Black-throated Blue also at CI was a thirdCBC and sixth Georgia winter record;Black-and-whites tied the state CBC highwith 87, and an American Redstart atSV was the fourth state CBC record.

In the sparrow world, a Lark Sparrowat Lake Blalock (LB) was the fifth CBCrecord, the total of 2376 Savannah Sparrowswas the second-highest state CBC total,and a Lapland Longspur at Carter’s Lake(CL) was the state’s sixth CBC record. Aphotographed count week Rose-breast-ed Grosbeak at Macon (MA) providedthe state’s first fully documented CBCrecord, and a Yellow-headed Blackbird atBL was the third CBC record. CommonGrackles had their highest total in 40years with 603,515 including 503,102at Floyd County (FC), and, unfortu-nately, Brown-headed Cowbirds hadtheir highest total in almost 20 yearswith 12,078. Baltimore Orioles contin-ued their strong winter presence with21, the second-highest CBC total.

FLORIDABill Pranty8515 Village Mill Row

Bayonet Point, FL 34667

billpranty@hotmail.com

For the second consecutive season,participants conducted a record numberof 68 CBCs in Florida. The count atLower Keys was not run, but a countdebuted at Ichetucknee-Santa Fe-O’Lenoin the interior northern Peninsula.Florida’s CBCs accounted for 8355accepted observations of 333 taxonomicforms and 2,616,208 individuals. Theforms comprise 274 native species, thereintroduced Whooping Crane, 12 ofFlorida’s 13 countable exotics (White-winged Parakeet was again missed), 21non-countable exotics, three morphs,one hybrid, and 20 species-groups. Anew CBC code—RL (recent release)—wascreated for a free-flying, rehabilitatedRed-footed Booby on the Dade CountyCBC that remained under the influenceof captivity. Its status was deemed com-parable to that of an unestablished exotic.

Ten CBCs, including two inland (*),exceeded 149 species: Jacksonville (169),

Merritt Island N.W.R. (163), St.Petersburg (163), West Pasco (163),*Zellwood-Mount Dora (163), NorthPinellas (161), Cocoa (155), *Gainesville(152), Sarasota (151), and Aripeka-Bayport (150). Eight CBCs, half of theseinland (*), tallied more than 50,000 indi-viduals: Sarasota (1,033,723, with anestimated 1,000,000 Tree Swallows),Cocoa (90,213), *STA5-Clewiston(87,331), *Econlockhatchee (77,752),*Lakeland (70,687), West Pasco(57,808), *Zellwood-Mount Dora(55,060), and South Brevard (51,511).Double-crested Cormorant, Great BlueHeron, Killdeer, Belted Kingfisher, andPalm Warbler were reported on all 68counts. In contrast, 37 other nativespecies (six of these count week only)were seen on only one CBC each, with25 of these representing single individu-als. The 11 species that exceeded 50,000individuals statewide were Tree Swallow(1,148,752), American Coot (111,693),Fish Crow (94,192), American Robin(88,827), Laughing Gull (86,994), Ring-billed Gull (70,083), Red-winged Blackbird(56,179), White Ibis (55,449), TurkeyVulture (53,644), Yellow-rumped Warbler(53,112), and Lesser Scaup (52,106).

This summary excludes undocumentedrarities. Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks

numbered 4169 on 20 counts, while2287 Fulvous Whistling-Ducks werereported on four. Large forms of CanadaGeese—most or all exotic—numbered636 on 15 counts. The sole Ross’s Goosegraced Choctawhatchee Bay. There were3821 Muscovy Ducks on 46 counts and3837 mostly feral Mallards on 49.Overall, 175 hybrid Mallard x MottledDucks were reported on five CBCs,including 136 at Aripeka-Bayport. EightAmerican Black Ducks were atJacksonville, with singles at Merritt Islandand Zellwood-Mount Dora (count week).Single Greater Scaup were inland atEconlockhatchee, Gainesville, andHamilton County. Triple-digit totals ofBuffleheads came from seven CBCs, amongthese Bay County (750), ChoctawhatcheeBay (320), and Cedar Key (221).

