Results of the 47th Cookeville, Tennessee, Christmas Bird Count, Held December 20, 2008

 

    The forty-seventh Cookeville Christmas Bird Count (CBC) was conducted December 20, 2008. The total species recorded (91) supplied a record for this count, making it just the second Upper Cumberland Region CBC to reach the 90-species plateau.

    To view a summary of Cookeville Christmas Bird Count (CBC) data for the past 22 years (1987-2008), go to each of these pages:

    To see the annual results of the Cookeville CBCs for 2000-2007, click on the appropriate item below:

    For a summary of high counts for each species registered on the Cookeville CBC, click below:

    For CBC guidelines in Cookeville, click below:

 

Table 1. Results of 2008 Cookeville CBC.

Location W NW NE ENE SE SC SW White FW Total
Party Leader BHS MJH WAW RWS SJS DAD DLC WB
Party Members JaF JuF TMS LH EKL SB SH
DJS NSL BD
PH HO
MR
Number of Field Parties 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 7-8
Number of Field Observers 3 4 2 1 2 1 2 2 0 17
Number of Feederwatchers 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 4
Start CST 0545 0630 0645 0633 0435 0500 0530 0430 0620 0430
End CST 1610 1630 1645 1544 1640 1600 1700 1500 1200 1700
   Hours by Car 6.25 9 9 3 10 9.5 3 8.5 0 58.25
   Hours on Foot 3 1 1 1.25 0.5 0 7.5 0 0 14.25
Total Party Hrs. 9.25 10 10 4.25 10.5 9.5 10.5 8.5 0 72.5
   Miles by Car 64 50 59 25 97 73 43.5 72 0 483.5
   Miles on Foot 3.5 1 1 0.25 0.25 0 5 0 0 11
Total Party Miles 67.5 51 60 25.25 97.25 73 48.5 72 0 494.5
Hours Owling 1 0 0 0 1.5 1.5 0.5 0.5 0 5
Miles Owling 9 0 0 0 21 10.5 5 0.25 0 45.75
Hours at Feeders 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4.5 4.5
Low Temp. F 40 44 39 ? 43 40 ? ? ? 39
High Temp. F 52 ? 55 ? 50 50 ? ? ? 55
Wind Speed (mph) 0-5 ? ? ? 0-5 0-5 ? ? ? 0-5
Wind Direction ? ? ? ? var. S ? ? ? S
A.M. Sky pclo ? ? clo pclo overcast ? ? ? Partly Cloudy
P.M. Sky overcast ? ? overcast overcast overcast ? ? ? Overcast
A.M. Precipitation ? ? ? ? none none ? ? ? None
P.M. Precipitation ? ? ? light rain late P.M. none/driz none/driz ? ? ? Late P.M. Drizzle
Moon Phase ? ? ? last quarter last quarter waning ? ? ? Last Quarter
Snow Goose--white morph 1 1 2
Canada Goose 185 29 13 9 11 78 107 72 504
Wood Duck 2 2 4
Gadwall 25 4 5 25 59
American Black Duck 1 4 5
Mallard 42 18 1 35 12 15 123
Northern Shoveler 3 15 18
Northern Pintail 1 1
Green-winged Teal 3 3
Ring-necked Duck 10 38 6 54
Greater Scaup 1 1
Bufflehead 12 12
Hooded Merganser 4 6 19 27 56
Ruddy Duck 19 19
Wild Turkey 24 24
Northern Bobwhite 1 10 11
Pied-billed Grebe 6 6
Great Blue Heron 2 1 1 1 1 2 2 10
Black Vulture 1 150 11 11 26 199
Turkey Vulture 2 50 70 3 24 149
Northern Harrier 1 2 3
Sharp-shinned Hawk 1 1 1 3
Cooper's Hawk 1 1 1 3
Red-shouldered Hawk 2 2 1 2 1 3 1 12
Red-tailed Hawk 1 3 2 1 2 3 2 4 18
American Kestrel 3 7 4 6 6 1 13 40
American Coot 217 217**
Sandhill Crane 200 200
Killdeer 1 35 3 20 75 16 150
Wilson's Snipe 1 1
American Woodcock 2 1 3*
Ring-billed Gull 1 1
Rock Pigeon 39 58 3 60 3 37 20 220
Eurasian Collared-Dove 9 9*
Mourning Dove 117 60 54 2 39 70 197 53 592
Eastern Screech-Owl 6 1 3 1 1 12
Great Horned Owl 3 1 4
Barred Owl 1 2 3
Rufous Hummingbird 1 1
Belted Kingfisher 2 2 2 1 1 2 10
Red-headed Woodpecker 1 6 1 2 6 2 18
Red-bellied Woodpecker 11 10 20 20 21 14 19 5 1 121(116)**
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 1 4 11 1 7 2 8 8 1 43(35)**
Downy Woodpecker 9 7 15 3 14 7 7 6 1 69
Hairy Woodpecker 1 3 4 4 1 13
Northern Flicker 10 4 8 6 13 5 11 3 1 61
Pileated Woodpecker 3 4 6 3 12 6 3 3 40*
Eastern Phoebe 1 2 3 5 4 1 3 1 20
Loggerhead Shrike 1 1
Blue Jay 66 84 55 37 60 92 62 62 9 527(465)**
American Crow 104 72 66 20 47 97 94 58 6 564
Carolina Chickadee 10 26 34 7 54 26 22 9 6 194
Tufted Titmouse 19 18 48 5 36 33 23 10 5 197
Red-breasted Nuthatch cw
White-breasted Nuthatch 11 13 26 4 21 11 8 8 2 104*
Brown-headed Nuthatch 10 10**(tie)
Brown Creeper 1 1 2 4
Carolina Wren 30 13 23 26 42 34 34 14 1 217*
House Wren 1 1
Winter Wren 1 1 2 1 5
Golden-crowned Kinglet 1 4 3 1 3 12
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 2 2 3 2 7 16
Eastern Bluebird 45 63 67 16 63 58 46 28 386
Hermit Thrush 2 6 8 13 2 14 45**
American Robin 112 118 143 30 220 215 583 29 1450(1421)**
Northern Mockingbird 30 37 15 5 25 27 19 9 1 168
Brown Thrasher 1 2 4 1 8
European Starling 19389 400 640 33 476 740 1000 209 22887
American Pipit 1 13 14
Cedar Waxwing 3 12 17 52 180 137 30 431
Yellow-rumped Warbler 9 4 45 12 42 52 87 15 266
Pine Warbler 2 2
Eastern Towhee 14 9 12 7 9 21 23 5 1 101
Chipping Sparrow 4 2 8 11 24 2 51*
Field Sparrow 24 24 21 35 46 37 6 193
Savannah Sparrow 2 1 6 9
Fox Sparrow 1 1 11 13
Song Sparrow 34 24 50 6 45 50 46 6 2 263
Swamp Sparrow 2 13 1 1 8 9 34
White-throated Sparrow 44 59 19 8 46 81 103 30 390(360)**
White-crowned Sparrow 7 7
Dark-eyed Junco 12 4 42 34 19 29 42 182
Northern Cardinal 53 36 24 10 60 39 38 18 10 288
Red-winged Blackbird 1 1 1000 1002
Eastern Meadowlark 11 4 11 26 16 7 56 131
Common Grackle 458 1790 100 1753 750 310 5161
Brown-headed Cowbird 12 12
Purple Finch 1 5 1 10 14 2 21 8 62
House Finch 4 22 20 6 21 12 11 18 6 120
Pine Siskin 3 8 2 20 6 39
American Goldfinch 13 15 32 11 15 30 20 79 215
House Sparrow 40 25 4 7 3 20 1 14 6 120
Total Individuals 20859 1822 3470 483 3642 2241 4849 1623 60 39049
Total Species 68 49 58 33 59 51 60 60 17 91

