2010 Waterfowl Count Results    Posted 3/11/10

On Sunday, Jan 17, 2010 Sullivan County Audubon conducted its annual waterfowl count for the NYS Dept of Environmental Conservation. Four teams were out covering the county and came up with 1362 birds. This number is down from the last two years.  In 2008 counters saw 1758 birds, and in 2007 we counted 2819 birds of which there were 759 Common Mergansers. I think the weather had a lot to do with our numbers this year as weeks before we had very cold temperatures and most of our open water froze over. Just before our count, it warmed up, and some waters opened up again, but it was too late, as the birds had already left for “greener pastures”!

Six members from Sullivan put in 22.25 hours of counting and traveled a total of 399 miles to come up with 544 Canada Geese, 683 Mallards, 92 Black Ducks, 35 Common Mergansers, 7 Hooded Mergansers and 1 Pintail. My thanks go out to John Haas, Arlene Borko, Helen Lagoda, Ruth McKeon and Ruth Shursky for their hard and dedicated work toward this project. Good job!
Renee Davis

Get All Your Ducks in a Row...    Posted 12/22/05 

Then count them. Yep, that’s right, I'm not quacking up, it's the annual Waterfowl Count. Every January participants visit lakes and rivers throughout Sullivan County and count the numbers of ducks, geese, swans, and other water birds. The count period this year is January 14-22, with a target date of Sunday the 15th. I tally the total of birds found and report them to Bryan Swift of the NYS DEC.

“The annual midwinter waterfowl count has been conducted by the NYS Ornithological Association (formerly Federation of NYS Bird Clubs) since 1955 except the four years from 1968-1972. The results of these counts are a valuable long-term population monitoring program for waterfowl. The NYS DEC has discontinued aerial surveys and now they rely on the January Waterfowl count as the standard survey." (NYSOA Waterfowl Count webpage)   In the past five years, we here in Sullivan County have tallied 5,801 birds, consisting of 10 species. The year 2000 was our lowest count with 795 birds tallied; 2002 was our highest with 1199 birds counted. That works out to an average of 966.83 birds counted each year.

Add our total to the rest of New York’s birds and you come up with an amazing number of birds. In the year 2000, 382,516 birds of 44 different species were counted. 2001 showed us 397,764 individuals of 46 species, and in 2002 also with 46 different species for a total count of 447,867. 2003 again with 46 species tallied 320,665 birds and 2004 had 47 species with 347,661 individuals. The Canada Goose is our most abundant bird here in Sullivan County, with Mallards running second. Black ducks beat out Common Mergansers for third place and Hooded Mergansers finish in fifth. Over the years we've also had Snow Geese, Common Goldeneye, Wood Ducks, Gadwall, and Mute Swans during the count period.

I hope you'll be able to help us out this year by keeping your eyes open for waterfowl within the count dates. If you see any birds, jot down the date, species, numbers of individuals, time of day, and the location. Call me with your report on or shortly after January 22. I can be reached at (845) 482-5044, but please call before 8 pm. For more information, check out the Waterfowl Count on the NYSOA website.

Renee Davis