The 37th Algonquin Park CBC was held on Thursday, 30 December 2010. Conditions for birding were excellent all day: mostly calm, mainly overcast, relatively mild temperatures (minus 12 to minus 1 degrees C.), and no drizzle until about 4:30 pm. All still water was frozen but there was some open water on the Madawaska River.
As expected in this unusual second successive winter with very poor to non-existent cone crops in Algonquin, bird numbers were low. However, the number of species observed was notably higher than last year's 23 species. Total Observers: 63 Birds per Party Hour: 8.6 (compared to 4 last year) Total Species: 31 (average is 28; highest ever is 34) Total Individuals: 1,892 (average is 4,862) Noteworthy Species: -American Black Duck: 1 (flying over the Madawaska River near Pog Lake) -Bald Eagle: 2 -Wild Turkey: 6 (new high count; previous was 3) -American Crow: 2 -Bohemian Waxwing: 3 (new high count; previous was 1) Finches: -Pine Grosbeak: 6 -Red Crossbill: 20 (feeding on white pine) -White-winged Crossbill: 244 (feeding on Eastern hemlock and black spruce; unexpectedly high number since relatively few were reported before the count) -Common Redpoll: 115 -Hoary Redpoll: 1 (only 4th time on count) -Pine Siskin: 1 -American Goldfinch: 5 -Evening Grosbeak: none A big thanks to all those who participated in the count and especially to those who facilitated the electronic tally, gave short illustrated talks after the tally, assisted with the catered dinner, and made payment by credit card possible (a first on any Ontario CBC?). Ron Tozer Algonquin Park CBC Compiler _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial birding organization. Send bird reports to [email protected] For information about ONTBIRDS visit http://www.ofo.ca/
