Fifty eight battle-hardened participants conquered the 56th Long Point CBC on December 17. The adventurous lot took to snow-covered roads in the wee hours of the morning and accumulated more than 140 party-hours and covered more than 550 km (the majority on foot).
Mostly overcast skies, moderate south-east winds and temperatures ranging from -5 to 1.4 C provided snow, sleet, ice pellets, freezing rain, rain, and for brief moments, transcendent rays of sunshine. Legs were twisted, legs gouged by multi-flora rose, cold faces whipped with dogwood branches, feet wet, and some had difficulty negotiating sand dunes. Never the less, smiles grew wider, friendships were strengthened, and traditions rekindled while 30,356 individuals of 111 species were recorded. This is greater than the long-term average of 28,201 of 101 species. The 'unofficial' complete list is below (forgive the lack-of taxonomic order). Highlights: Lesser Black-backed Gull (Port Rowan), Golden Eagle (Walsingham), Brewer's Blackbird (Turkey Point), Common Raven (new for count!), oh..., and a Smith's Longspur (new for count! - Concesssion A - still present). Lowlights: Nary a lowlight on a Long Point CBC. High Numbers: Fox Sparrow (72), Gray Catbird (6), Hermit Thrush (26), American Robin (312), Tufted Titmouse (11), Horned Lark (1445 - more than double previous high), Red-bellied Woodpecker (76), Sandhill Crane (1170), Lows Numbers: Waterfowl and waterbirds across the board. Count Week: 114 Species: Misses - Yellow-headed Blackbird - Booth's Harbour, Peregrine Falcon, Brown Thrasher, I would like to extend my deepest gratitude to all the participants for their dedication to this long-lasting monitoring effort, and I look forward to seeing everyone next year. Cheers, Stu 'Twas the CBC Before Chrismas By Greg Cook Twas the week before Christmas And all through the land The birders were roaming With count sheets in hand I decided to join In this count so important Good data I'd gather As a birder informant Rain caused my first count To be a soggy affair I feared we would see Not a bird in the air! But undaunted we slogged Through the guck and the muck Through the drizzle and rain To count even one duck! But lo and behold The birds seemed not to care On the lake, on the grass Even up in the air! They flew and they ate They squabbled and fussed In their own birdish language They argued and cussed! We excitedly counted: Was that big flock thirty? Despite all the rain It was surprisingly birdy! We tallied and jotted We counted and wrote On count sheets so wet The ink was afloat But we stayed and we counted O'er hill and 'cross swale To provide soggy data For (Bird Studies Canada) to detail All too soon it was over The count, it was done Despite all the wetness I had tons of fun! I look forward to next year Another tally to mount I hope you will join us For the Christmas Bird Count! Species # RED-THROATED LOON COMMON LOON 1 PIED-BILLED GREBE 1 HORNED GREBE 15 RED-NECKED GREBE EARED GREBE DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANT AMERICAN BITTERN 1 GREAT BLUE HERON 6 GREEN HERON BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT-HERON TRUMPETER SWAN 6 TUNDRA SWAN 282 MUTE SWAN 33 GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE SNOW GOOSE Snow Goose Blue form ROSS'S GOOSE BRANT CACKLING GOOSE CANADA GOOSE 2137 WOOD DUCK GREEN-WINGED TEAL AMERICAN BLACK DUCK 593 MALLARD 4429 NORTHERN PINTAIL 5 BLUE-WINGED TEAL NORTHERN SHOVELER GADWALL 2 AMERICAN WIGEON 1 CANVASBACK 9 REDHEAD 61 RING-NECKED DUCK 1 GREATER SCAUP 39 LESSER SCAUP 16 Scaup sp 116 LONG-TAILED DUCK BLACK SCOTER SURF SCOTER WHITE-WINGED SCOTER 1 Scoter sp. COMMON GOLDENEYE 417 BUFFLEHEAD 75 HOODED MERGANSER 8 COMMON MERGANSER 450 RED-BREASTED MERGANSER 480 Merganser sp. RUDDY DUCK 59 Duck sp. TURKEY VULTURE 1 BALD EAGLE 43 NORTHERN HARRIER 62 SHARP-SHINNED HAWK 5 COOPER'S HAWK 