Hello Ontbirders, Today (December 20th) was the 75th Woodstock CBC. Weather was OK with no precipitation, a steady east wind (about 15kph), overcast in the morning and clearing in the afternoon, -14 to -10 degrees C. We had one new bird for the count period (a count week Double-crested Cormorant), bringing our total species recorded on all counts combined 122 + 2 count period only. We recorded 60 species, right on the long term average. Some feeder counts still have to come in so there still may be some adjustments. 54,815 individual birds were observed - a new record for us. The old record was 52,673 in 2001.
Best birds were 1 Wood Duck (9th count), 1 adult Bald Eagle (5th count), 1 Northern Goshawk (14th count), 1 Merlin (6th count), 1 Short-eared Owl (5th count), 1 Long-eared Owl (11th count), 4 Eastern Bluebirds (5th count), 1 Eastern Towhee (3rd count) and 2 Laplong Longspur (9th count). We had new high counts for the following species: Cooper's Hawk - 9 (previous high 8 in 2002), Red-tailed Hawk - 76 (previous high 71 in 1984), Red-bellied Woodpecker - 20 (previous high 14 last year), Pileated Woodpecker - 6 (previous high 4 in 1989), American Crow 41,146 (previous high 38,844 in 2001), Snow Bunting - 4934 (previous high 4600 in 1999), White-winged Crossbill - 375 (previous high 52 in 1971). Note that the crossbills are very widespread and in small flocks. This is not just the result of 1or 2 big flocks. The only other finch of note was Pine Siskin (6 birds in 4 locations). Ruffed Grouse was our only notable miss. This species has virtually disappeared in N. Oxford County and is likely to be a regular miss now. We have seen it on 47 previous counts. Jeff __ Jeff Skevington, Research Scientist Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada K.W. Neatby Building, C.E.F., 960 Carling Ave. Ottawa, ON, K1A 0C6, Canada Work Phone: 613-759-1647 e-mail: [email protected] __________________________________________________________________ Yahoo! Canada Toolbar: Search from anywhere on the web, and bookmark your favourite sites. Download it now at http://ca.toolbar.yahoo.com. _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial birding organization. Send bird reports to ONTBIRDS mailing list [email protected] For instructions to join or leave ONTBIRDS visit http://www.ofo.ca/information/ontbirdssetup.php ONTBIRDS Guidelines may be viewed at http://www.ofo.ca/information/ontbirdsguide.php
