provided the second CBC record as wellas a new high count. Good gull countsincluded a new high count of 13,778Ring-Billeds (including 5316 atSavannah) and a much higher than aver-age count of 1341 Herrings. EurasianCollared-Doves continue to increasewith a new high count of 879, led by the338 at Glynn County. Mourning Doveswere high on several counts for a newhigh state total of 6467, and the 93Common Ground-Doves provided thethird-highest total (Dublin had 29).With only five previous CBC records ofsingletons, the four Ruby-throatedHummingbirds also set a high total.

Like many corvids hit by West Nilevirus, Fish Crow numbers were down at1201, although, paradoxically, thespecies continues to expand into northGeorgia. The 128 Winter Wrens was thethird highest total, and PileatedWoodpeckers set a new high with 559.Sedge Wrens had the second highesttotal ever with 74 (43 at CumberlandIsland), and Blue-gray Gnatcatchers alsoset the second highest total with 133.Harris Neck had 31 and Glynn Countyhad 25, both new high counts for indi-vidual CBCs. Eastern Bluebirds came inat 3084, a new high count. AmericanPipits and Cedar Waxwings also hadnew high counts with 1703 and 9742,both led by Athens, with 379 and 1683,respectively. Saint Catherines had thethird CBC Tennessee Warbler record,and new high totals were set with 48Yellow-throated Warblers (including 21at Saint Catherines), 842 Palm Warblers(186 at Lake Blackshear), and 87 Black-and-white Warblers. The fifth state CBCClay-colored Sparrow was at Piedmont-Rum Creek, and a photographedNelson’s Sharp-tailed Sparrow at Carter’sLake may be the first North Americaninland winter record. A new high countof Seaside Sparrows was 1027. The 1414Rusty Blackbirds was the second-highesttotal in 10 years for this beleagueredspecies, led by 806 at Piedmont-RumCreek. The total of 28 Red Crossbills isa new high count, with 15 atChattahoochee National Forest and 13

at Blue Ridge. Finally, in a big invasionyear, Pine Siskins more than doubled theprevious high total with 2326, including1242 at Blue Ridge and 336 atChattahoochee.

FLORIDABill Pranty8515 Village Mill Row

Bayonet Point, FL 34667

billpranty@hotmail.com

For the fourth consecutive season,participants conducted a record numberof Christmas Bird Counts, 68, inFlorida. The count at Dry TortugasNational Park resumed after a one-yearabsence, and a count debuted in FlaglerCounty. Florida’s CBCs accounted for8471 accepted observations of 349 taxo-nomic forms and 2,166,432 individuals.The forms comprise 281 native species,the reintroduced Whooping Crane, 12of Florida’s 13 countable exotics (White-winged Parakeet was missed), 25 non-countable exotics, six subspecies or morphs,one hybrid, and 23 species-groups.

Ten CBCs, including two inland (*),exceeded 149 species: West Pasco (175),Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge(174), *Zellwood-Mount Dora (173),Cocoa (166), St. Petersburg (163),Jacksonville (161), Sarasota (160),*Gainesville (159), South Brevard (153),and Alafia Banks (150). Seven CBCs,including a majority inland (*), talliedmore than 50,000 individuals: Cocoa(578,682, with 500,000 of these LesserScaup), *STA5-Clewiston (92,849),*Econlockhatchee (76,044), *Lakeland(70,800), West Pasco (53,559), MerrittIsland N.W.R. (53,501), and *Gainesville(51,979). Great Blue Heron, TurkeyVulture, Belted Kingfisher, and PalmWarbler were reported on all 68 counts.In contrast, 36 other native species wereseen on only one CBC each, with 21 ofthese representing single individuals.The eight species that exceeded 50,000individuals each were Lesser Scaup(569,602), Tree Swallow (148,372),American Coot (91,075), Ring-billedGull (88,517), Laughing Gull (76,592),American Robin (75,270), Yellow-

rumped Warbler (62,002), and Red-winged Blackbird (59,588).

This summary excludes undocument-ed rarities. Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks numbered 3369 individuals on21 counts, while 97 Fulvous Whistling-Ducks were reported on five counts.Egyptian Geese, becoming an exotic towatch, totaled 54 birds on six counts,with 37 at Dade County. The sole Ross’sGoose graced Merritt Island N.W.R.,while the only two Brant were far southat Coot Bay-Everglades National Park. ACanada Goose of one of the small racesat Kendall Area furnished the secondreport for Florida. There were 3425Muscovy Ducks on 48 counts, and 4052mostly feral Mallards on 49 counts. Atotal of 203 hybrid Mallard x MottledDucks was reported on four CBCs,including 120 at St. Petersburg and 80at Aripeka-Bayport. Two drake EurasianWigeon enlivened STA5-Clewiston.The southernmost of nine AmericanBlack Ducks were two at Jacksonville.Cocoa produced the sole Long-tailedDuck. Triple-digit totals of Buffleheadscame from eight CBCs, among theseChoctawhatchee Bay (640), Pensacola(380), and Melrose (360).

