MEMORANDUM 
TO 
PARTICIPANTS IN 1997-1998 SERC WINTER BIRD COUNT 
FROM 
JIM LYNCH 
%s ty* 4 -' 
RE 
RESULTS OF 10 JANUARY 1998 COUNT 
DATE 
20 JANUARY 1998 
Weather : The winter of 1997-98 has been unusually mild (as was also true last year), and 
daily high temperatures remained in the mid-60’s for nearly a week prior to the count. 
Conditions began to return to normal the day before the count, and participants awoke to a light 
frost on the morning of 10 January. Nevertheless, temperatures reached the mid-50’s by 
afternoon, and there was no ice in any of the coves around the count area. Skies were mostly 
clear, and breezes remained gentle to calm - all in all, a wonderful day to be out tramping 
around. 
The count .- We mustered a record 22 volunteers 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 2 
Rhode River count area (this is less than 5% the size of a standard 1,810 km 2 Audubon 
Christmas Count circle). Each party was in the field for 7-9 hours. Weather conditions were 
excellent, and our final tally of 74 bird species broke the previous record of 70 species, set in 
1993. Among the species tallied this year were several that had never been encountered in our 
previous winter bird surveys, which go back to the early 1980’s. These new species included 
Horned Grebe, Merlin, Long-eared Owl, Screech Owl, Lesser Black-backed Gull, and Rock Dove. 
This year we tallied 11 waterfowl species, several in record numbers for the SERC 
count. An enormous mixed flock of 3,700+ Canvasback and Ruddy Duck was found on the Rhode 
River in the vicinity of the SERC dock. Count totals for these two species were 2,287 and 
3,813, respectively - both all-time records for SERC. The figures for Ruddy Duck are 
especially impressive, as the species was totally absent from the winter counts in 1993-94, 
1994-95, and 1995-96. Last year Ruddy Ducks returned with a vengeance (count total: 
1,248), and this year’s count tripled that impressive total. These increases parallel two 
extremely productive breeding season for Ruddy Ducks in the prairie pothole region of north- 
central North America. 
Hooded Mergansers, which were first tallied in last year’s count, were present again 
this year (3 individuals) and Red-headed Woodpeckers, formerly very sporadic, were present 
for the third year in a row. These woodpeckers may now be breeding at SERC in the large 
expanse of dead trees created a few years ago by a beaver impoundment. Adults and a young bird 
were observed there last summer. 
Thanks for participating in the count, and I hope to see you all again next year. 
cc: Ed Balinsky, Danny Bystrak, Sheila Carroll, Paul Fofonoff, Liza Hamill, Doug Hayes, 
Rebecca Hayes, Stephanie Jamieson, Jim Lynch, Mark Lynch, Joe McCann, Linda 
McCann, Dave McNally, Dotty Mumford, Kim Phillips, Andy Pupke, Chris Pupke, Greg 
Ruiz, George Smith, Chris Swarth, Denny Whigham, Julie White 