 

Key to Observers:

Initials Observer's Name
SB Sharon Brines
WB Wally Brines
DLC Daniel L. Combs
DAD Douglas A. Downs
BD Bettie Doyle (FW)
FW FeederWatcher
JaF Janie C. Finch
JuF Judy C. Fuson
MJH Michael J. Hawkins
LH Linda Henderson
SH Stan Hood (FW)
PH Peggy Huffstetler
NSL Nancy S. Layzer
EKL Edmund K. LeGrand
HO Handley "Ozzie" Oswalt (FW)
MR Michele Ramsey (FW)
TMS Thomas M. Saya
RWS Richard W. Simmers, Jr.
DJS DJ Stanley
BHS Barbara H. Stedman
SJS Stephen J. Stedman, compiler
WAW Winston A. Walden

Comments:

cw = observed some time during count week (December 17-19 & 21-23) only.

* = new Cookeville CBC high count (6 species).

** = new Cookeville CBC high count and Putnam County high count (8 species--Putnam County high count in parentheses if different from CBC high count; the Putnam County high count may be lower than the CBC high count because part of the CBC circle is in White County; any birds seen in that county may be counted as part of the Cookeville CBC high count, but not as part of the Putnam County all-time high count).

For the second consecutive year no species new to the Cookeville CBC was found, so the all-time species total for the CBC remains at 132.

One Snow Goose was noted near the Burgess Falls Nursery on Burgess Falls Rd. during the morning (DLC, EKL), and two Snows were noted at Cane Creek Park at dusk (BHS, JaF, DJS); since there may have been overlap in these sightings, only two Snows are conservatively listed above.

The Northern Pintail was a female on Whitaker Rd. near Phifer Mt. Rd. (SJS, LH).

The Greater Scaup was a male that had been at Cane Creek Park since late November (BHS).

The collared-doves were found mainly in the Double Springs area (BHS, JaF, DJS).

The Rufous Hummingbird was an adult male that appeared on Aspen Dr. west of Cookeville during September 2008; it was banded during November 2008; and it was seen on count day (SH).

The Loggerhead Shrike was found on Whitaker Rd. near Cherry Creek Rd. (SJS, LH).

The Brown-headed Nuthatches were all found at the Cookeville Golf Course (WAW, TMS); the "tie" referred to in the table is related to the Putnam County all-time high count, not to the Cookeville CBC all-time high count.

The House Wren was found on Walker Mt. Rd. (SJS, LH).

The Pine Warblers were found at the Cookeville Golf Course (WAW, TMS).