Presqu'ile 51st Christmas Bird Count - Dec 20th 2015 The 51st CBC for Presqu'ile was conducted on Dec 20th, 2015 with 28 field participants and 3 feeder watchers. Weather was generally cloudy with occasional sun and moderate to brisk west winds (but much reduced from the 19th!). Temperatures ranged from -2C to 5C. There was no snow and only the shallowest, stillest water had a thin crust of ice. Birds seemed widespread and participants covered a lot of ground to come up with 14, 607 birds, down from the 20-year average of 16,000 but with a number of "one ofs" we were able to tally 82 species, up from the 20-year average of 76. Not surprisingly, considering the warm lead-up to the count this fall, our notable findings included late lingering birds, low numbers of our winter visitors and lots of birds taking advantage of the open water. New for the Count was: Snow Goose (2) (count week in past) and the count week Turkey Vulture and Little Gull would have been new if they had just stayed a day or two longer. Record high counts for the following (old high and year in brackets) were: Trumpeter Swan - 12 (5 in '99) Northern Shoveler - 18 (9 in '98) Red-bellied Woodpecker - 6 (tied in '12 and '13) Though these records pale in comparison to the Redhead - 2335, that shattered the old record (278 in '02) Other high counts, but not records included: Belted Kingfisher (4) - 2nd highest count in 20 years Ruffed Grouse (23) - highest total in 20 years and a nice rebound from 0 in 2013 Northern Raven (10) - 2nd highest count in 20 years, missing the record by 1 set last year American Goldfinch (417) - 2nd highest total in last 20 years Unusual birds for the count were: Cackling Goose (1) - 2nd record in last 20 years Killdeer (1) - 2nd record in last 20 years Sanderling (1) - 1st record in last 20 years Dunlin (1) - 4th record in last 20 years Lesser Black-back Gull (1) - 2nd record in last 20 years Northern Mockingbird (1) - 2nd record in last 20 years Fox Sparrow (1) - 4th record in 20 last years On the other end of the spectrum notable misses where: Wild Turkey (2nd time in 20 years), Horned Lark (1st time in 10 years), Bald Eagle, any owl other than 1 Barred and 2 Snowy, Eastern Bluebird, Common Grackle, and Brown-headed Cowbird. Low Counts where: Common Merganser (4) - 2nd lowest count in 20 years Mourning Dove (268) - the lowest in 20 years Northern Shrike (2) - the lowest in 20 years Golden-crowned Kinglet (27) - 2nd lowest in 20 years American Tree Sparrow (102) - the lowest in 20 years Northern Cardinal (21) - 2nd lowest in 20 years Thanks to all the participants, many of whom were on their second count of the weekend, and particularly those that supplied food for the end of day tally and M. 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
