The 36th Petroglyphs Christmas Bird Count was held on Thursday, Jan 5, 2023. It was very calm (excellent listening conditions) but foggy/overcast for most of the day with temperatures slightly above zero.
Lakes and ponds were largely frozen with limited open water but the fog resulted in poor visibility so there were no waterbirds detected this year. Participants: 37 (above average) Total species: 31 (slightly lower than the 10-year average of 33.4) Total individuals: 1728 (10-year average is 2443) Overall it was very quiet day as there was very little natural food and we had to work hard to detect the birds (lots of pishing, squeaking and owls calls to draw the birds in). Typical overwintering species were at about the 10-year average numbers (some were lower than average). This included species such as Downy, Hairy and Pileated Woodpecker, Black-capped Chickadee, Red-breasted and White-breasted Nuthatch, Brown Creeper, and Golden-crowned Kinglet There were very few notable species as follows: BLACK-BACKED WOODPECKER: 1 (once an annually detected species this species has only been recorded on 4 counts since 2009) WINTER WREN: 3 (only the 7th time detected on this count) BOHEMIAN WAXWING: 8 Low Counts: BLUE JAY: 25 (near the all-time count low of 21 in 2011 - most individuals detected were associated with feeders) Winter Finches: EVENING GROSBEAK: 57 PINE GROSBEAK: 18 COMMON REDPOLL: 37 RED CROSSBILL: 1 WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILL: 1 AMERICAN GOLDFINCH: 53 (quite low - 10-year average is 191.8 and count high is 727) Misses: RED-TAILED HAWK: recorded in low numbers on most years NORTHERN SHRIKE: historically recorded most years in low numbers but over the past 10 years only recorded on half of the counts CANADA JAY: a once annual species but only recorded 4 times over the past 10 years. The count circle (including the 6 areas) can be viewed at the following link: https://maps.google.ca/maps/ms?msid=217208700112631695001.0004d125bfd0d20adc5de&msa=0&ll=44.660839,-77.950058&spn=0.2525,0.676346<https://can01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fmaps.google.ca%2Fmaps%2Fms%3Fmsid%3D217208700112631695001.0004d125bfd0d20adc5de%26msa%3D0%26ll%3D44.660839%2C-77.950058%26spn%3D0.2525%2C0.676346&data=05%7C01%7Ccolin.jones%40ontario.ca%7C84b7cf063c82459f430c08daf1f11098%7Ccddc1229ac2a4b97b78a0e5cacb5865c%7C0%7C0%7C638088315950122893%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C2000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=xqjbDI9WBuJjKGQeRm%2Bs48%2BqJHy%2BXtnWJi17YaCnoGY%3D&reserved=0> Thanks to all participants! Colin Jones, Compiler Peterborough, ON -- 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.
