[SBB] Jan. 1, S.C. Co. Bird List

We started out the new year of 2007 with a bang. It was a gorgeous day and lots of people were out looking for birds. The day's total was 171 which is 3 better than the high in the last seven years and a good bit above the long-term average. When you think about it, 171 is a fairly good number for midwinter birding. This is very close to the totals that were recorded this year on the Palo Alto and San Jose CBCs.

So many people were birding that a list of the species seen by only one individual or a party may be of interest. As you can see, there were only 27 of the 171 species that fit this category: Eurasian Wigeon, Red-breasted Merganser, Western Grebe, Clark's Grebe, Bald Eagle, Ferruginous Hawk, Prairie Falcon, Virginia Rail, Sanderling, Dunlin, Bonaparte's Gull, Western Gull, Western Screech-Owl, Great Horned Owl, Burrowing Owl, White-throated Swift, Lewis's Woodpecker, Barn Swallow, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Pygmy Nuthatch, Rock Wren, Golden-crowned Kinglet, American Pipit, Yellow Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, Great-tailed Grackle, and Pine Siskin. I'm sure that quite a few of these were seen on 1 Jan by other people, such as Western Grebe, Bonaparte's and Western gulls, American Pipit, and Common Yellowthroat, but were just not reported

Of the four real rarities found, all were stakeouts from December. Three 5's were refound, including the unusual winter SOLITARY SANDPIPER northwest of the Coyote Creek Golf Course, the BLACK-AND-WHITE WARBLER in Upper Penitencia Creek Park, and GREAT-TAILED GRACKLES at the Coyote Creek Golf Course.

The one 6 was the continuing YELLOW-BELLIED SAPSUCKER at Ed Levin CP.