The Brantford CBC took place on Saturday December 30 2017. 14 field observers and 10 feeder watchers braved fridgid temperatures to reach a successful count of 61 species , and a total of 5, 781 individual birds. The morning started out with a low temperature of -11 and reached a chilly high of -8. The winds held off most of the day and the sun was shining for most of the count day. Aside from an afternoon heavy snowfall for about a half hour , this group of birders could not have asked for better winter conditions for a count. The grand river was mostly frozen over , with small stretches of open water Highlights include : 15 turkey vultures , 5 common ravens , 1 peregrine falcon ,9 bald eagles , 7 iceland gulls , 1 lesser black backed gull , 11 glaucous gulls , 10 carolina wrens , 70 eastern bluebirds , 3 rusty blackbirds , 5 fox sparrows and 2 white crowned sparrows , among other great finds. Special thanks goes out to Shelia Smith for hosting the lunch break and Betty Chanyi for providing her amazing homemade soup. Also , a big thanks to all the volunteers who made this count so successful. Our best to date. The complete list of species and numbers is : Bald Eagle 9 Red Tailed Hawk 34 Rough Legged hawk 3 Sharp shinned hawk 2 Peregrine falcon 1 American kestrel 2 Turkey vulture 15 Great horned owl 2 Eastern screech owl 1 Common raven 5 American crow 225 Wild turkey 135 Belted kingfisher 2 Mourning dove 212 Rock dove 178 Canada goose 840 Mallard duck 314 Black duck 11 Common goldeneye 36 Common merganser 25 Bufflehead 2 Hooded merganser 1 Glaucous gull 11 Great black backed gull 10 Herring gull 889 Ring billed gull 50 Iceland gull 7 Lesser black backed gull 1 Downy woodpecker 56 Hairy woodpecker 6 Red bellied woodpecker 15 Northern flicker 2 White breasted nuthatch 26 Red breasted nuthatch 10 Brown creeper 5 Golden crowned kinglet 7 Carolina wren 10 Black capped chickadee 107 Dark eyed junco 369 Cedar waxwing 3 Tufted titmouse 1 Eastern bluebird 70 American robin 2 House finch 85 American goldfinch 167 Northern cardinal 105 Bluejay 93 American tree sparrow 91 Song sparrow 31 Swamp sparrow 1 Fox sparrow 5 White throated sparrow 40 White crowned sparrow 2 House sparrow 357 Lapland longspur 3 Horned lark 28 Pine siskin 5 European starling 1040 Brown headed cowbird 12 Rusty blackbird 3 Red winged blackbird 1
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