The 15th annual Bradford CBC was held on Saturday, Dec. 29th. The count circle is just west and north of Newmarket and the general area (for those unfamiliar with Bradford) is about halfway between Toronto and Barrie. Twenty in-field observers and three feeder watchers participated.
Despite an unexpected amount of blowing snow that reduced visibility and made for some greasy driving conditions, we tied the high-water mark of 53 species, set in 2001. Species diversity on this count is closely connected to the amount of open water on Cook's Bay (the southern extension of Lake Simcoe). This year we did have some good stretches of open water. New for the count were American Wigeon (1), Redhead (23), Iceland Gull (1), and Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (1). These new additions pushed the historical "species observed" total to 96. Highlights included Bald Eagle (2), Snowy Owl (4), Barred Owl (2), Northern Shrike (6), Red-bellied Woodpecker (4), Common Raven (5), Bohemian Waxwing (15), Pine Grosbeak (4), White-throated Sparrow (2) and White-crowned Sparrow (2). Many thanks go out to all who participated, particularly Peter Wukasch who started this count back in 1998. Ron Fleming, Newmarket _______________________________________________ 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/
