These are the results of the 36th Woodhouse Christmas Bird Count held on Sunday December 18th, 2022. The Woodhouse CBC is centred 7 km east of Simcoe, at the crossroads of Highway 3 and Cockshutt Road at Renton, and roughly covers from Port Dover to Waterford and just west of Simcoe to east of Jarvis. Conditions were windy and snowy, with some snow on the ground, but not as bad as it could have been! 29 field birders covered the count area plus 9 feeder watchers.
We tallied 77 species on the day which is the lowest count since 2003 and far below the last 10-year average of 87. There were 3 additional count week species: Peregrine Falcon, Cedar Waxwing, and Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. No new species were added to the count, but a House Wren found in Port Dover was only the 2nd ever record. Total Species: 77 Average for the last 35 years = 83. Average for the last 10 years = 87. Total Individuals: 20,000 exactly! Average over all 35 years = 24,938. Average for the last 10 years = 19,361). Highlights: 1 House Wren (2nd time on the count) 1 Red-headed Woodpecker (1st since 2008, a juvenile spotted by my non-birder mother!) 1 Savannah Sparrow (2nd record in the last 15 years) New count highs: 34 Cackling Goose (31 in 2001) 69 Hooded Merganser (67 last year) 7 Tufted Titmouse (4 in 2001) Low counts: 0 Cedar Waxwing (1st miss in 36 years) 0 Great Black-backed Gull (2nd 0 in a row after 34 consecutive years) 91 Ring-billed Gull (46 in 1989) 38 Herring Gull (19 in 1988) 361 House Sparrow is the lowest total in count history Below is the full species list: Horned Grebe 1 Great Blue Heron 3 Trumpeter Swan 11 Tundra Swan 19 Canada Goose 8165 Cackling Goose 34 Mallard 1907 American Black Duck 76 Gadwall 63 American Green-winged Teal 4 Redhead 267 Greater Scaup 118 Lesser Scaup 601 Common Goldeneye 120 Long-tailed Duck 1 Bufflehead 153 Hooded Merganser 69 Common Merganser 60 Red-breasted Merganser 654 Bald Eagle 18 Northern Harrier 7 Sharp-shinned Hawk 5 Cooper's Hawk 6 Red-tailed Hawk 75 Rough-legged Hawk 2 American Kestrel 15 Merlin 4 Wild Turkey 157 Bonaparte's Gull 28 Ring-billed Gull 91 Herring Gull 38 Rock Pigeon 547 Mourning Dove 466 Eastern Screech-Owl 2 Great-horned Owl 1 Belted Kingfisher 6 Red-headed Woodpecker 1 Red-bellied Woodpecker 45 Downy Woodpecker 73 Hairy Woodpecker 13 Yellow-shafted Flicker 3 Pileated Woodpecker 1 Northern Shrike 2 Blue Jay 222 American Crow 792 Common Raven 7 Horned Lark 217 Black-capped Chickadee 378 Eastern Tufted Titmouse 7 Red-breasted Nuthatch 11 White-breasted Nuthatch 70 Brown Creeper 11 Carolina Wren 24 House Wren 1 Winter Wren 7 Golden-crowned Kinglet 13 Eastern Bluebird 43 Hermit Thrush 2 American Robin 81 Northern Mockingbird 2 European Starling 1387 American Tree Sparrow 293 Field Sparrow 1 Savannah Sparrow 1 Song Sparrow 32 Swamp Sparrow 13 White-throated Sparrow 29 White-crowned Sparrow 25 Slate-colored Junco 928 Northern Cardinal 192 Common Grackle 7 Brown-headed Cowbird 448 Purple Finch 15 House Finch 206 Pine Siskin 8 American Goldfinch 234 House Sparrow 361 -- Ontbirds and Birdnews are moderated email Listservs provided by the Ontario Field Ornithologists (OFO) as a service to all birders in Ontario. Birdnews is reserved for announcements, location summaries, first of year reports, etc. To post a message on Birdnews, send an email to: [email protected]. If you have any questions or concerns, contact the Birdnews Moderators by email at [email protected]. Please review posting rules and guidelines at http://ofo.ca/site/content/listserv-guidelines During the COVID-19 pandemic, all Ontario birders should be taking extra precautions and following local, provincial, and federal regulations regarding physical distancing and non-essential travel. To find out more about OFO, please visit our website at ofo.ca or Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/OntarioFieldOrnithologists.
