The 76th Kingston CBC was held on Sunday, December 17. The count circle covers the entire west end of Wolfe Island and all of Kingston from Collins Bay in the west to the tip of Howe Island in the east; it extends north above the 401 to include the Little Cataraqui Creek Conservation Area and Kingston Mills.
The weather on count day was mild and overcast with a strong southerly wind. There was no precipitation, no snow on the ground, and bodies of water were mostly open and choppy. We had 64 participants in the field and 78 feeder/yard watchers who together did over 300 hours of birding. A total of 85 species was tallied on count day with 7 additional count week species. This is below the 20 year average of 95 species but on par with results over the past 6 years. The feeders tallied 28 species but didn’t add any additional species to the field list this year. The only new species for the Kingston count was recorded during count week – a pair of Fish Crows that has made downtown Kingston their residence since last year. There were 37,313 individual birds tallied, 82% of the previous 20 year average. THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO MADE THIS YEAR’S COUNT A SUCCESS! Kathy Webb Kingston CBC Compiler ********************** SPECIFIC DETAILS: Total species: 85 + 7 count week addition (20 year average 95) Total individuals: 37,313 (20 year average 45,635) Participants: 64 in the field, 78 feeder watchers NEW SPECIES: Fish Crow (count week) COUNT WEEK SPECIES: Fish Crow, White-winged Scoter, Northern Shrike, Horned Lark, Snow Bunting, Eastern Towhee, Pine Siskin. NOTABLE FINDS: Snow Goose, Cackling Goose, Northern Shoveler (4), Northern Pintail (11), Green-winged Teal (6), Ruddy Duck, Turkey Vulture (2), Golden Eagle, Tufted Titmouse (3), Carolina Wren (4), Hermit Thrush, Swamp Sparrow (3), Common Grackle, Red-winged Blackbird (12), Eastern Bluebird (2). RECORD/EQUAL HIGH (last 20 years): Mute Swan 1261 (average 138, previous high 565) Ring-necked Duck 262 (avg 88, previous high 253) Hooded Merganser 244 (avg 79, previous high 210) Turkey Vulture 2 (avg 0.1, previous high 1) Golden Eagle 1 (avg 0.1, third sighting in 20 yrs) Cooper’s Hawk 8 (avg 3, previous high 8) Red-bellied Woodpecker 24 (avg 9, previous high 23) American Crow 2317 (avg 387, previous high 1048) Tufted Titmouse 3 (avg 0.5, previous high 2) Brown Creeper 19 (avg 8, previous high 18) Red Crossbill 19 (avg 0.3, previous high 4) American Goldfinch 574 (avg 224, previous high 456) NOTABLE RECORDS ABOVE AVERAGE (20 years): Northern Harrier 50 (avg 21) Bald Eagle 32 (avg 18) Common Raven 51 (avg 18) Carolina Wren 4 (avg 2) Cedar Waxwing 99 (avg 49) Northern Cardinal 173 (avg 88) RECORD/EQUAL LOW (last 20 years): Lesser Scaup 0 (avg 412, third miss in 20 yrs) Snowy Owl 1 (avg 12, previous low 1) Northern Shrike 0 (avg 4, second miss in 20 yrs) Horned Lark 0 (avg 74, fourth miss in 20 yrs) Lapland Longspur 0 (avg 17, sixth miss in 20 yrs) Snow Bunting 0 (av 554, first miss in 20 yrs) House Sparrow 81 (avg 408, previous low 111) NOTABLE RECORDS BELOW AVERAGE (20 years): Mallard 1973 (avg 6094) Redhead 21 (avg 1458) Long-tailed Duck 209 (avg 847) Common Merganser 620 (avg 1461) Red-breasted Merganser 771 (avg 1790) Ruffed Grouse 1 (avg 3) Great Black-backed Gull 13 (avg 28) Song Sparrow 4 (avg 10) A full checklist will eventually be available on the CBC website (count code ONKG): http://netapp.audubon.org/CBCObservation/CurrentYear/ResultsByCount.aspx -- 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.
