The 63rd Peterborough Christmas Bird Count was held on Sunday December 14th. On a relatively mild day (-1 to +1 degC) 45 participants (previous high of 35 participants) found 67 species of birds, beating the previous record of 62 species.
One new species for the count was recorded, a Gray Catbird. New record high species counts were seen for Red-tailed Hawk (64 vs 62), Wild Turkey (306 vs 287), Rock Pigeon (1705 vs 1538), Common Raven (24 vs5), White-breasted Nuthatch (116 vs 102), and Dark-eyed Junco (515 vs 426). Previous records were equaled for Bald Eagle (2), Sharp-shinned Hawk (5), Snowy Owl (1), Barred Owl (2), Pileated Woodpecker (14), Ruby-crowned Kinglet (1), and Hermit Thrush (1). Of note were four Evening Grosbeaks (1st since 1999, the large increase in the number of Common Ravens (5 to 24, a trend that appears to be happening in other counts), rare occurrences of Bufflehead, Rough-legged Hawk (1st since 2006), American Coot (1st since 2003), Horned Lark(1st since 2005), Ruby-crowned Kinglet (1st seen two years ago), only one Bohemian Waxwing (on our counts they are almost regular every other year, this should be a big year), Yellow-rumped Warbler, since once in 1981, and now three times in the last 4 years), Common Grackle (1st since 2006). Tony Bigg Co-ordinator _______________________________________________ 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 Posting guidelines can be found at http://www.ofo.ca/site/page/view/information.ontbirdsguide
