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MEMORANDUM 
TO : PARTICIPANTS IN W97*T9f8 SERC WINTER BIRD COUNT 
FROM : Linda McCann 
RE : RESULTS OF 9 JANUARY 1999 COUNT 
DATE : 29 March 1999 
Weather : The early part of the winter of 1998-99 was unusually mild (as was also true of the last 2 
years). However the day of the count, morning temperatures did not get out of the teens. Due to the warm 
weather leading up to the weekend, there was no ice in any of the coves around the count area. Skies were 
mostly clear and breezes remained gentle to calm - a good day in the woods. 
The count .— Saturday morning was foggy and cold so the count was aborted, although some of us met 
for chili that night anyway. It was decided to try again Sunday, although this would necessitate a shorter 
count, as many of us had obligations later that day. One hardy soul came down and spent four hours 
censusing in the fog. This added aEleasf^re species to our list! Thanks Whitman"; Sunday was clear, 
though very cold. Despite the cold temperatures and the knowledge that the usual supper could not be 
provided after a hard days work, nine volunteers showed up at the SERC visitor’s center at 07:00. As 
usual, we broke up into four parties, each of which covered a different sector of the 70 km Rhode River 
count area (this is less than 5% the size of a standard 1,810 km Audubon Christmas Count circle). 
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The total number of species sighted was within the normal-range (63), though not so high as in the 
last few years. Several species that were tallied last year were missing from the count this year (several 
ducks and the red headed woodpecker). This was probably due to having fewer experts on hand, and fewer 
search hours overall. Thanks so much to those who were able to participate this year, despite the delay. I 
hope to see you all again next year. 
cc: Ed Balinsky, Greg Ruiz, Paul Fofonoff, Tuck Hines, Linda MeCami, Bert Drake, Rene Voss, 
Denny Whigham, and Whitman Miller (Saturday) 