Jacksonville provided one Red-throat-ed Loon, with another count week atChoctawhatchee Bay. Of the state’s1178 Common Loons, all four triple-digit counts were along the Panhandlecoast, led by 249 at Pensacola. TwoAechmophorus grebes at Pensacola wereidentified as Western Grebes, but thedescription suggested Clark’s Grebes, aspecies undocumented in Florida. DryTortugas National Park tallied the onlyMasked Boobies (35), along with 121

THE 110TH CHRISTMAS BIRD COUNT AMERICAN BIRDS 53

Count circles inFLORIDA

Brown Boobies. There were 15,830American White Pelicans on 45 counts,and 19,931 Brown Pelicans on 47,including 55 inland at Lakeland.Among Florida’s 136,116 wading birdswere 281 “Great White” Herons, 10“Wurdemann’s” Herons, 196 ReddishEgrets, 55,449 White Ibises, 11,355Glossy Ibises, 982 Roseate Spoonbills,and 6019 Wood Storks.

Ospreys totaled 4062 individuals on64 CBCs, and 1656 Bald Eagles weretallied on 65. Avon Park Air ForceRange and Long Pine Key produced oneand two White-tailed Kites, respectively,while 99 Snail Kites were found onseven counts. Accipiter tallies were 161Sharp-shinned Hawks on 48 counts and331 Cooper’s Hawks on 61. The long-persisting urubitinga Great Black-Hawkof exotic provenance was found countweek at Dade County. There were 46Short-tailed Hawks on 16 counts, withsingles north to St. Petersburg andCocoa. Crested Caracaras numbered 59on 11 CBCs, with 15 at STA5-Clewistonand 11 at Fort Pierce. Statewide falcontotals were 2391 American Kestrels, 92Merlins, and 68 Peregrine Falcons.

Two Black Rails were found atJacksonville, and singles enlivenedAripeka-Bayport and Daytona Beach.Long Pine Key furnished the state’s onlyYellow Rail. STA5-Clewiston suppliedall 40 Purple Swamphens. Of the 163Purple Gallinules found statewide, 67were at Lakeland and 43 at Emeralda-Sunnyhill. About 13,633 SandhillCranes were tallied, with 4000 atGainesville and 2600 at Lake Placid.Snowy Plovers numbered 137 on 10counts, while 91 Piping Plovers werefound on 9. There were only 1270 RedKnots on 15 counts statewide. KeyLargo-Plantation Key again producedSemipalmated Sandpipers, four this season.

Tallies of black-backed gulls were 419Lessers on 19 counts and 298 Greats on18. One-hundred Sooty Terns wereagain estimated at Dry TortugasNational Park. Strangely, no CBCreported Gull-billed Tern. Good detailswere provided for one Common Tern at

Cocoa. Black Skimmers totaled 13,703individuals on 32 CBCs, including3070 at Jacksonville, 2600 at Coot Bay-Everglades N.P., and 2500 at St.Augustine. There were eight PomarineJaegers on six counts, and five ParasiticJaegers on three.

Eurasian Collared-Doves numbered6913 on 63 counts, perhaps suggesting adecline. White-winged Doves numbered729 on 39 CBCs. Twelve species ofpsittacids were tallied, seven each atDade County, Fort Lauderdale, andKendall Area (one of these count week).For the first time since 1970, noBudgerigars were found at West Pasco(formerly known as the New PortRichey CBC), but a rather surprising 37were found in one yard at Aripeka-Bayport. Monk Parakeets continuedtheir decline, with only 1065 found on21 counts. Black-hooded Parakeetsnumbered 478 on 10 counts, with only300 tallied at St. Petersburg. Counts of320 Mitred Parakeets at Kendall Areaand 139 White-eyed Parakeets at DadeCounty were eye-openers. There were252 Burrowing Owls on 11 counts, with216 (85 percent!) of these at Fort Myers.Ten Lesser Nighthawks were at CootBay-Everglades N.P., but more surpris-ing was the nighthawk species found atChoctawhatchee Bay. Florida’s 154hummingbirds were divided into 111Ruby-throated, seven Rufous, twoBlack-chinned, one Buff-bellied, oneBroad-tailed, and 32 not identifiedspecifically. There were 33 Red-cockadedWoodpeckers on seven counts and 44Hairy Woodpeckers reported on 14.

