LGA Year Results: the Minor Counties

Technically I still have fifty-five hours until 2011 ends, but it looks like the final species have been tallied in my 2011 'LGA Big Year' effort. A camping trip is going to take up most of that fifty-five hours and New Years Eve plans will take much of the rest. Today I made my last-ditch effort to tally some last species and I am now ready to conclude with my final analysis. In general I can say I bit off more than I could chew in having six separate counties to work towards, but more on that in a subsequent post.

the Minor Counties

The 'minor counties' are those for which I had smaller species goals due to birding availability, habitat diversity, and/or drving distance--Essex, Sussex, and Hudson Counties. I spent less time birding these counties.

Essex County - 73% Completion (55/75 Species)

Today I spent some time in West Essex Park trying to grab some new species. I fell short of the twenty three I would have needed to make my 75 bird goal, but I did find three Essex FOYs--Cooper's Hawk, Brown Creeper, and Fox Sparrow. The vast majority of my Essex birds came from Mills Reservation because it was the only Essex location I was familiar with prior to this year and because it is relatively close as far as Essex locations go. The biggest problem I ran into in Essex was simply the lack of aquatic habitats. Waterbirds were completely absent from my Essex list until my trip to Weequahic Park on December 3rd. I also ran short on neotropical migrants because I spent much of my migration time in the spring scouting for World Series. I played catch-up in the fall but it was too little too late. I tallied, for example, just nine warblers. Before this year I had a mere nine species on my eBird Essex life list (though my unofficial number was probably in the high twenties). I logged forty-eight new Essex species thanks to this effort. Notable Essex birds in 2011: Cackling Goose, Great Horned Owl, Tennessee Warbler, Hooded Warbler

Sussex County - 69% Completion (52/75 Species)

This was the most distant of all my 'LGA counties.' This reduced the amount off opportunities I had for birding in the county, especially during busy migration times. The only day I spent in Sussex County during migration was on May 21 and it yielded very few migrants. Here again a shortage of aquatic habitat limited species, though not because it was unavailable but because it was distant. As with Essex County, this effort saw a twenty-one species jump in my Sussex list, going from a mere fifty-nine species to a more respectable eighty. Notable Sussex birds in 2011: Long-tailed Duck, Common Goldeneye

Hudson County - 87% Completion (87/100 Species)

Before this year began my Hudson County life list was ninety-one species. I put in a good effort this year in Hudson with Liberty State Park and Kearny Marsh contributing the most species. One of the main goals of the LGA Year was to bird new local venues and my effort Hudson County accomplished that goal. I birded location around Bayonne and Schmidt's Woods for the first time and Laurel Hill Park which I had birded only once of twice before. In the end I added a very satisfying thrity-three species to my Hudson life list, now at one hundred twenty four species. Here again migrants were the issue as much of my migration birding in the spring was centered on World Series. Only making matter worse was the fact that it was the poorest spring migration I can remember. For example, I only totaled seven warbler and only one was seen in spring. Even though I fell short I am very satisfied with my effort because of all the new places it took me, because of all the additional species I found for my county life list, and because of the rarities I was able to find. Notable Husdon birds in 2011: Long-tailed Duck, Common Goldeneye, Black-headed Gull, Lapland Longspur, Grasshopper Sparrow

Read a final analysis of the 'LGA Year' here.