The second annual "official" Cape Croker CBC was held on Saturday, December 15, with exceptionally pleasant +3 to +5C temperatures, partly cloudy skies, and generally light winds (until a stronger southerly wind developed later in the afternoon, and waters of outer Georgian Bay appeared rough). Snow cover varied from bare patches to ~3-5 cm depth. Ponds and marshes were mostly ice-covered, although there were small open patches, and Georgian Bay was wide open.
13 observers found 44 species, 3 more than the first year of the count, and enjoyed a delicious breakfast and dinner together, and good spirits all round. Highlights (considering also unofficial counts since 2008) included: New for the count: Redhead (2), Hooded Merganser (1), Cooper's Hawk (1), Northern Goshawk (1), Glaucous Gull (1), Northern Saw-whet Owl (1), Common Grackle (1) and Evening Grosbeak (1). High counts: Bald Eagle (at least 8, as this many were seen at one time during count week), Herring Gull (255), Eastern Screech-Owl (12 - great work owlers, especially Rod Steinacker and Anthony Chegahno), American Crow (9), Black-capped Chickadee (236), White-breasted Nuthatch (15), European Starling (215), Pine Grosbeak (39) and Common Redpoll (46). Notable count week species: White-winged Scoter (1), Red-necked Grebe (20), Bonaparte's Gull (1) and Red-bellied Woodpecker (1). Most notable miss: Dark-eyed Junco (observed during count week). And now, the Fish Crow. The Fish Crow I reported on Sunday afternoon at Meadowland Road and Hwy 6, south of Wiarton, seen by Anthony Chegahno and myself while doing the Wiarton CBC, was searched for by several birders on Monday. A "small" American Crow was observed in the same area yesterday, but no Fish Crow, understandably raising some doubts, no doubt. Especially given that the call we heard on Sunday was not a definitive, nasal "uh-ah", but a short, dry rattle (albeit unlike any we have heard from an AMCR). However, our identification was not based on its call. The crow we saw on Sunday was so much smaller than the AMCR it was with, that, from a distance of ~200 m, I initially tried to turn it into a dark juvenile Gray Jay (but it was clearly larger than that, its beak was too long, and it was black as coal), or some totally weird melanistic juvenile Northern Shrike, or a tail-less melanistic magpie (crazy thoughts, but I tried), or, more similar, but even less likely, a Eurasian Jackdaw (but no contrast between neck and back), which I saw many of in England this past summer. Viewed in good light from closer range, the bird's beak was proportionally comparable to that of the AMCR, but obviously distinctly shorter. In my 37 years of birding, few birds have struck me as being as so out of the ordinary as this crow did, and I've seen a lot of crows. To me, this bird was unquestionably outside the natural morphological variation of American Crows, unless it was a mutant. I'm thankful that Anthony, a keen birder himself, who is out probably 300 days per year birding the Nawash Territory (Cape Croker), was with me, to confer with these observations and share the experience. If the bird is not seen again, the one thing I regret is not trying to photograph it with my iPhone and scope -- I had pretty good success trying this today with some gulls (incluidng GLGU and ICGU) here in Stratford (Next gift to myself: digiscoping equipment). But I hope it turns up yet for others. Cheers and good winter birding to all! _______________________________________________ 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/
