Presqu'ile's 50th Count was held on Sunday Dec 14th with 29 participants. Weather was cloudy but mild, with temperatures above zero and all but the smallest still water ponds were open. The northern part of the circle had about 3 inches of snow cover but the half near Lake Ontario was snow free. Participants were able to cover a lot of ground, and they needed to as birds were widespread and hard to find. It felt like a low to average count and the 13,557 birds counted was slightly down from the 20-year average of 16,000, mostly due to lower waterfowl numbers. But the 79 (+ 5 Count Week) species found was higher than the 20 year average of 75 species and as always after the tally some surprises and interesting trends were noted. Common birds found in all 11 count areas included Canada Goose, Red-tailed Hawk, Mourning Dove, Downy Woodpecker, Blue Jay, American Crow, Black-capped Chickadee, American Tree Sparrow and Dark-eyed Junco, while Rock Dove, Pileated Woodpecker, White-breasted Nuthatch, Northern Cardinal, and American Goldfinch were found in 10 of 11 areas. These common birds were responsible for a couple of new record highs (old record and year in brackets).
Dark-eyed Junco - 709 (649 - 2013) White-breasted Nuthatch - 125 (105 - 1999) Pileated Woodpecker - 20 (14 - 2010) - Is this increase a result of Emerald Ash Borer that has recently been detected within the circle? Other birds having record high counts were: Glaucous Gull - 8 (7- 2008) Northern Raven - 11 (7 - 2009) - this count aided by a deer? carcass that attracted half the birds counted Snowy Owl - 11 (10 - 2013) - the second year in a row a big irruption is occurring While the 5 Winter Wrens ties the record high from several other years. A new bird for the count was a count week Turkey Vulture (1), while the Lesser Black-backed Gull (1) was the first for us on count day - the only other record was a count week bird in 1998. Other unusual birds for us: Lapland Longspur (1 count week ) - 3rd record in last 20 years Fox Sparrow (1) - 3rd record in last 20 years Hermit Thrush (1) - 3rd record in last 20 years Ruby-crowned Kinglet (2) - 3rd record in last 20 years White-crowned Sparrow (1) - 4th record in last 20 years Other birds represented on the count by a single individual included Lesser Scaup, Sharp-shinned Hawk, Merlin, Purple Sandpiper, Eastern Screech Owl, Great Horned Owl, Belted Kingfisher, Northern Flicker, Carolina Wren, and Purple Finch. Other notably low counts were Starlings (328), the lowest since 1976 (is anyone disappointed?), Wild Turkeys (5), lowest since 2000 and Common Redpoll (26), in the years they show up they have only once had a count under 60. Many thanks to all the participants, especially those that contributed food to the post-count tally and to Maureen Riggs who organizes the whole thing. David Bree (compiler) David Bree Sr. Natural Heritage Education Leader Presqu'ile Provincial Park 328 Presqu'ile Parkway Brighton, ON. K0K 1H0 613 475-4324 ext 225 david.b...@ontario.ca<mailto:david.b...@ontario.ca> _______________________________________________ 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
