Posting for Roger Frost –
The 3rd Rice Lake Plains Christmas Bird Count took place on Friday, January 1, 2016. Twenty-eight field observers and 8 feeder counters tallied 7,566 birds of 51 species. This was the highest individual total ever, but was 1 less than the record species total of 52 from 2015. The weather was cloudy with light snow most of the morning and a 20 to 30 kph west wind. The temperature hovered just below freezing all day. If you were out of the wind, it actually was rather pleasant to be birding. Despite Rice Lake and some smaller bodies of water being mostly open, water birds were scarce. Highlights included: Bufflehead (6) – new to the count Common Goldeneye (1) – new to count Double-crested Cormorant (1) – new to count American Kestrel (1) – new to count Sandhill Crane (1) – new to count Barred Owl (1) Eastern Bluebird (4) Song Sparrow (4) – new to count Belted Kingfisher (1) Lapland Longspur (1) High counts included: Canada Goose (371) Mallard (20) Mourning Dove (380) Red-bellied Woodpecker (13) Northern Flicker (4) Common Raven (30) European Starling (408) Dark-eyed Junco (1186) Snow Bunting (1477) Purple Finch (107) American Goldfinch (626) House Sparrow (45) Low counts were: Brown Creeper (1) Northern Cardinal (22) Thanks to all who participated. Roger Frost Compiler _______________________________________________ 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 Posting guidelines can be found at http://www.ofo.ca/site/page/view/information.ontbirdsguide
