These are the results of the 37th Woodhouse Christmas Bird Count held on Sunday December 17th, 2023. 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. 33 field birders covered the count area plus 5 feeder watchers.
Conditions were wet with rain and drizzle throughout the day, temperatures around 6-7 degrees Celsius, moderate south winds (16-21 km/h), zero snow on the ground, and plenty of open water as nothing was frozen. The mild temperatures leading up to the count contributed to us setting new count highs for 4 species of waterfowl, while the rainy conditions meant low numbers of woodpeckers, raptors, and other species that took shelter. We tallied 87 species on the day which I think is quite remarkable given the rainy conditions and is equal to the average of the last 10 years, and above the 37 year average of 83. There were 2 additional count week species: Tufted Titmouse coming to feeders that remained holed up out of the rain, and a Turkey Vulture reported the day before on ebird. No new species were added to the count. Total Species: 87 Average for the last 35 years = 83. Average for the last 10 years = 87. Total Individuals: 18,264 Average over all 37 years = 24,757. Average for the last 10 years = 18,692. Highlights: 5 Canvasback are the first ones recorded since 2012 1 Red-headed Woodpecker (2nd year in a row after absent since 2008) 1 Ruby-crowned Kinglet (rarely recorded) 1 Eastern Towhee (1st since 2017) 4 Fox Sparrow (2nd highest count and often missed) 1 Red Crossbill (3rd time ever on count) New count highs: 105 Gadwall (81 in 2012) 9 American Green-winged Teal (8 in 2014) 100 Ring-necked Duck (28 in 2021) 40 Ruddy Duck (37 in 1998) 66 White-throated Sparrow (54 in 2005) Low counts: 0 Rough-legged Hawk (1st miss in 37 years) 1 Belted Kingfisher (ties lowest) 0 Pileated Woodpecker (1st miss since 2008) 80 House Finch (new low, 90 in 2017) 322 House Sparrow (new low, 361 in 2022) Below is the full species list: SPECIES Total Horned Grebe 2 Great Blue Heron 2 Mute Swan 1 Trumpeter Swan 9 Tundra Swan 275 Canada Goose 4306 Cackling Goose 22 Mallard 945 American Black Duck 45 Gadwall 105 Northern Pintail 2 American Green-winged Teal 9 Canvasback 5 Redhead 471 Ring-necked Duck 100 Greater Scaup 74 Lesser Scaup 584 Common Goldeneye 78 Bufflehead 194 Hooded Merganser 22 Common Merganser 60 Red-breasted Merganser 298 Ruddy Duck 40 Bald Eagle 3 Northern Harrier 2 Sharp-shinned Hawk 2 Cooper's Hawk 3 Red-tailed Hawk 45 Peregrine Falcon 1 American Kestrel 12 Merlin 3 Wild Turkey 155 Bonaparte's Gull 212 Ring-billed Gull 2294 Herring Gull 267 Great Black-backed Gull 1 Rock Pigeon 358 Mourning Dove 899 Eastern Screech-Owl 1 Belted Kingfisher 1 Red-headed Woodpecker 1 Red-bellied Woodpecker 24 Downy Woodpecker 53 Hairy Woodpecker 15 Yellow-shafted Flicker 11 Northern Shrike 1 Blue Jay 221 American Crow 551 Common Raven 4 Horned Lark 1 Black-capped Chickadee 242 Red-breasted Nuthatch 3 White-breasted Nuthatch 29 Brown Creeper 8 Carolina Wren 26 Winter Wren 6 Golden-crowned Kinglet 32 Ruby-crowned Kinglet 1 Eastern Bluebird 39 Hermit Thrush 2 American Robin 12 Northern Mockingbird 1 European Starling 2631 Cedar Waxwing 11 Myrtle Warbler 3 Eastern Towhee 1 American Tree Sparrow 384 Chipping Sparrow 3 Field Sparrow 2 Fox Sparrow 4 Song Sparrow 33 Swamp Sparrow 13 White-throated Sparrow 66 White-crowned Sparrow 4 Slate-colored Junco 933 Snow Bunting 88 Northern Cardinal 172 Red-winged Blackbird 7 Rusty Blackbird 1 Common Grackle 2 Brown-headed Cowbird 107 Purple Finch 1 House Finch 80 Red Crossbill 1 Pine Siskin 19 American Goldfinch 188 House Sparrow 322 -- 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.
