Back to the BWBS	Annual Summary for 1999
	ASNH Winter Bird Survey

1999 Backyard Winter Bird Survey Results by Dr. Pamela Hunt

The bird feeding season is once again upon us, and while winter still seems far away as I watch the rain through my office window, there are signs that it could be a good season. But this letter is about the past: the 1999 Backyard Winter Bird Survey. The number of observers who participated last winter was 1051, essentially the same as in 1998, and the total number of species recorded was identical - 74. As my experience with the Backyard Winter Bird Survey increases, I have started to notice trends in observer comments as well as in bird populations, and this year I thought I would comment on the oft-heard "fewer birds than usual." It seems, after reading the many notes and comments that accompany your data forms, that birds somehow know when the survey is held and avoid feeders in droves. Does this make sense? Of course not, and I have a theory as to why we think this way. Normally, when most of us watch our bird feeders, we do so casually - we happen to check them as we pass a window or when there is a lot of activity. When birds are absent, we fail to mentally record their absence in the same way we record their presence. As a result, we have biased memories of how many birds visit our feeders. Thus, when you actually sit down and pay attention in a more organized fashion, the blank spots are just as memorable as the birdy ones, and you think there are fewer birds than usual. Does this make sense? You can easily test this by trying to keep feeder data in a more consistent way, as those of you who participate in Cornell's Project Feeder Watch may appreciate. The main reason that bird activity varies over the short term is the weather, and mid-February 1999 was not notable in any major way. Temperatures were generally in the 20s and 30s, skies were clear, and there was little wind or precipitation. The winter of 1998 was one of the mildest on record, and such long-term climatic trends probably have a greater effect on bird populations than day-to-day variations in the weather. Some of the high counts and unusual species in this year's count may have been affected in this way. The winter of 1999 was a low year in terms of winter finch activity, and irruptive species like redpolls and crossbills were quite rare. Evening Grosbeaks, which many of you may remember as being exceptionally common as recently as the late 1980s, reached their lowest total ever (368) this year. One can only wonder if they are once again changing their migration patterns, the same process that brought them to New England in the first place in the 1950s and 1960s. Purple Finches made a good showing, but the star of the season was undoubtedly the American Goldfinch. The survey total of 11,261 goldfinches was not only a record for this species, it is also the highest number of any species ever recorded on the survey. Now that the year 2000 survey is upon us, it seems that we are in for another finch year: the Common Redpolls have been outside my window in the rain all morning. Among the noteworthy sightings of the 1999 survey was one new species: a Pine Warbler that may very well have taken advantage of the mild weather. As a point of reference, note that another warbler, a Black-throated Blue, spent the entire winter at a feeder in Stratham, although it was not recorded on the Backyard Winter Bird Survey. Lots of species reached record or near-record totals. Among these were Wild Turkey, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Pileated Woodpecker, Common Raven, Golden-crowned Kinglet, Eastern Bluebird, American Robin, Fox Sparrow, and Dark-eyed Junco. Some of these, such as the Red-bellied Woodpecker, are southern species that continue to expand northward in the state and consolidate their gains in the south. Others, like thrushes and the Fox Sparrow, normally winter farther south but persisted because of high food and mild weather. On the down side, the number of House Finches was the third lowest ever, suggesting that they still haven-t recovered from the conjunctivitis outbreak in 1995-96. Finally, a note on procedures. You have probably noticed the list of "undocumented" species at the end of this page. These are all species that are either not to be expected in New Hampshire in winter (Osprey, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker), hard to identify (Cooper's Hawk, many sparrows), or a combination of the two. By far the most common species in this category are sparrows, especially Field and Chipping Sparrows. While these two species are not unheard of in winter in New Hampshire, they are far less common than the American Tree Sparrow. Many observers do not realize, for instance, that Chipping Sparrows lose their red cap in winter, and thus sparrows with red caps are likely to be tree sparrows. This is not to say that you could not have had Chipping Sparrows, but that unless you convince us they were not tree sparrows, we have to treat the data with caution. In the long run, the data are more valuable when we are more confident about their accuracy. For more, see Documenting Unusual Birds on the reverse. To close, thanks again to all participants in the Backyard Winter Bird Survey, without whom we would know a lot less about our winter birds. Additional thanks are due to those of you who sent in a contribution to defray our costs, and here's hoping you're seeing redpolls outside your windows (and that it's not raining)!