The 25th Wallaceburg CBC was held on December 27, 2010. The total of 70 species was the lowest since 1994 and well below the 10 year average of 83 species. A few of us spent a good number of hours scouting the area before the count and we were anticipating a higher number of species. The weather on the day of the count had other ideas, however. The wind blew strongly out of the northwest and the St. Clair River was choked with slush ice. These factors resulted in an incredible total of 13 Count Week species, 2 of which would have been new to the count.
New count species were both seen during Count Week only: Red-necked grebe (1 seen by 2 independent observers on Dec. 24th) Golden Eagle (a Subadult seen Dec. 25th by Blake Mann) High Counts were: Canada goose 2118 (1313 seen in 2007) Green-winged teal 1 (ties 2005, 2009) White-winged scoter 1 (1 also seen in 3 previous years) Bald eagle 4 (previous high was 1 seen in 11 previous years) Wild turkey 115 (80 in 2003) Hairy woodpecker 25 (previous high was 23 in 2007) Northern flicker 27 *24 in 1 flock on Walpole Island (18 in 2004) Count Week species: Pied-billed grebe, Red-necked grebe, Double-crested cormorant, Great blue heron (first count day miss since 1989), Red-shouldered hawk, Golden eagle, Merlin, Thayer's gull, Iceland gull, Glaucous gull, Belted kingfisher, Northern mockingbird, Pine siskin VERY Notable Misses: Peregrine falcon, Ring-necked pheasant, Long-eared Owl (first time missed since 1993), Carolina wren (first miss since 1998), Winter wren, Eastern bluebird, American robin (first miss since 2000), Yellow-rumped warbler, R/s towhee, Lapland Longspur NORTHERN BOBWHITE were NOT seen on Walpole Island. We have not recorded them since 2003. Once again, a very special thanks goes out to Georgette and the entire Cornelis family for providing their house for the compilation and to Wendy for cooking the fantastic meal. Steve Charbonneau _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial birding organization. Send bird reports to birdalert@ontbirds.ca For information about ONTBIRDS visit http://www.ofo.ca/