Zellwood-Mount Dora produced 398tyrannids: 11 Least Flycatchers, 370Eastern Phoebes, the sole Say’s Phoebe (areturnee), three Ash-throated Flycatchers,one Great Crested Flycatcher, and 12Western Kingbirds. An adult maleVermilion Flycatcher (count week)brightened Wekiva River. A La Sagra’sFlycatcher was discovered at Long PineKey. Two Cassin’s Kingbirds returned toSTA5-Clewiston. Loggerhead Shrikesnumbered 2030 on 62 CBCs, with 196at Fort Myers, 181 at Peace River, 175 at

Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, and 105at Naples—curiously clustered in thesouthwestern Peninsula. A Bell’s Vireo wasa pleasant addition to Fort Lauderdale.The three Yellow-throated Vireos werelimited to Miami-Dade County. FloridaScrub-Jays totaled 270 on 18 counts,plus one count week at Aripeka-Bayport.Jackson County again produced all 10 ofthe state’s Horned Larks. A Barn Swallowwas north to Zellwood-Mount Dora.The 1,000,000 Tree Swallows estimatedat Sarasota composed a huge winterroost. One Red-breasted Nuthatch at St.Marks was the only report during thisnon-invasion winter. Tallahassee againprovided all of Florida’s White-breastedNuthatches, with 26.

Nine Red-whiskered Bulbuls were talliedat Kendall Area. Single Golden-crownedKinglets were south to Gainesville andNorth Pinellas. There were 47 CommonMynas on six CBCs from West PalmBeach to Key West, while Kendall Areaproduced all 39 Hill Mynas. ApalachicolaBay-St. Vincent N.W.R. again furnishedboth Sprague’s Pipits. It was an invasionyear for Cedar Waxwings, with 7021 on 44CBCs, including 1900 at St. Augustine.

Twenty-one warbler species wereaccepted, with unique reports of CapeMay (count week) at Coot Bay-Everglades N.P. and Hooded at LongPine Key. Single Wilson’s Warblers werefound count week at Key West andNaples. As always, the two most numer-ous species were Yellow-rumped(53,112) and Palm (17,467), the latteroccurring on every count and the formeron all but two Keys counts. ThirteenSummer Tanagers were observed on 10counts, all singles except at two at LakePlacid and three at Stuart. Only fourHenslow’s Sparrows were totaled, one atCedar Key and three at Gainesville. Thetwo most abundant sparrows wereChipping (8973 on 53 counts) andSavannah (3343 on 57 counts). Sharp-tailed sparrows (including some notdocumented) were divided between 152Nelson’s on 13 CBCs, 17 Saltmarsh onsix counts, and 13 not identified specif-ically. I questioned all undocumented

54 AMERICAN BIRDS

Saltmarsh Sparrows along the GulfCoast. The Peninsula’s only Dark-eyedJunco was photographed at Ichetucknee-Santa Fe-O’Leno. Three Blue Grosbeakswere documented at Zellwood-MountDora, where now seemingly annual insmall numbers.

There were 293 Painted Buntings on32 counts, including 74 at Cocoa, 33 atWest Palm Beach, and 32 at JonathanDickinson S.P. Single Dickcisselsenlivened Myakka River S.P. andZellwood-Mount Dora; the latter CBCalso furnished the state’s only Yellow-headed Blackbird. Just two RustyBlackbirds were found, singles atGainesville and Jackson County. NoBrewer’s Blackbirds were reported.Kendall Area furnished the sole ShinyCowbird (count week), while BronzedCowbirds were found at Kendall Area(one) and an astounding 80 at DadeCounty. A total of 10,002 Brown-headedCowbirds on 46 counts was tallied. Afemale-plumaged Orchard Oriole wasadequately detailed at Melrose. Spot-breasted Orioles numbered four atKendall Area and count week at WestPalm Beach. Continuing their increase,House Finches totaled 946 individualson 37 CBCs, while House Sparrows num-bered 2245 on 51. Nutmeg Mannikinsnumbered 25 at Pensacola, with anotherat Kendall Area. Finally, a Blue-cappedCordonbleu (Uraeginthus cyanocephala)photographed count week at GulfCircle-Manatee County furnished aspecies to the Florida CBC database.

