The 99th Ottawa-Gatineau CBC was held on December 17, 2017, with well over a hundred field observers finding 63 species. The weather was very cold but mostly clear and quite still throughout the day. No doubt the very cold weather throughout the week before the count contributed to the lowest count in a decade, well below the average of 74 species since that very snowy count of 2007. The highlights included 2 Savannah Sparrows (second record), American Wigeon, a record high of 4 Great Blue Herons, Red-shouldered Hawk, 6 Snowy Owls, Gray Catbird, and a Lapland Longspur (unusual for this urban count).
After two consecutive years of record high numbers, woodpecker and White-breasted Nuthatch numbers dropped by about a third (about two-thirds for Hairy Woodpecker) as most of the dead ash trees have been removed from the city. On the other hand, Red-breasted Nuthatches put in a very strong showing with 111 counted. American Robins were down over 90 percent from last year’s amazing record high. Counts for Northern Cardinal, White-throated Sparrow, and Dark-eyed Juncos continue to be high and one wonders if this might be the new normal for these species. Contrasting with this was a near total absence of waxwings (23 Cedar Waxwings) and winter finches (1 Purple Finch and 3 Common Redpolls). The most abundant bird was, as usual, was American Crow. The total of 17,392 is the second highest recorded and comprised just over half the birds recorded on the count. The Ottawa-Gatineau CBC is a joint effort of the Ottawa Field-Naturalists’ Club and le Club des ornithologues de l’Outaouais. Thank you to all who participated. Bernie Ladouceur compiler _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists (OFO) - the provincial birding organization. Send bird reports to birdalert@ontbirds.ca 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
