Hello,
This is the summary (unofficial) of the Hamilton Christmas Bird
Count held on December 26th. 2012.
Counters in the field including bird feeder watchers totaled 103.
Weather on the day was dominated by strong easterly winds and a
temperature of a steady -2 C. with intermittent light snow showers, and the
Hamilton area was on the cusp of its first Winter storm.
Lakes, ponds and creeks were ice free, and there was a little crunch
underfoot on the trails as the overnight frost had taken its grip.
At the lake, conditions were probably as bad as they have been in many
years with winds gusting up to 50 k, and waves in the 6ft. range, making it
very difficult to identify and count birds that were always in motion.
Almost everyone commented on the winds affecting the number of birds
seen. The final results reflected this, with a total number of birds
counted, a low 37,445. The 10 year average for number of birds counted is
73,334.
The number of individual species counted was 99 with the 10 year
average for individual species counted being 101.
We added three new species to the count list, Pacific Loon, Sandhill
Crane, and Barn Swallow. They say one swallow does not a Summer make, but
two Barn Swallows certainly make a Winter.
We had record counts of Black-crowned Night Herons (10) equals
previous record
Cackling Goose (4)
old record (2)
Northern Shovellor
(285) old record (179)
Hooded Merganser (157)
old record (70)
Merlin (4) old record
(2)
Wild Turkey (93) old
record (66)
Black-legged Kittiwake
(2) old record (1)
Northern Saw-whet Owl
(2) equals previous record
Common Raven (4) old
record (3)
We had higher than the 10 year average counts for the following species-
Common Loon, Great Blue Heron, Gadwall, Mallard, Green-winged Teal,
Ring-necked Duck, Lesser Scaup, White-winged Scoter, Red-breasted Merganser,
American Coot, Bonaparte's Gull, Ring-billed Gull, Belted Kingfisher, Great
Black-backed Gull, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Eastern
Bluebird, Carolina Wren, Red-winged Blackbird, House Finch, Common Redpoll,
Hoary Redpoll, and Pine Siskin.
We had low counts, and for some species, numbers were down by 50% or more
for- Northern Pintail, Redhead, Greater Scaup, Long Tailed Duck, Common
Goldeneye, Sharp-shinned Hawk, Cooper's Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk, American
Kestrel, Herring Gull, Iceland Gull, Glaucus Gull, Rock Pigeon, Mourning
Dove, Eastern Screech Owl, Downey Woodpecker, Northern Flicker, Pileated
Woodpecker (1), Northern Shrike (1), Blue Jay, American Crow, Back-capped
Chickadee, White-breasted Nuthatch, Brown Creeper, Golden-crowned Kinglet,
American Robin, Northern Mockingbird, European Starling, Cedar Waxwing,
American Tree Sparrow, White-throated Sparrow, Song Sparrow, White-crowned
Sparrow, Dark-eyed Junco, Snow Bunting(1), Northern Cardinal, American
Goldfinch and House Sparrow.
Misses were - Swamp Sparrow, Wood Duck, Red-throated Loon, Horned Lark,
Hermit Thrush, and Evening Grosbeak.
Count week birds included - Snow Goose, Wood Duck, Rough-legged Hawk,
Eastern Phoebe, Horned Lark, Bohemian Waxwing, White-winged Crossbill, and
Evening Grosbeak.
A full report with all the numbers and participants will be made available
soon.
Many thanks to all the counters, you did a great job in tough conditions.
Cheers......Tom Thomas.
_______________________________________________
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/
