Results of the Kleinburg Christmas Bird Count Notable Birds: GYRFALCON (first for count) Short-eared Owl Snowy Owl Eastern Buebird (first for count) Red Crossbill (second for count) The West Humber Naturalists held their 28th Annual Christmas Bird Count on Sunday December 14th. The count is centred in Wildfield and includes parts of Vaughn, Caledon, King and Brampton. The weather was cloudy with above freezing temperatures and some light precipitation. Still water was frozen but most creeks and rivers were open. The preliminary results from 28 observers included 57 species, which is about average for the count and approximately 12000 individuals which is also around the count average. There were exceptionally high numbers of White-winged Crossbills (as expected) with 1024 reported so far. Notable misses included Pileated Woodpecker (all previous counts), Purple Finch (22 of 27 counts) and Horned Lark (21 of 27 counts). Notable birds for this count included a Gyrfalcon at Claireville Reservoir (see directions below), six Eastern Bluebirds at Kortright Conservation Area and a Red Crossbill at Cold Creek Conservation Area. My thanks to all of the participants, Bob Noble - Count Compiler Directions for Gyrfalcon: From the intersection of Highway 50 and Highway 7 proceed south on 50. Approximately 350 m south of Steeles turn right onto Indian Line Road (there is no obvious street sign here, there are several grey barrels blocking much of the road, proceed down road through the open gate). Continue along Indian Line Road over the train bridge to the dead end. The Gyrfalcon was approximately 200m southwest of the dead end in a tall dead conifer. As of this morning (December 15) the bird was not re-discovered. _______________________________________________ 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