6 NORTHERN GOSHAWK 3 Accipiter sp. RED-SHOULDERED HAWK RED-TAILED HAWK 34 ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK 12 Buteo sp. GOLDEN EAGLE 1 AMERICAN KESTREL 2 MERLIN 1 PEREGRINE FALCON GYRFALCON GRAY PARTRIDGE RING-NECKED PHEASANT 2 RUFFED GROUSE 1 WILD TURKEY 127 NORTHERN BOBWHITE KING RAIL VIRGINIA RAIL SORA COMMON MOORHEN AMERICAN COOT 168 SANDHILL CRANE 1370 AMERICAN GOLDEN-PLOVER KILLDEER 1 SPOTTED SANDPIPER LESSER YELLOWLEGS SANDERLING LEAST SANDPIPER BAIRD'S SANDPIPER PURPLE SANDPIPER DUNLIN WILSON'S SNIPE AMERICAN WOODCOCK 2 Jaeger sp. LITTLE GULL BONAPARTE'S GULL 9 RING-BILLED GULL 40 HERRING GULL 110 LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL 1 GLAUCOUS GULL GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULL 11 BLACK-LEGGED KITTIWAKE CASPIAN TERN COMMON TERN ROCK PIGEON 102 MOURNING DOVE 475 EASTERN SCREECH-OWL 5 GREAT HORNED OWL 2 SNOWY OWL BARRED OWL LONG-EARED OWL 1 SHORT-EARED OWL 1 NORTHERN SAW-WHET OWL Owl sp. BELTED KINGFISHER 5 RED-HEADED WOODPECKER RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER 76 YELLOW-BELLIED SAPSUCKER 4 DOWNY WOODPECKER 148 HAIRY WOODPECKER 38 BLACK-BACKED WOODPECKER NORTHERN FLICKER 42 PILEATED WOODPECKER 11 EASTERN PHOEBE 1 HORNED LARK 1445 BLUE JAY 430 AMERICAN CROW 1222 BLACK-CAPPED CHICKADEE 583 BOREAL CHICKADEE TUFTED TITMOUSE 11 RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH 31 WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCH 113 BROWN CREEPER 30 CAROLINA WREN 23 HOUSE WREN WINTER WREN 18 MARSH WREN 2 GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLET 77 RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET 1 BLUE-GRAY GNATCATCHER EASTERN BLUEBIRD 55 TOWNSEND'S SOLITAIRE SWAINSON'S THRUSH HERMIT THRUSH 26 Thrush sp. AMERICAN ROBIN 312 GRAY CATBIRD 6 NORTHERN MOCKINGBIRD BROWN THRASHER AMERICAN PIPIT 199 BOHEMIAN WAXWING CEDAR WAXWING 102 Waxwing sp. NORTHERN SHRIKE EUROPEAN STARLING 2458 WHITE-EYED VIREO BLUE-HEADED VIREO ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER NASHVILLE WARBLER YELLOW WARBLER YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER 5 PINE WARBLER PALM WARBLER NORTHERN WATERTHRUSH COMMON YELLOWTHROAT YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT Warbler sp. NORTHERN CARDINAL 365 DICKCISSEL SPOTTED TOWHEE EASTERN TOWHEE 2 AMERICAN TREE SPARROW 1844 CHIPPING SPARROW 2 FIELD SPARROW 6 VESPER SPARROW SAVANNAH SPARROW 5 FOX SPARROW 72 SONG SPARROW 66 LINCOLN'S SPARROW SWAMP SPARROW 50 WHITE-THROATED SPARROW 176 WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW 12 HARRIS'S SPARROW Sparrow sp. DARK-EYED JUNCO 2167 Dark-eyed Junco oregon junco LAPLAND LONGSPUR 8 SNOW BUNTING 1893 RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD 383 EASTERN MEADOWLARK 1 Meadowlark sp. YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD RUSTY BLACKBIRD 44 BREWER'S BLACKBIRD 1 GREAT-TAILED GRACKLE COMMON GRACKLE 63 BROWN-HEADED COWBIRD 2831 BALTIMORE ORIOLE Blackbird sp. PINE GROSBEAK PURPLE FINCH 40 HOUSE FINCH 112 Finch sp. RED CROSSBILL WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILL Crossbill sp. COMMON REDPOLL HOARY REDPOLL PINE SISKIN AMERICAN GOLDFINCH 329 EVENING GROSBEAK 1 HOUSE SPARROW 568 COMMON RAVEN 1 SMITH'S LONGSPUR 1 SPECIES 111 INDIVIDUALS 30358 _______________ Stuart A. Mackenzie Migration Program Manager Bird Studies Canada | Études d'Oiseax Canada PO Box 160, 115 Front Rd. Port Rowan, Ontario. N0E 1M0. Office: (519)-586-3531 X 162 | Facsimile:586-3532 | Mobile:820-6040 smacken...@birdscanada.org<mailto:smacken...@birdscanada.org>| birdscanada.org<http://www.birdscanada.org/> |motus.org<http://www.motus-wts.org/>|birdscanada.org/lpbo<http://www.birdscanada.org/lpbo> [email_brand] _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists (OFO) - the provincial birding organization. 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