Bruce Anderson of Winter Park againreviewed nearly all of this season’sapproximately 155 rare bird documen-tation forms, a task for which I amgrateful. I deleted 30 reports that weremisidentified or submitted with insuffi-cient or no documentation—a rate ofless than 0.4 percent of all reports. I alsoappended with the “DD” (DetailsDesired) annotation 31 other reports.My letter of instruction to compilers isposted to the website of the FloridaOrnithological Society (http://fos-birds.org). New compilers especiallyshould read my letter before and after

completing their CBC to avoid havingspecies deleted from their CBCs.

OHIO/WEST VIRGINIA/KENTUCKYCharles Hocevar13 Bow Circle, #212

Hilton Head Island, SC 29928

chocevar@aol.com

There is never a year that Ohio doesnot produce unusual observations dur-ing the Christmas Count week. Thisyear was no exception, with reports ofPurple Martin, Harris’s Sparrow, Allen’sHummingbird, Spotted Sandpiper, andWhite-winged Dove heading the list.The species that are not included in thisgroup would be considered high pointsin many other states. The Purple Martinlingered on the Wilmot CBC, was pho-tographed, seen by many and,apparently, had remained near a nestingsite. The Harris’s Sparrow was also seenby many local observers and was foundon the Western Hamilton County count.The Allen’s Hummingbird was locatedon the Ragersville CBC during countweek and was ultimately banded in orderto confirm its identification. The SpottedSandpiper was reported from the BrownFamily Environmental Center. TheWhite-winged Dove observation wasreported from the Wooster CBC andwas another species observed by many.Even though these observations arenoteworthy, there are a large number ofadditional unusual observations that willbe discussed in this summary.

But first, the basic demographics ofthis season. Ohio contributed 1727 par-ticipants from 61 separate count areas.Ohio observers located 156 species oncount day, with Cuyahoga Falls leadingthe pack at 99 field observers andRagersville having the most party hours(293). Approximately half of the Ohiocount areas reported precipitation oncount day. Twelve Ohio count areasrecorded more than 80 species on countday and two reported more than 90species: Wooster (90) and Toledo (95).Low temperatures were near normalwith several reports of single digits.However, high temperatures were below

average. Normally there are a few reportsin the sixties and, occasionally, seventies,but the highest temperature recordedthis season was the only report in thefifties (55 degrees Fahrenheit fromPreble County).

Reports of geese this season includedthe observation of five Greater White-fronted Geese on three Ohio counts.Cackling Geese were reported fromseven CBCs while the state’s only recordof Ross’s Goose this season came fromTiffin. Mute and Tundra swans werereported widely, and the ever-expandingTrumpeter Swan population swelled to124 individuals on seven Ohio counts.Ohio observers located 32 species ofwaterfowl including observations of allthree scoter species from the Lake Erielocations of Cleveland, Toledo, Elyria-Lorain, Lakewood, and Lake ErieIslands. This season’s only record of lin-gering Blue-winged Teal came fromElyria-Lorain. Ruffed Grouse werefound in four Ohio locations, Ring-necked Pheasant from 22, and WildTurkey from 44 counts; NorthernBobwhite reports were limited to twoindividuals at Western Hamilton County.A lone American White Pelican locatedon the Western Hamilton County CBCwas photographed and seen by many.Double-crested Cormorants were seen insmaller numbers this season with only17 individuals located statewide from 11locations. Toledo’s Black-crownedNight-Herons were again present, butthis species was also found in Columbusthis season. In all, 592 Turkey Vultures

THE 110TH CHRISTMAS BIRD COUNT AMERICAN BIRDS 55

Purple Martin (Progne subis), Wilmot,Ohio. Photo/Su Snyder