Falling on the latest count date in the CBC period, it has an interesting history of being active in the 90’s for 6 years, left to hang and resurrected almost 2 decades later by yours truly for the last 3 years. The data is interesting indeed, most spectacularly of course is the decline in Evening Grosbeak sightings which were formerly annual in large numbers and now virtually non-existent most years.
This year’s count brought 9 very eager participants (and several feeder watchers) out on one of the coldest days of the year (-21 without windchill), with a combined awesome count of 43 party hours. This count covers a huge area of mostly private cottage and farm lands, large tracts of crown land, some provincial park land and large bodies of water which of course were entirely frozen, something we’ve begun to get accustomed to by January 5th! We tallied 31 species, below the average of 36.8 for the 6 year period in the 90’s, but I’ve noticed it’s harder to find some of those species now or we no longer have the knowledge to do so. These include Northern Cardinal, House Finch, Gray Jay and Evening Grosbeak, and the count used to be held earlier in the period (between 16th and 20th of Dec.) so open water was more frequent and waterfowl more abundant… errrr… existent! 3 Species were added to the 9-year total (now 65 species!) - Brown Thrasher (apparently being fed like a king at a local birder's feeder) - Red-bellied Woodpecker (their continued northerly expansion meant this bird was expected to be recorded on our count sooner or later) - small falcon sp. (a distant bird left to the imagination) Notable finds: 1 Northern Goshawk, 2 Black-backed Woodpeckers Highs: Black-backed Woodpecker (2) - recorded only once before in ‘92 Red-breasted Nuthatch (48) - about twice the previous high Brown Creeper (14) - 2nd highest total; highest being 16 Dark-eyed “slate-coloured” Junco (287) - blows away the previous high of 37. Many were feeding along roadsides and at feeders. Red Crossbill (5) - ties previous high, and 2nd time recorded on count Lows: European Starling (13) - 2nd lowest ever… yay! House Sparrow (10) - 2nd lowest ever… yay again! *both of these species used to be found in much higher numbers during the 90’s Misses: Waxwings, Northern Cardinal, Owls (just wayyyy too cold!!!), and no gulls or raptors to speak of other than a few Bald Eagles and the Goshawk. Finches: Red Crossbill - 3 parties tallied 5 birds Pine Siskin - 60 Common Redpoll - 18 Purple Finch - 8 (surprisingly scarce and seemingly local in Frontenac this winter) Pine Grosbeak - 2 Amazingly enough, Pine Grosbeak and Red Crossbill were lifers for the young lady that tallied them! Thanks to our hardy birders for staying tough out there! See you next year in 2019 :) Andrew Keaveney Sharbot Lake CBC coordinator _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists (OFO) - the provincial birding organization. Send bird reports to birdalert@ontbirds.ca 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
