The Toronto Christmas Bird Count was held on Sunday, December 14. It was a warm but gray and misty.
It was a neck-and-neck battle for the best bird of the day with both a WHITE-EYED VIREO seen on the Toronto Islands on north side of road just east of island fire station (found by Mark Cranford) and a BLACK-AND-WHITE WARBLER spotted where the Don Valley Parkway merges into the Gardiner Expressway. The warbler was seen on the west side of the Keating Channel in a small patch of bush (found by Tom Flinn). White-eyed Vireo has been seen one on other Toronto CBC (2004), while Black-and-white Warbler was completely new, winning it the coveted award! *Other Noteworthy Species for the Count:* Gray Catbird (Single individuals were seen in 1951, 1968, 1987) Orange-crowned Warbler (Single birds were also seen in 1952, 1997 and 2006) King Eider (1 was seen in 2004) Hoary Redpoll: 1 (seen in 4 prior years) *Record high numbers were seen of the following species. Some of these were expected in light of known range expansions/irruptions, whereas others were a little more surprising. * Trumpeter Swan: 25 (previous high was 19 in 2013) Snowy Owl: 9 (previous high was 8 in 2013) Red-bellied Woodpecker: 8 (previous high was 5 in 2011) Downy Woodpecker: 381 (previous high was 303 in 2011) Blue Jay: 219 (previous high was 212 in 1994) Common Raven: 3 (previous high was 1 in 1951 and 2013) Winter Wren: 35 (previous high was 29 in 2009) Northern Cardinal: 610 (previous high was 598 in 2010) White-throated Sparrow: 119 (previous high was 79 in 2010) Unusual lows were also observed for a number of species. Black-crowned Night Heron was absent altogether this year, although we normally get a handful. Only 158 Gadwall were observed, which is well down from the average. Same with the scant 484 American Robins observed. *87 species were seen overall*, which is middling for our area, although the rarities are helping us get to over it! Thanks to every single one of our 142 participants, especially sector leaders who took on some new volunteers this year. Ivor Williams, Garth Riley, Howard Shapiro, Hugh Currie, Jeff Harrison, and John Crawford helped out with logistics. Many thanks! Happy Birding! Emily Rondel- CBC Compiler & TOC Records Councillor _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - 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
