The count week for the Presqu'ile Christmas Bird Count draws to a close today. The final results are summarized below. The "unusual" birds and numbers can mostly be associated with our late arriving winter.
Total species seen - 83 species plus 5 count week - this is 10 above the 20 year average of 73 species but is the same as last year. Record high counts were recorded for: (old record in brackets) Canada Goose (again) - 2420 (2270 in 2008) (there was 1 counted in 1986) Mute Swan (again) - 624 (504 in 2010) Tundra Swan - 100 (23 in 2008) Cooper's Hawk - 9 (6 in 1995) Merlin - 4 (1 in several years) Red-bellied Woodpecker - 6 (5 in 2010) American Crow - 1594 (1156 in 2000) Carolina Wren - 2 (ties old record from a couple of years - almost annual now) Dark-eyed Junco - 568 (474 in 2005) The 8 Purple Sandpipers was 4x more than the average 2 seen but a far cry from the remarkable 57 tallied on the 1998 count Count Week Birds included - Brant (would have been new for the count if it stayed 1 more days) Black Scoter Common Loon Horned Grebe Glaucous Gull Other birds of note include: Green-winged Teal - 3rd time recorded in last 20 years Red-necked Grebe - 3rd time recorded in last 20 years Yellow-bellied Sapsucker - 1st record in last 20 years Savannah Sparrow - 3rd time recorded in last 20 years There was one Pink-sided Junco in with all the Slate-coloured Missed was Belted Kingfisher with is usually tallied The 2 Snow Buntings was down a bit from the 2000+ seen last year and the 1 Common Redpoll was conspicuous by its solitude. Many thanks to the organizer, participants, and those that brought food for the round-up. Have a happy and safe holiday David David Bree Natural Heritage Education (NHE) Leader Presqu'ile Provincial Park 328 Presqu'ile Parkway Brighton, ON K0K 1H0 Tel: (613) 475-4324 ext. 225 Fax: (613) 475-2209 _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial birding organization. Send bird reports to [email protected] For information about ONTBIRDS visit http://www.ofo.ca/
