
Lumberton Leas 3d Winter Bird Census, January 16, 2002
The day was partly sunny, mild with little wind. The list included 19 species, and 201 individuals.
Here are results of the Medford Leas Winter Bird Census, annual since January 1988, and other projects such as the Bluebird Trail.
Each year has a page, and summary tables are also available:

The day was partly sunny, mild with little wind. The list included 19 species, and 201 individuals.

The group met at the Community building at 9 AM, and birded until 11:30 AM. The bird list included 21 species and 227 individuals.

Lumberton Leas 1st Winter Bird Census, January 12, 2000. Six birders counted 81 Individuals of 16 species while the Lumberton campus was still under construction.

This year’s annual Winter Census on the Lumberton campus on January 23 was cold, but relatively productive, recording 47 species and 5,166 individuals.

The 2022 Medford Campus Winter census was held on January 15. On that day, the temperature barely reached 25° F by noon; twenty-three species were recorded with a total of 850 individuals.

Twelve of the 13 nest boxes with metal poles and predator guards successfully fledged young with no predation. Several boxes had more than one successful nest. The bluebird success rate (#young fledged/#eggs) increased from 23.3% in 2020 to 85.7% in 2021. Tree Swallows and House Wrens also had significant improvement in 2021.

There are many nesting boxes at Lumberton Leas. While they all could accommodate bluebirds, most of the poles were wood (which black snakes and raccoons can climb) with no predator guard. In an effort to reduce predation, 12 of the original boxes on wooden poles have been replaced with boxes on metal poles with predator guards.

Summary table of Medford Leas winter bird census data from 1989 to present

A summary table of Winter Bird Census data for both Medford and Lumberton campuses, from 1989 to date.

The ML Birders conducted their annual winter census on 01/23/2021 for the Medford Campus . The weather was very cold and windy with brilliant sunshine. The only modification we had to make to the old adage of “no such thing as bad weather only bad clothing” was the addition of the socially responsible mask.

The ML Birders conducted their annual winter census on 01/15/2021 for the Lumberton Campus. The weather was hazy sun with temperature in the low to mid 40’s.

Groups led by Robert Koch walked the Lumberton campus and woods in the morning and the Medford campus and woods in the afternoon of December 27, 2020. The day’s highlight was a group of three Bald Eagles, possibly a family, as they perched in the evening light in the trees between Lumberton and Creekview.

It was a great day to count the birds!! Bright and sunny day with calm winds and temperatures ranging from mid-40’s to low 50’s. The usual Winter population of song birds was present although some birds, like the Great Horned Owl seen on consecutive days on its roost, were missing. The variety and number of ducks were also lower than the past few censuses.

We started our count in the community garden area under bright sun and a chilly 24 F. Fortunately it was a dead calm day so the wind-chill factor was negligible. Most of the birds we expected to see were present but there were also unexpected misses.

We began our census under gray skies and cool weather and it remained such throughout. However, it turned out to be a rather birdy morning as we totaled 28 species and 574 individuals.

The 20th Winter Bird Census was conducted on a bright and sunny day with winds increasing through the morning. The high winds might have accounted for the low count of song and woodland birds.

On December 23 2019, the Medford Leas birders contributed a day’s censusing to the Audubon Christmas Bird Count.

The Medford Leas Birders set out to get some idea of the spring migrants that visit our campuses, as well as recording some numbers on our resident populations. Overall we totaled 30 species on each campus.

The ML Birders had to postpone their count by a day due to inclement weather. However, a late afternoon walk on the count day did garner three raptors and one duck species.