Almost 4,500 birds made up of 97 species have been catalogued in an annual count by the Bermuda Audubon Society.

Although the figures are down on last year’s count by more than 1,000, the society described it as “an incredible number given the poor weather conditions”.

The count took place on January 5 — a day of wind and rain — and involved 25 bird-watchers across the island.

Common species such as starlings, kiskadees and sparrows were spotted in abundance, and there were also sightings of rarer birds.

A society spokeswoman said: “Among the many birds counted, we recorded 17 different species of warblers, 12 species of ducks, 11 species of shorebirds, ten species of herons and egrets, and two species of birds of prey.

“Some of the highlights of the day included a variety of migratory ducks, including the canvasback duck, the ring-necked duck, the bufflehead and the hooded merganser.

“Four snow geese were originally spotted a few weeks ago at Hungry Bay and have recently been hanging out on Belmont Hills Golf Course.

“We were lucky to be able to include them in the count.

“Cahows were also included this year due to their early return and our late date of counting — 29 were spotted off the South Shore.”

Notable shorebirds included a dunlin, an impressive 104 black-bellied plovers, which migrate from the Arctic, and one piping plover, which has been on the US endangered species list for almost 40 years.

The spokeswoman said that a variety of seabirds were spotted, including double-crested cormorants and a large flock of gulls at Cross Island, made up of ring-billed, lesser black-backed and herring gulls.

In the woodpecker family, a yellow-bellied sapsucker was counted, and there was a rare sighting of a northern flicker.

The spokeswoman added: “An exceptional find was a horned lark which was seen earlier in December and luckily stayed around to be counted.

“Four ruby-throated hummingbirds were also spotted in two different areas of the island and quite a few different warblers were counted, including a cape may, a magnolia and a prairie, which are not very common here.

“Although the numbers were considerably less than in the past, we still had a good turnout, and we appreciate the effort put in by the participants.

“The total birds counted, including the common ones, was 4,437, consisting of 85 species on count day and 12 additional species during the count week.

“This was an incredible number given the weather but was more than 1,000 less than was counted the previous year.

Anyone who sees a bird they think may be unusual is encouraged to contact the society.

• The Bermuda Audubon Society is holding a guided bird walk at Spittal Pond on February 2, starting at 8am. For more information and to sign up, e-mail info@audubon.bm