Hi Ontbirders, The 80th Woodstock CBC was held today (December 14th). Of special note, this was John Harvey's 60th consecutive Woodstock CBC! The weather was challenging with strong east winds gusting to 54kph and heavy snow falling all day. Visibility was poor and overall numbers for most species were reduced. We still managed to see 63 species, about the average over the last 25 years. However, only 21,288 individual birds were seen, well down from the past few years.
New high counts included: Canada Goose (4662, previous high 3724), Cackling Goose (4, tied previous high), American Wigeon (1, tied previous high; 3rd count), Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (1, tied previous high; 2nd count), Horned Lark (1395, previous high 339), Carolina Wren (2, previous high 1), Eastern Bluebird (18, previous high 6; 7th count), Yellow-rumped Warbler (3, previous high 2; 4th count), Dark-eyed Junco (1219, previous high 1107). Other sightings of general interest include: 4 Green-winged Teal (7th count), 11 Northern Pintail (14th count), 3 Common Goldeney (15th count), 1 Hooded Merganser (13th count), 1 Great Black-backed Gull (18th count), 4 Bald Eagles (10th count), 3 Great Horned Owls (typical), 15 Eastern Screech-Owls (typical), 1 Hermit Thrush (8th count), 8 Lapland Longspurs (12th count), 2 Red-winged Blackbirds (19th count) Northern finches were absent (only American Goldfinch and House Finch were seen). Waterfowl were concentrated on the Thames River below Pittock Lake and at Trout Lake. Pittock was completely frozen. We had 22 people out in the field and 10 watching feeders. Good luck and have fun on the rest of the counts! Jeff -- Jeff Skevington E-mail: [email protected] _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial birding organization. Send bird reports to [email protected] For information about ONTBIRDS including how to unsubscribe visit http://www.ofo.ca/site/page/view/information.ontbirdssetup
