With a record-breaking count of 152 species at Bay County, the first AOS count to enter the magic circle of 150 or more since Dauphin Island’s 156 in 1965, and with new counts inaugurated at Guntersville and Choctawhatchee Bay (“Choc. Bay”), there were a record 15 AOS Christmas Counts conducted during the 1976 Christmas Season. Reflecting the inconsistent weather, which began with an almost summer day on Dec. 18 and wound up with a cold front and tempest braved by participants in the Mobile count on Jan. 2, the most outstanding finds were northern visitors and migrant warblers. The effects of our harshest winter in recent years, which began during the count period, remain, however, to be seen. Particularly affected may be the more fragile passerines (fragile in the sense that they are much more abundant in the South than in the North), such as the Carolina Wren and Pine Warbler where reductions of over 40% have already been noted between the 1976 and 1977 Birmingham Spring Counts.
Author: Robert R. Reid, Jr.
Volume Number: 25 Year Published: 1977
Issue Number: 1-2
Page Number: 3
Link to article: http://birdlife.aosbirds.org/1977/Vol 25 No. 1, 2_1977_p3-8.pdf
Link to the full issue of BirdLife: http://birdlife.aosbirds.org/1977/Vol 25 No. 1, 2_1977.pdf
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