The 28th St. Clair National Wildlife Area CBC was held on January 1, 2008. The weather was relatively calm to begin with but by 9:00 a.m. the wind, and then the snow, became a factor as a cold front went through. Northwest winds averaged at least 20 km/hr with gusts to 40 km/hr or more. Daytime temperatures were relatively constant, varying only from about +1C to –1C. Except for brief periods, snow was sometimes light and sometimes heavy for much of the day. These conditions made this year’s count the year of the snow bunting, where an incredible and probably conservative 14592 birds were reported.
Sixteen observers tallied 61028 individuals of 81 species of birds. This is about average for individuals (61401) but significantly higher than the average for species (66) since the count’s inception in 1981. The SCNWA count area includes extensive wetlands along the east shore of Lake St. Clair in an otherwise mostly agricultural landscape and therefore waterbirds are a significant element of this count. The cold and snow of two weeks earlier as well as the approaching cold front drove many of them out of the area, limiting the total waterfowl species to just 16 species and 10001 individuals. By comparison, the 2007 CBC tallied 91 species of which 26 (95727 individuals) were waterfowl. There was one new species for the count—Wild Turkey (6). There were 8 species with new high totals. Previous high totals are in parentheses: Common Merganser—2899 (1965) Bald Eagle—13 (7) Red-tailed Hawk—58 (55) Herring Gull—4826 (2574) Short-eared Owl—2 (1) Lapland Longspur—155 (37) Snow Bunting—14592 (8293) Common Redpoll—617 (318) Totals for seven species tied previous highs and included Cooper’s Hawk (11), Peregrine Falcon (1), Iceland Gull (1), Lesser Black-backed Gull (1), Glaucous Gull (3), Barn Owl (1) and Red-headed Woodpecker (1). Count week species to date include Snow Goose, Redhead, Hooded Merganser, Thayer’s Gull and Brown Creeper. Allen Woodliffe (compiler) Chatham _________________________________________________________________ Read what Santa`s been up to! For all the latest, visit asksantaclaus.spaces.live.com! http://asksantaclaus.spaces.live.com/_______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial birding organization. Send bird reports to ONTBIRDS mailing list [email protected] For instructions to join or leave ONTBIRDS visit http://www.ofo.ca/information/ontbirdssetup.php ONTBIRDS Guidelines may be viewed at http://www.ofo.ca/information/ontbirdsguide.php
