Great Backyard Bird Count - East Brunswick Was First Among All NJ Towns!

For the second year in a row, East Brunswick residents submitted more checklists than any other town in New Jersey. This year, 381 towns participated in the Great Backyard Bird Count Citizen Science project and East Brunswick was Number 1 among all of them. We also were third in the overall number of species found (59) and observed a whopping 28,098 individual birds!

This year also featured participation by all of the students in the East Brunswick High School AP Environmental Science class!

A list of all the birds found this year in East Brunswick can be found at http://gbbc.birdsource.org/gbbcApps/report?cmd=showReport&reportName=CitySummary&city=East%20Brunswick&state=US-NJ&year=2012.

Some highlights from this year included loads of waterfowl on Farrington Lake and Duhernal Lake (Northern Pintail, Ruddy Duck, Ring-necked Duck, Green-Winged Teal, Mallard, American Black Duck, Greater Scaup, Hooded and Red-Breasted Mergansers, Mute Swan, Brant, Bufflehead and Pied-Billed Grebe).

The open water also seems to have allowed other species to be around that aren't often seen in a typical February when our lakes and ponds are usually frozen like Belted Kingfisher, Killdeer and Great Blue Heron.

The raptors were also well-represented with Red Tailed Hawks, Coopers Hawks, Sharp-Shinned Hawks, Northern Harrier and Great Horned Owl all found by counters around town.

Two of our birds that have made an amazing comeback and would have been unlikely to show up on a count only a few years ago were also found in town. These are the Bald Eagle and the Wild Turkey, both stunning examples of excellent wildlife management programs. 2 Bald Eagles and 11 Wild Turkey were found by counters this year.

There were also three species of woodpeckers found (Downy, Flicker and Red-Bellied) and seven species of sparrows (White-Throated, White-Crowned, House, Song, Field and American Tree).  

On behalf of the Friends of the East Brunswick Environmental Commission,  a huge Kudos to everyone that participated this year and helped catalogue our bird fauna. The Great Backyard Bird Count is Citizen Science at its best. The vast amount of data generated across the country will help ornithologists and resource managers understand a great deal about the status of our birds in the United States. The contributions of our own East Brunswick Citizen Scientists are no less meaningful. It is only through the creation of a huge database over many years and in a vast number of places that the individual pieces of the puzzle will make sense and a picture of what is occurring will emerge. 

Don't let the end of the Great Backyard Bird Count weekend spell the end of looking for birds. Just the opposite, use it as a catalyst to keep looking around town for birds. Let us know what you find and please share any interesting observations and photographs with us. Friends members can also directly upload photos to the website at www.friendsebec.com.

The Online Guide to Backyard Birds will continue to be available on the Friends website to help with identification and we will work to expand the Guide from time to time. Each entry features a photo and a link to more information about the species. The Guide can be found at http://www.friendsebec.com/ebbackyardbirds.htm.