Jacksonville provided the state’s onlyRed-throated Loon, while Pensacola fur-nished the sole Pacific Loon (count week).Of the state’s 1465 Common Loons, 695at Choctawhatchee Bay, 167 at Pensacola,and 140 at North Pinellas were the onlytriple-digit totals. Dry Tortugas NationalPark tallied the state’s only Cory’sShearwater, along with 47 MaskedBoobies and 40 Brown Boobies. Therewere 11,255 American White Pelicanson 43 counts, and 18,336 Brown Pelicanson 48 counts, including 36 inland atLakeland. Among Florida’s 123,766 wad-ing birds were 204 “Great White”Herons, 11 “Wurdemann’s” Herons,191 Reddish Egrets, 46,976 WhiteIbises, 6175 Glossy Ibises, 1111 RoseateSpoonbills, and 4740 Wood Storks. CootBay-Everglades N.P. tallied two presum-ably wild American Flamingoes, while210 flamingoes at Dade County repre-sented the feral flock at Hialeah Park.

66 AMERICAN BIRDS

Ospreys totaled 4157 individuals on65 CBCs, and 1323 Bald Eagles weretallied on 62. Lake Placid and STA5-Clewiston produced one and twoWhite-tailed Kites, respectively, withanother count week at Long Pine Key,while 72 Snail Kites were found on eightcounts. Accipiter tallies were 189 Sharp-shinned Hawks on 57 counts and 356Cooper’s Hawks on 62. Countersreported 57 Short-tailed Hawks on 17counts, with singles north to West Pascoand Merritt Island. Crested Caracarasnumbered 41 on 13 CBCs, with 15 atSTA5-Clewiston furnishing the onlydouble-digit total. Statewide falcontotals were 2272 American Kestrels, 93Merlins, and 51 Peregrine Falcons.

No Black or Yellow rails were found.STA5-Clewiston supplied all 33 PurpleSwamphens, likely to become Florida’snext established exotic now that thestate-sponsored eradication plan hasbeen discontinued. Of 205 PurpleGallinules found statewide, 116 were atLakeland. About 14,679 SandhillCranes were tallied, with 8000 atGainesville providing the sole four-digittotal. There were 21 Whooping Cranesfound, 7 at Aripeka-Bayport, 12 atKissimmee Valley, and 2 at Lake Wales.Snowy Plovers numbered 97 on sixcounts, while only 66 Piping Ploverswere found on 10 counts. There were1954 Red Knots on 19 counts. KeyLargo-Plantation Key again producedone Semipalmated Sandpiper.

Tallies of black-backed gulls were 473Lessers on 18 counts and 309 Greats on15. One-hundred Sooty Terns were tal-lied at Dry Tortugas National Park,while Coot Bay-Everglades N.P. fur-nished the state’s eight Gull-billed Terns.Single Common Terns were detailed atDry Tortugas N.P. and Zellwood-Mount Dora. Black Skimmers totaled12,935 individuals on 36 CBCs, includ-ing 3900 at Jacksonville, 2000 at CootBay-Everglades N.P., and 1440 at St.Augustine. Merritt Island N.W.R. fur-nished all 13 Pomarine Jaegers and 29Parasitic Jaegers, with another Parasiticat Jacksonville.

Participants noted 9273 EurasianCollared-Doves on 63 counts (totalsexceeded 11,000 the previous threeCBC seasons), while White-wingedDoves numbered 857 on 40. Fifteenspecies of psittacids were tallied, mostlyat Dade County, with only four speciesat Fort Lauderdale. Monk Parakeetscontinue to decline, with only 1097found on 21 counts. Black-hooded

Parakeets numbered 707 on 10 counts,including 5 recently colonized at Tampa.Budgerigars persist, with 15 at Aripeka-Bayport and 10 at West Pasco. Myheard-only Yellow-billed Cuckoo atAvon Park Air Force Range furnishedthe only report. Considerable pre-dawneffort allowed St. Petersburg to reset thecontinental record of 218 Eastern Screech-Owls. Burrowing Owls numbered 318

THE 109TH CHRISTMAS BIRD COUNT AMERICAN BIRDS 67

Count circles inFLORIDA

House Finch (Carpodacus mexicanus), St. Petersburg, Florida. Photo/Don Margeson

on 10 counts, with 275 (86 per cent!) atFort Myers. Lesser Nighthawks wereagain limited to the extreme southernpeninsula, with two at Coot Bay-Everglades N.P., three at Kendall Area,and count week at Long Pine Key.Florida’s 198 hummingbirds were divid-ed into 117 Ruby-throated, nineRufous, three (!) Calliope, two Buff-bel-lied, one Black-chinned, and 66 notidentified. Thirty-two Red-cockadedWoodpeckers were found on 7 counts,while 56 Hairy Woodpeckers werereported on 18.

