The Strathroy Area Count was held on Monday, December 23rd. Thank you to the 15 field observers and the two feeder watchers. The temperature ranged from 0 C to -4 C later in the day. Yes, it got colder as the day wore on. During the owling hours, the wind was only 8 km/hr, but during the day, winds increased to 20 km/hr, with gusts up to 35 km/hr. 59 species were tallied, which is a little over the average of 56 for the 17 years of the count. However, the total individual count of 8,224 birds is way down from the average.
There was one new species for the count: Northern Saw-whet Owl. There were high counts of three species: . Greater Black-backed Gull - 3 . Snowy Owl - 4 . Northern Flicker - 17 There were low counts of five species: . Sharp-shinned Hawk - 3 . American Tree sparrow - 108 . Song Sparrow - 5 . Swamp Sparrow - 1 . Northern Cardinal - 120 There was one winter finch sighting: Purple Finch - 1 There was one count week bird: Tufted Titmouse. _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial birding organization. Send bird reports to [email protected] For information about ONTBIRDS including how to unsubscribe visit http://www.ofo.ca/site/page/view/information.ontbirdssetup
