AVIAN ECOLOGY LAB: 
 Archbold Biological Station, P.O. Box 2057, Lake Placid, Florida 33862 USA
Phone: 863-465-2571    FAX: 863-699-1927   send e-mail

home | index | research | avian ecology lab


Cutthroatgrass flatwoods, SW corner of Reserve; photo by Fred Lohrer.

Winter Bird Count 2003, the Reserve,
Highlands County, Florida

compiled by Reed Bowman
January 2003

Reserve home | biodiversity inventory

Summary. Below is the 1-year summary of the winter bird count conducted at the Reserve, Archbold Biological Station, on 15 January 2003. Ten parties and a total of 21 people participated. In total, 99 species were seen, several never previously recorded during the 10 years of the winter bird count conducted at adjacent Archbold Biological Station (1990-1999). These species are American Bittern, Snowy Egret, Tricolored Heron, Black-crowned Night-Heron, Northern Shoveler, King Rail, Lesser Yellowlegs, Burrowing Owl, Marsh Wren, American Pipit, and Lincoln’s Sparrow. In total, 26 species that were seen at least once during the 10 years of the Station winter bird count were not seen this year on the Reserve. On average, these species were seen on only 3 of 10 counts at the Station. Only two species were seen in each of 10 years on the Station count that were missed on the Reserve count: Great Horned Owl and Red-headed Woodpecker; however, Red-headed Woodpecker was seen during the count week on the Reserve. Listed below are the total number of each species seen by all parties, the mean number seen per party, the maximum number seen by any party, and the number of parties that reported each species. Some species (3 marked by an *) totals were adjusted for possible overlap with other parties on the Reserve winter bird count: Black Vulture, Turkey Vulture, and Tree Swallow.

Species

Total

Mean

Max

# Parties

 

Anhinga

 

1

 

1

 

1

 

1

American Bittern

6

2

3

3

Great Blue Heron

18

3

5

7

Great Egret

37

5

10

7

Snowy Egret

5

3

3

2

Little Blue Heron

5

1

2

4

Tricolored Heron

2

1

1

2

Cattle Egret

120

12

39

10

Green Heron

5

2

3

3

Black-crowned Night-Heron

4

2

2

2

White Ibis

2

1

1

2

Wood Stork

4

1

2

3

Black Vulture*

30

3

3

10

Turkey Vulture*

50

5

5

10

Wood Duck

9

5

5

2

Blue-winged Teal

6

3

4

2

Northern Shoveler

4

4

4

1

Hooded Merganser

7

7

7

1

Osprey

1

1

1

1

Bald Eagle

1

1

1

1

Northern Harrier

8

1

2

7

Sharp-shinned Hawk

3

1

1

3

Cooper's Hawk

3

2

2

2

Red-shouldered Hawk

24

3

7

8

Red-tailed Hawk

7

1

2

6

Crested Caracara

6

1

2

5

American Kestrel

9

1

2

7

Merlin

1

1

1

1

Wild Turkey

1

1

1

1

Northern Bobwhite

47

8

28

6

King Rail

2

2

2

1

Common Moorhen

3

3

3

1

Sandhill Crane

18

6

10

3

Killdeer

46

6

20

8

Greater Yellowlegs

13

3

6

4

Lesser Yellowlegs

2

2

2

1

Wilson's Snipe

40

7

24

6

White-winged Dove

66

17

52

4

Mourning Dove

68

9

30

8

Common Ground-Dove

31

6

10

5

Eastern Screech-Owl

4

1

2

3

Burrowing Owl

3

2

2

2

Barred Owl

8

2

3

4

Whip-poor-will

2

1

1

2

Belted Kingfisher

3

1

1

3

Red-bellied Woodpecker

87

9

23

10

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

14

3

9

5

Downy Woodpecker

48

6

15

8

Hairy Woodpecker

1

1

1

1

Northern Flicker

24

3

8

7

Pileated Woodpecker

5

3

4

2

Eastern Phoebe

55

6

23

9

Great Crested Flycatcher

12

2

8

5

Loggerhead Shrike

34

3

7

10

White-eyed Vireo

52

7

19

7

Blue-headed Vireo

14

4

9

4

Blue Jay

95

11

28

9

Florida Scrub-Jay

36

6

12

6

American Crow

63

7

17

9

Fish Crow

1