Under ideal weather conditions on December 18th, 36 observers on the 74th Cape Cod Christmas Bird Count recorded 127 species and 41,125 individuals.  Highlights included the count's first ever Forster's Terns and record high counts for nine species.  One surprise, and certainly the biggest disappointment, was the paucity of warblers, only three species being found: Palm (1), Chat (2), and Yellow-rumped, the last in the lowest numbers since 1941(!).  The December warbler "wave" was not in evidence in this circle!  Among the notable (but in most cases increasingly expected) misses were Black-crowned Night-Heron, Ring-necked Pheasant, Northern Bobwhite (first time missed since 1947!), Gadwall, American Kestrel, and Purple Finch.  Among the other birds seen were: Common Loons -168 (record high), Great Cormorants - 9 (lowest since 1973), Snow Goose – 1, Wood Ducks - 16 (2nd highest ever), American Black Duck – 3080, Redhead - 7 (highest since 1978), Harlequin Duck – 2, Long-tailed Duck – 212, Common Eider - 11,314, Gray Catbird - 95 (record high by a huge margin - previous record was 36; and only 2 last year!!), Lapland Longspur - 38 (highest since 1981), Carolina Wren - 62 (lowest since 1991 and only half of last year's total; they really got hammered last winter), and Northern Mockingbird - 26 (lowest since 1964, supporting the observations some have made lately on Massbird).