The 37th St. Clair National Wildlife Area Christmas Bird Count was held on Jan 1, 2017. It was sunny, with fairly light winds and temperatures ranging from a bit below freezing to a bit above freezing. There was no snow cover.
Much of the count circle is wide open agricultural field, or Lake St. Clair. Given that historically much of the terrestrial part of the count circle was wet prairie or wetland, there never was much woodland present and that continues today. It is the wetlands associated with the eastern side of Lake St. Clair and the lower reaches of the Thames River that give the potential for good numbers of birds on this count. However with the extended waterfowl hunting period, one of the largest privately owned wetlands was not accessible this year. We are fortunate that several large privately owned wetland complexes were in fact available. Fifteen observers tallied 84 species. This is slightly higher than our most recent 10 year average of 81 but well off our record of 92 species. Five additional species have been noted during the count week period to date. There has been enough open water to retain significant numbers of waterbirds. Approximately 25,000 individuals of 22 species of waterfowl and approximately 4500 individuals of 7 species of gull were recorded. American Crow was, as usual, the most numerous species, with an estimated 126,000 birds. One new species is now on the overall list: Nelson's Sparrow, but unfortunately is a Count Week only species. However it raises our cumulative total since the inception of this count in 1981 to 138 species. New highs (previous high) are as follows: American Coot--406 (226) Red-bellied Woodpecker--29 (23) Brown Creeper--10 (7) Golden-crowned Kinglet--77 (10) Tied highs are: Northern Goshawk--1 Red-shouldered Hawk--2 Thayer's Gull--1 Iceland Gull--1 Tufted Titmouse--1 White-breasted Nuthatch--26 Other notable species/numbers: Great Blue Heron--37 Bald Eagle--20 Eastern Phoebe--2 Count Week species to date include: American Kestrel, Ring-necked Pheasant, Bonaparte's Gull and Short-eared Owl. Many thanks to the participants for their continued enthusiasm and support, and also to the landowners who gave permission to access! Allen Woodliffe--compiler Chatham _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists (OFO) - 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 Visit the OFO Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/OntarioFieldOrnithologists
