser 61 166 541 0 30 0 3 0 1285 671 2757
scaup species 0 1 91 0 0 16 300 1 0 88 497
Eider, King 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Common 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 411 412
Harlequin Duck 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9 10
Scoter, Surf 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4034 4036
White-winged 1591 87 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 6456 8136
Black 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 371 373
scoter species 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1121 1121
Long-tailed Duck 3021 827 4 0 17 383 0 0 33 3014 7299
Bufflehead 833 176 315 0 98 132 106 0 875 6045 8580
Goldeneye, Common 2065 4838 1820 12 1103 2044 1311 401 187 1763 15544
Barrow's 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
Merganser, Hooded 29 37 22 10 26 6 47 41 261 1333 1812
Common 4034 1349 249 159 747 326 1553 588 1414 69 10488
Red-breasted 264 59 17 0 31 5 3 1 187 4554 5121
Ruddy Duck 2 2 2 0 6 0 0 0 1143 3999 5154
American Coot 89 532 1342 60 27 0 4 0 423 1226 3703
Unidentified 299 24 30 0 0 290 0 0 2304 16 2963
TOTAL OF ABOVE 43607 28988 53962 6508 19502 12575 10985 39477 34613 132299 382516
Table
2. Comparison of the 2000 count with 1999 count for all species totaling
over 1,000 individuals in 1999 or 2000, or both.
Species 1999 2000 % Change from 1999
Snow Goose 1,544 ,937 -39.3
Canada Goose 108,029 163,000 50.9
Brant 26,700 10,687 -60
Mute Swan 1,871 1,706 -8.8
Gadwall 1,842 1,425 -22.6
American Wigeon 1,867 1,667 -10.7
American Black Duck 20,176 17,907 -11.2
Mallard 47,872 49,514 3.4
Canvasback 11,960 11,414 -4.6
Redhead 12,768 12,088 -0.5
Ring-necked Duck 1,407 1,215 -13.6
scaup (both species) 51,695 33,060 -36
scoter (all species) 13,951 13,666 -2
Long-tailed Duck 13,071 7,299 -44.2
Bufflehead 9,371 8,580 -8.4
goldeneye (both species)15,890 15,545 -2.2
Hooded Merganser 1,446 1,812 25.3
Common Merganser 8,338 10,488 25.8
Red-breasted Merganser 5,030 5,121 1.8
Ruddy Duck 8,834 5,154 -41.7
American Coot 3,779 3,703 -2
TOTAL 367,441 375,988 2.3
|
Table
3. Comparison of 2000 count with 1973-1999 average for all species
consistently totaling over 1,000 individuals annually.
Species Average 2001 % Change
Canada Goose 69,459 122,223 76%
Brant 15,109 8,038 -47%
American Black Duck 19,826 17,356 -12%
Mallard 32,376 47,122 46%
Canvasback 10,652 24,584 131%
Redhead 7,437 19,915 168%
scaup (both species) 50,222 55,852 11%
scoters (all species) 12,373 30,752 149%
Long-tailed Duck 4,386 8,160 86%
Bufflehead 6,077 10,025 65%
Common Goldeneye 12,292 19,639 60%
Common Merganser 11,461 9,464 -17%
Red-breasted Merganser 4,282 8,058 88%
TOTAL of all species 268,763 397,764 48%
|
Walton B. Sabin
652 Kenwood Avenue
Slingerlands, NY 12159-0044
Bryan L. Swift
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
Wildlife Resources Center
108 Game Farm Road
Delmar, NY 12054-9767
|
