The Prince Edward Point Christmas Bird Count began with a snowstorm that really cut down on visibility. At times, participants had no choice but to mark down “Duck spp.” and “Gull spp”. for birds half-seen through heavy snow. Then the weather cleared and the teams were surprised at the number and variety of birds seen after the tough start.
In general, numbers were up from last year, when weather was an even bigger problem. However, the open water on Lake Ontario this year meant that waterfowl were widely scattered instead of being concentrated in open areas near the shore. So waterfowl sightings were down but not necessarily waterfowl numbers. One of the anomalies this year were very large flocks of starlings (+500 and +900) seen in two areas. Highlights of the 2016 count were a Common Loon, a Red-necked Grebe, 20 Snow Geese, 2 Double-crested Cormorants, 2 Ring-necked Ducks, 4 Northern Pintails, a Ruddy Duck. an Iceland Gull, 8 Bald Eagles, 120 Horned Larks, a Winter Wren, a Pine Warbler, 8 Rusty Blackbirds, 18 Snow Buntings, a Song Sparrow and two White-throated Sparrows. The South Shore of Prince Edward County is an important area for wintering waterfowl and this year, although numbers were down, there were still sightings of 3,111 Greater Scaup, 1,870 Long-tailed Ducks and 103 Tundra Swans. Thank you to all the team leaders and team participants who did an excellent job, initially under “challenging” conditions. _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists (OFO) - 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 Visit the OFO Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/OntarioFieldOrnithologists