Zellwood-Mount Dora produced 406tyrannids: 16 Least Flycatchers (the statetotal!), 350 Eastern Phoebes, the soleSay’s Phoebe (a returnee), eight Ash-throated Flycatchers, one Great CrestedFlycatcher, one Brown-crested Flycatcher,29 Western Kingbirds, and count weekScissor-tailed Flycatcher. A VermilionFlycatcher brightened ChoctawhatcheeBay, with another count week at LakeCity. Kendall Area furnished a TropicalKingbird, while a Cassin’s Kingbird re -turned to STA5-Clewiston. LoggerheadShrikes numbered 2161 on 61 CBCs,with 257 at Fort Myers and 205 at PeaceRiver. Yellow-throated Vireos werenorth to Choctawhatchee Bay andCocoa. Florida Scrub-Jays totaled 366on 20 counts. Jackson County againproduced all 14 of the state’s HornedLarks, raising the question of whetherthey may be breeding locally (there is noFlorida breeding report). Surprisingly,all Barn Swallows were far north, with sixat Choctawhatchee Bay and one at St.Augustine. Tallahassee again monopolizedthe state’s White-breasted Nuthatches,with 19. Jackson County produced threeBrown Creepers, with another countweek at Choctawhatchee Bay.

Four Red-whiskered Bulbuls were tal-lied at Kendall Area. It was a good winterfor Golden-crowned Kinglets, with 138on 12 counts and birds south to WestPasco (three) and St. Petersburg (one).There were 36 Common Mynas on fiveCBCs, all of them in southeasternFlorida, while Kendall Area produced all23 Hill Mynas. Apalachicola Bay-St.

Vincent N.W.R. again furnished bothSprague’s Pipits. Cedar Waxwings had agood year, with 3749 on 36 CBCs,including 800 at Pensacola and 765 atJackson County.

Twenty-three warbler species wereaccepted, with unique reports of Nashvilleat Cocoa, Black-throated Gray at Venice-Englewood, and “Audubon’s” at Zellwood-Mount Dora. Three Prothonotary Warblerswere at Coot Bay-Everglades N.P. Asalways, the two most numerous specieswere Yellow-rumped (62,002) and Palm(23,296), the latter occurring on everycount, and the former on every count ex -cept Key Largo-Plantation Key. ThirteenSummer Tanagers were observed on 11counts, all singles except at Dade Countyand Kendall Area. Pensacola producedthe only Lark Sparrow, while Gainesvillefurnished 19 of the state’s 23 Henslow’sSparrows. The two most abundant spar-rows were Chipping (8545 on 62counts) and Savannah (4987 on 48counts). The sharp-tailed sparrows weredivided between 105 Nelson’s on 13CBCs, 63 Saltmarsh on four counts, andtwo not identified specifically. A Harris’sSparrow was a highlight at Gainesville.Jackson County produced six Dark-eyedJuncos, with another far south to EastPasco. A Rose-breasted Grosbeak wasfound count week at Coot Bay-Everglades N.P., with a Pheucticus speciesat Kendall Area.

There were 330 Painted Buntings on34 counts, including 71 at Cocoa, 36 atWest Palm Beach, and 29 at Stuart.Duos of Yellow-headed Blackbirdsbrightened St. Augustine and Zellwood-Mount Dora. There were 24 RustyBlackbirds on five CBCs south to LakeCity; no Brewer’s Blackbirds werefound. Kendall Area furnished the soleShiny Cowbird, while BronzedCowbirds were found at Alafia Banks(one), Dade County (five), and KendallArea (four). Spot-breasted Orioles num-bered four at West Palm Beach and threeat Fort Lauderdale, with none on CBCsin Miami-Dade County. Six PurpleFinches brightened ChoctawhatcheeBay, while House Finches totaled 1063individuals on 33 CBCs. There were2420 House Sparrows on 54 counts,and 52 Nutmeg Mannikins—anotherexotic to watch—at Pensacola.

Bruce Anderson of Winter Parkreviewed this season’s 246 rare-bird doc-umentation forms, for which I am mostgrateful. I deleted 55 reports submittedwith little or no documentation, and Iappended with the “DD” (DetailsDesired) annotation 43 other reports.The number of deletions remains steadyat around 0.5 percent of all reports sub-mitted, an amount that seemsimpossible to improve upon. Dates andlocations for all Florida CBCs, alongwith my letter of instruction to compilers,are posted to the website of the FloridaOrnithological Society (http://fosbirds.org).

Correction: In my summary for the108th season (American Birds 62:67–69), I failed to note that the SarasotaCBC attained 161 species.

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

Hilton Head Island, SC 29928

chocevar@aol.com

Unlike the climatic adventures of theprevious year, the weather for the 109thChristmas Bird Count in Ohio did notprovide trauma for participants. Ohio’s1700 field participants found openwater, little precipitation, and reasonable

68 AMERICAN BIRDS

Wood Stork (Mycteria americana), St.Petersburg, Florida. Photo/Don Margeson