The 19th (official) Kawartha Field Naturalists CBC was held near Fenelon Falls, Thursday, December 28th, 2017. At 8:00 a.m. it was -31 C. It "warmed up" to -18 C by 2:00 p.m.. Bone chilling. We had more water aquatic species than I would have thought, given the frigid weather. There was just enough moving water to give us low numbers of Canada Goose, Trumpeter Swan, Mallard, Black Duck, scaup, Common Goldeneye, Common Merganser, Belted Kingfisher and, new to the count, a stranded Red-necked Grebe. We got the Grebe BECAUSE of the frigid weather. It likely was forced to the ground while searching fruitlessly for open water. I am told that these birds sometimes just fall out of the sky from exhaustion. It was found stranded in a field in sector 3B (north of Bury's Green) and then rescued and released into open water near the locks in Fenelon Falls.
25 volunteers counted 40 species. The 10 year average is 45. We counted 3,023 individual birds. The 10 year average is 4,711. We had just one Gray Jay. We had 13 in 2007. New high: Dark-eyed Junco-299, up from 190. Significant misses: accipiter species (10 of the last 10 years), Rough-legged hawk (9 of the last 10 years) So far, we have Pine Siskin as a count week species. If you wish to view a map with the sector boundaries, contact me. Dan Bone, Compiler, Kawartha Field Naturalists CBC, Fenelon Falls, ON _______________________________________________ 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
