SBC Christmas Count Results

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Birding Brevard: Cocoa CBC Nets 169 Species

By Dave Freeland

A beautiful Saturday in December, sunny and warm with virtually no wind, made life easy and pickings terrific for birders on the 58th Cocoa Christmas Bird Count. Our gang of 52 observers and over a dozen feeder watchers reached the 169 species mark, best since 1997.

Among the finds was a bird not yet on the Florida list -- a Violet-green Swallow from the West, seen by Carl Goodrich, myself, Brian and Linda Archer and Sarah Johnson not once, but twice, separated by five hours of time and five miles of space. Its acceptance awaits approval by the state's Rare Birds Committee. It was not photographed.

But beautiful photos by Paul Cooper accompanied the report of our fourth-ever LeConte's Sparrow, on the north side of Port Canaveral in good sparrow grasses.

Other special birds seen included the count's second-ever Nashville Warbler, third Short-tailed Hawk, third and fourth Summer Tanagers and sixth Iceland Gull. Other goodies included Great Crested Flycatcher, Eastern Kingbird, White-winged Dove, Pine Siskin, Yellow-throated Vireo, Western Kingbird, Yellow Warbler and Long-tailed Duck.

My thanks to Dee Fairbanks Simpson, my tireless co-compiler, for her diligent job of getting the count organized, and to Pat Meyer, Susan Bird and Barb Venuto, who made our day-ending potluck dinner so deliciously successful. We certainly have a good team in Space Coast Audubon!

Following are the teams (leader listed first), their species totals and birds they saw that eluded the other teams or stood out among the rarities:

• Area 1 (Viera) -- Sarah Linney, Madeline Klinko, Bill Meyer, Steve Miller -- 81 species (Mute Swan, Florida Scrub-Jay)
• Area 2 (Rockledge) -- Roy Book, Kenn Allie, Liz Bishop, Randy Springer -- 97 species (Yellow-crowned Night-Heron, White-winged Dove)
• Area 3A (West Cocoa) -- Ned Steel, Jamie Drake, Trey Mitchell, Jim Stahl, Roberto Torres -- 86 species (Iceland Gull, Empidonax flycatcher sp, Great Crested Flycatcher, Yellow-throated Vireo, American Crow, Song Sparrow, Pine Siskin)
• Area 3B (Cocoa) -- David Simpson, Heather Burnett, Jim Eager, Dee Fairbanks Simpson, Andy Thatcher -- 101 species (ÒChinese/BeanÓ Goose, Canada Goose, Mallard X Mottled Duck, Least Bittern, Brown-headed Nuthatch, Summer Tanager)
• Area 4 (Canaveral Groves) -- Jason Frederick, Kathy Frederick, Alex Jahn, Ari Martinez -- 63 species (Peregrine Falcon, Summer Tanager)
• Area 5 (North Merritt Island) -- Judy Dryja, Courtney Carlson, Mary Nicolay, Dick Novier -- 100 species (Short-tailed Hawk, Barred Owl, Indigo Bunting)
• Area 6 (South Merritt Island) -- Dave Freeland, Brian Archer, Linda Archer, Carl Goodrich, Sarah Johnson -- 89 species (Violet-green Swallow, Nashville Warbler)
• Area 7A (East Merritt Island) -- Phyllis Mansfield, Gallus Quigley, Trudi Widick -- 90 species (Western Sandpiper)
• Area 7B (Mud Lake and Canoe Birding) -- Bob Paxson, Ralph Bird -- 92 species (Northern Pintail, Virginia Rail, Baltimore Oriole)
• Area 7C (Ulumay Sanctuary) -- Charlie Venuto, David Biega, Karin Biega, Jack Lembeck, Barb Venuto -- 45 species (Eastern Kingbird)
• Area 8A (South Cocoa Beach) -- Doug Stuckey, Betty Eichhorn, Warren Frost, Mitchell Harris, Betsey Wood -- 91 species (Magnificent Frigatebird)
• Area 8B (Cocoa Beach Golf Club) -- Howard Mansfield -- 36 species
• Area 9A (Port Canaveral) --Andy Bankert, Adam Betuel, MurrayGardler -- 95 species (Long-tailed Duck, Western Kingbird)
• Area 9B (Cape Canaveral Air Force Station) -- Teresa Fiorillo, Paul Cooper -- 39 species (LeConte's Sparrow)