The Long Point Xmas Bird Cont was held Saturday December 14th. Heavy snow throughout most of the day pushed by strong, frigid east winds produced whiteout conditions making it one of the most difficult days in the 53 years of the count. Despite the miserable conditions, 46 stalwart observers turned out and beat the circle for every possible species. I thank each of them for their effort as well as my wife, Anne Marie, for feeding us all that evening.
At the end of the day 13,646 individuals of 92 species were tallied. The individuals count is less than half of the long-term average and the species tally is 10 below the average count of 102. Less than six species totals exceeded the long-term average. There were no new count species seen. Eight Eastern Towhees, including an amazing six in one flock (Matt Timpf), were a record high count, the only one for the year. Notable Species seen included: 24 Snow Geese (Ron Allensen, Luke Stephenson) 1 Wood Duck (Ron Ridout, Andrew Sawyer, Adam & Matt Timpf) 1 Turkey Vulture (Ron Ridout, Andrew Sawyer, Adam & Matt Timpf; Bill Lamond) 1 Red-shouldered Hawk (Bill Lamond) 1 Peregrine (John Brett, Mark Jennings, Stu Mackenzie) 1 American Woodcock (Bill Lamond) 1 Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (Jim Heslop, Barry Jones, Bob Stamp) 1 Eastern Phoebe (John Brett, Mark Jennings, Stu Mackenzie) 2 Gray Catbirds (John Brett, Mark Jennings, Stu Mackenzie; Janice Chard, Dayna LeClair, Ross Wood) 1 Chipping Sparrow (Ron Allensen, Luke Stephenson) The only count week species is the Savannah Sparrow that landed on my office window sill about an hour ago and thumbed its nose at me. :-) Merry Christmas to all. Ron Ridout Bird Studies Canada P.O. Box 160 115 Front Rd. Port Rowan, ON N0E 1M0 519-586-3531 Ext. 114 [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
