The 37th Niagara Falls CBC was held on Saturday, December 28, 2002 under day long overcast conditions, temperatures ranging from 30 to 34 degrees F, and winds from the SW at 15 miles per hour. Still water was mostly frozen , moving water was open, with about 2 inches of snow cover on the ground.
Our count center is located at the Brock monument at Queenston making our count unique in that one half is in Ontario and the other half in New York State. I am indebted to the 44 participants (26 Canadian and 18 American) and 3 feeder watchers who spent many hours in the field finding 100 species, which equals our previous high in 2000. Adding two count week birds takes us to an all time high of 102. Total individuals were 50,678, about where we have been the past few years, but considerably lower than our count high of 127,819 in 1998. Our gull numbers by count day are often lower than earlier in the month as many Bonaparte's Gull, and others, have moved on. Bonaparte's Gull at 3192 this year is at a 19 year low, and Great Black-backed Gull at 245 is at a 15 year low, however, Iceland Gull at 16 is a count high. The West Nile Virus has clearly affected our American Crow numbers with only 336 birds observed. This is a 23 year low. Black-capped Chickadee at 289 was a 15 year low. We had some record high's however, with Gadwall at 81, White-winged Scoter 1225, Common Merganser 2977, Sharp-shinned Hawk 18, Cooper's Hawk 16, American Robin 2565, Dark-eyed Junco 927, and American Goldfinch 406. Highlights for the count were: Peregrine Falcon in the Niagara River gorge, an adult California Gull at Adam Beck, a winter adult Black-headed Gull at Queenston, a female Barrow's Goldeneye at Porter, NY, and a Pine Warbler at Fort Niagara woods in Youngstown, NY, The two count week birds are Gray Catbird observed at Church and McNab Sts in NOTL on December 26, and Pine Grosbeak found at the US end of the Queenston/Lewiston Bridge on December 27th. I would like to extend my deep appreciation to everyone who contributed in whatever way to this record count. Happy New Year to all, may 2003 be a bird-filled year. Kayo Kayo Roy 13 Kinsman Court Fonthill, ON. L0S 1E3 [EMAIL PROTECTED] "Diane and Kayo Roy" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
