Trumbull Christmas Bird Count showed 18 bald eagles

Staff report

WARREN

Trumbull County’s Christmas Bird Count, held on an unusually warm Dec. 16, showed a large number of waterfowl in the county, with the largest single type of bird noted being 2,662 mallard ducks.

Temperatures had been fairly high leading up to Dec. 16, and the high temperature Dec. 16 was 57, so lake and stream water was not frozen, said Carole Babyak, compiler for the Trumbull County count.

Ring-billed gulls were second in number at 2,384, and Canada geese were third at 2,013. The European starling was fourth at 1,365. Northern cardinals, a popular feeder bird, totaled 432.

Earlier in the fall, many birds from the north such as crossbills, redpolls and evening grosbeaks came to Ohio, but none were spotted Dec. 16.

Pine siskins, another type of bird from the north, were seen. Bald eagles are around Mosquito Lake and the Grand River Wildlife Area, and this count tallied 11 adults and seven immature eagles.

Six trumpeter swans were seen and 12 red-shouldered hawks, 23 red-tailed hawks and 31 rusty blackbirds. The rusty blackbird has been declining, and its numbers are tracked by Cornell University and the National Audubon Society.

Information gained through the bird count will be available at the Audubon website. The Christmas bird count was started in 1900 along the East Coast and now covers the entire United States and Canada. Trumbull County’s first count was in 1976.

The Christmas Bird Count is reviewed by scientists to determine fluctuating bird populations as well as climate changes. Five people watched their feeders, and people counting in the field came from Trumbull, Mahoning, Geauga and Columbiana counties.