December 2024 Waterfowl Census MJ Foti, Volunteer Coordinator
During the first weekend of November of 1983, Blair Nikula and members of the Cape Cod Bird Club initiated a census of the lakes and ponds on Cape Cod. Participants were instructed to identify and count all the waterfowl (loons, grebes, geese, ducks, and coot) present on each pond. Covering 202 ponds, participants tallied 3,957 individuals of 22 species of waterfowl.
The census continued the following year but was moved to the first weekend in December. Many ducks and geese do not arrive on Cape Cod until in-land bodies of water freeze, and the later date would more closely coincide with peak water-fowl numbers locally. Covering 225 ponds, 25 species of water-fowl were counted with 9,097 individuals being recorded. That year, and in those following, detailed accounts of each species on each pond were recorded. These provide the data presented on the waterfowl website.
Now in its 41st year, the Cape Cod Waterfowl Census is an excellent example of citizen science in which volunteers can gather significant data and make a meaningful contribution to our knowledge of the Massachusetts avifauna. Waterfowl are relatively conspicuous, generally easy to identify, and thus readily censused with a reasonable effort.
The weekend of December 7th and 8th there were 26 teams with 42 individual team members participating in the 41st annual Cape Cod Waterfowl Census. The volunteers demonstrated their impressive collective birding skills as they scouted primary observation locations, recorded data and entered observation results within days of the survey.
Icy conditions on ponds in early morning gave way to more open water as the sun created some melt off. A total of 31 species of waterfowl and 14,013 individual birds were seen on 332 of our freshwater ponds. These include 26 species of ducks, in addition to Canada Goose, Common Loon, Pied-billed Grebe, Mute Swan, and American Coot. Some of the more notable finds include 4 Eurasian Wigeon, an incredible 1,697 Canada Goose – the highest number recorded since the survey’s inception, 579 American Wigeon, and a significant decrease in American Black Duck numbers in comparison to the earliest years of the survey when over 100 fewer ponds were surveyed.
I wish to express my appreciation to the dedicated volunteers, both newcomers and seasoned veterans, for their spirit, enthusiasm, and drive, as well as for generously sharing their collective birding expertise. Please visit our website where you will find a link that will display all waterfowl data in spreadsheet format from 1984 through the present. Here’s a link to the survey website: capecodwaterfowl.org