Here is a snapshot of today’s 78th Boonton Christmas Bird Count with approximately 67% of the parties reporting and 86 species represented, so far. 67 F degrees was the high temperature in the afternoon. The rain that was forecast never materialized.

The major highlight of Boonton LXXVIII is the 45 Red-headed Woodpeckers tallied, so far. 43 of these were carefully counted by the Troy Meadows West party of Jeff Ellerbusch, Roger Johnson and Simon Lane. The other 2 were from Bee Meadow Park (Jamie Glydon, Julie Buechner, et al). This obliterates the old Boonton CBC high count of 20 set in 2001. It is interesting to think if any other count in New Jersey CBC history has surpassed this amount.

At 4:00 p.m., birds poured into the Troy Meadows marsh for their evening roost to the tune of ~16,000 Common Grackles, 8,000+ American Robins, and 800+ Red-winged Blackbirds.

Complete details and analysis of the count will be posted when all data is received.