Birding Dude: Northern Nassau Christmas Bird Count 2013...

The Northern Nassau Christmas Bird Count was held on the Winter Solstice, Saturday, December 21st. Although it was the shortest day of the year, we recorded 118 species coming within 1 of the all time record which is 119 species set in 1973. Our compiler reported that new species for the count were Black Guillemot, Lesser Yellowlegs, and Seaside Sparrow. Other rarities included Greater White-fronted Goose, Barrow’s Goldeneye, Cackling Goose, Eurasian Wigeon, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Bald Eagle, Red-headed Woodpecker, and Vesper Sparrow.

My group consisted of Ken Harris, Scott Emmons, Doug Futuyma, Eric Miller and of course yours truly. Sometimes we birded as a group and other times we broke into two teams with Ken, Eric an I on one team and Doug and Scott on another. We covered a number of places and were responsible for a few of the rarities such as Greater White-fronted Goose, Cackling Goose and Vesper Sparrow. This was my first time participating in this count since the schedule worked out well for me and I am hoping to do it again next year. Ed, Eric and I made a solid team and you can bet we would like to take a crack at this 119 record. Here are a few photos of a couple of the rarities our group found on the count.