The 24th St. Clair National Wildlife Area CBC was held on Saturday, January 3, 2004. It seems that we had our January thaw early this year, with balmy conditions-it varied from 13C (55F) in the early morning, dropping to 10C (50F) by evening, and only light to moderate winds. Under these conditions, there were even 4 herptiles recorded--Green Frog, Leopard Frog, Chorus Frog and Eastern Garter Snake!
Twenty-one observers combed the marshes, lake edges, fields and woodlots (yes, there is more than one woodlot, 5 actually, in this otherwise fairly bleak circle) and came up with an astounding 91 species, surpassing the previous high of 82, and well above our long-term average of about 70 species. Waterfowl are critical for high numbers at this count, and the 24 species observed on count day helped achieve this record high. Almost 79000 birds were tallied, including more than 65700 individuals of waterfowl, and included several new high counts. By contrast, last year we had fewer than 5000 individuals of only 12 species of waterfowl. New species included White-winged Scoter (1), Lincoln's Sparrow (1) and Blue-winged Teal (1 Count Week--observed 2 days before the count and not seen since). Our combined total species since 1981 now stands at 127. New highs were recorded for 17 species (previous highs are in brackets): Mute Swan 227 (169) Tundra Swan 5430 (5331) Mallard 26528 (24739) Canvasback 19215 (2400) Redhead 2561 (713) Greater Scaup 3203 (771) Common Merganser 1965 (715) Cooper's Hawk 11 (9) Killdeer 3 (1) Great Horned Owl 16 (14) Red-bellied Woodpecker 15 (10) Downy Woodpecker 178 (141) Red-breasted Nuthatch 7 (1) Eastern Towhee 2 (1) Am. Tree Sparrow 1401 (1342) White-crowned Sparrow 65 (45) American Goldfinch 240 (116) An additional 9 species tied the previous highs: Green-winged Teal (7), Bufflehead (7), Bald Eagle (5), Long-eared Owl (2), Belted Kingfisher (2), Tufted Titmouse (1), Carolina Wren (6), Golden-crowned Kinglet (5) and Northern Mockingbird (1). Allen Woodliffe ********************************** P. Allen Woodliffe District Ecologist Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources Aylmer District P. O. Box 1168 870 Richmond Street West Chatham, ON N7M 5L8 Tel. 519-354-4108 Fax. 519-354-0313 email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] "Dealing with species at risk instead of spaces at risk is like treating a life-threatening disease with an aspirin" [EMAIL PROTECTED] Visit http://www.ofo.ca/ontbirdsguide.htm for information on leaving and joining the list. As well as general information and content guidelines.
