4 January 1997 -- Count Summary
(Count History: January
1978 - January 1997)
Species reported Count Day: 122
Total individual birds reported Count Day: 41,695
Participants: 90 (64 in the field + 26 at feeders/YARD)
BEST BIRD: Baltimore Oriole
4 January 1997: Despite what observers in the field as well as feeder/yard watchers reported as very low activity, the 20th annual Buffalo Bayou CBC set a count record high number of species. [Compilers’ gripe: The final species count will probably be dropped to 121—still a new high—as t he authorities always refuse to count Ringed Turtle-dove Why do they accept Monk Parakeet and not the Turtle-dove: they seem to be in equivalent circumstances—local populations of both species originated from escaped cage-birds. But for some reason, they still feel that the Houston population of Turtle-dove is not fully established and self-sustaining, although it has been around for years and seems to be increasing.] Our 90 participants also is a count high; as usual in recent years, this undoubtedly will be the second highest number of participants on the UTC. The male Baltimore Oriole (new to the count) was on a power easement on the north side of Buffalo Bayou at Wycliff. (Alas, the female Bullock’s Oriole, which had been at the same feeder for nine consecutive years, was eaten by a Cooper’s Hawk just after last year’s CBC.) A female Summer Tanager on Shell property north of I-10 finished a close second for best bird only because it has been seen previously on this count. A Black-throated Green Warbler was on Deerwood across from the Dow property near Beltway 8. The Harris’ Hawk was back at almost the exact location as last year, on a transmission tower just north of Renn Road between Eldridge and Dairy-Ashford. A gravel pit on Tanner Road just east of Beltway 8 this year held water and a variety of ducks including Canvasback and Ruddy (plus Redhead the day following the count). Feeder/yard watchers added Red-breasted Nuthatch, Wilson’s Warbler, and House Finch, plus the bulk of the Rufous Hummingbirds. Other observations of note: Harris Sparrow, Rusty Blackbird and a Harlan’s Red-tailed Hawk in Barker Reservoir; 2 Osprey, 1 at Braes Bayou and Gessner (could this be the same bird reported at Hermann Park?) and 1 in Addicks Reservoir; 3 Merlins at 2 locations; 4 Pine Siskin in the Houston Arboretum & Nature Center; and Red-Headed Woodpecker in Memorial Oaks Cemetery at Memorial Drive just west of Dairy-Ashford. Yes, there are wonderful birds to be seen righ here in town!
—Bob Honig & Doug Williams, compilers
(Buffalo Bayou Christmas Bird Count web pages are hosted by the Houston Arboretum & Nature Center)