The 8th annual Brantford Christmas bird count was held on Sunday January the 2nd , 2022 The count circle centres upon the Brantford Airport , and extends south to Oakland , west to Burford , and surrounding agricultural land, north into Paris , and eastern Brantford . Weather for the day was a high of -3 , a low of -8 , light winds at 10km/hr NW , intermittent snow throughout the day , sunny periods in the afternoon , with 3 to 5 cm of snow covering the ground All water bodies remained ice free
35 field observers (22 parties ) and 3 feeder counters observed 73 species on the day , and 5 count week species The Brantford count was one species shy of tying last years highest count of 74 species. 12, 464 individual birds were observed on count day New species to the count are Green Winged Teal , American Coot , Wilsons Snipe , Long Eared Owl , and Purple Finch Additional new count week species are as follows Northern Pintail , Gadwall , and Ring Necked Duck One big miss this year , was Great Horned Owl Bald Eagles counted by all parties was 36 in total . However , this total surely is the result of many individuals being double counted for this wideranging and very conspicuous species . Accordingly , in consultation with others , the number had been reduced to 22 Bald Eagles , allthough its impossible to know the true number of Bald Eagles on count day . That being said , the Grand River does have a high concentration of Bald Eagles in the winter months because of the presence of the Brantford landfill , and the high numbers of gulls and waterfowl that provide prey for the Eagles One remarkeable almost miss , was the Wild Turkey , with just one specimen observed This species is often abundant and recorded by many parties Full species list and amounts per species are as follows : ( pardon the non taxonomical order ) Bald Eagle 22 Turkey Vulture 11 NorthernHarrier 3 Rough Legged Hawk 4 Red Tailed Hawk 78 Coopers Hawk 9 Sharp Shinned Hawk 3 Merlin 2 American Kestrel 6 Peregrine Falcon 2 Blue Heron 5 Wild Turkey 1 Trumpeter Swan 36 Belted Kingfisher 10 Canada Goose 2,690 Mallard Duck 644 Am Black Duck 56 Common Goldeneye 236 Common Merganser 176 Hooded Merganser 16 American Coot 1 Green Winged Teal 1 Bufflehead 6 Wilsons Snipe 1 Eastern Screech Owl 5 Mourning Dove 994 Rock Pigeon 589 Herring Gull 704 Ring Billed Gull 43 Iceland Gull 2 Glaucous Gull 6 Great Blacked Back Gull 9 Horned Lark 130 Snow Bunting 59 Dark Eyed Junco 973 Red Bellied Woodp 56 Downy Woodp 119 Hairy Woodp 27 Northern Flicker 10 Pileated Woodp 5 Yellow Bellied Sapsucker 1 Red Breasted Nuthatch 23 White Br Nuthatch 60 Black C Chickadee 266 Carolina Wren 17 Bluejay 198 Northern Cardinal 257 Brown Creeper 20 Golden Cr Kinglet 22 Eastern Bluebird 55 American Robin 39 Hermit Thrush 2 European Starling 1738 American Crow 359 Common Raven 8 House Sparrow 301 House Finch 113 American Goldfinch 405 Purple Finch 4 Am Tree Sparrow 627 White Cr Sparrow 16 White Th Sparrow 41 Fox Sparrow 1 Song Sparrow 47 Northern Shrike 3 Tufted Titmouse 7 Swamp Sparrow 4 Red Winged Blackbird 1 Brown Hd Cowbird 5 Cedar Waxwing 47 Common Redpoll 14 Mute Swan 2 Long Eared Owl 2 Compiler Kevin Murphy -- Ontbirds and Birdnews are moderated email Listservs provided by the Ontario Field Ornithologists (OFO) as a service to all birders in Ontario. Birdnews is reserved for announcements, location summaries, first of year reports, etc. To post a message on Birdnews, send an email to: [email protected]. If you have any questions or concerns, contact the Birdnews Moderators by email at [email protected]. Please review posting rules and guidelines at http://ofo.ca/site/content/listserv-guidelines During the COVID-19 pandemic, all Ontario birders should be taking extra precautions and following local, provincial, and federal regulations regarding physical distancing and non-essential travel. To find out more about OFO, please visit our website at ofo.ca or Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/OntarioFieldOrnithologists.
