Hi everyone, The Blenheim CBC was held Sunday December 18. Weather was blustery and cold with flurries at times which made birding difficult although it could have been worse……
Despite the less than desirable conditions, 112 species were tallied by the 26 participants, which is a little above average for the last 20 years. There were no new species and 5 additional species seen for count week only. Instead of listing highlights, I’ll just give the whole list. Kudos to my dad for doing most (not all) of the work too. Jim 18 Snow Goose 2 Greater White-fronted Goose 6 Cackling Goose 5025 Canada Goose 171 Mute Swan -- Record high (79) 2 Trumpeter Swan — Second record 4859 Tundra Swan 2 Wood Duck 33 Northern Shoveler 762 Gadwall 266 American Wigeon 605 Mallard 255 American Black Duck 9 Northern Pintail 7 Green-winged Teal 1680 Canvasback 12012 Redhead -- Record high (9377) 11 Ring-necked Duck 391 Greater Scaup 520 Lesser Scaup 1300 Greater/Lesser Scaup 1 Surf Scoter 32 White-winged Scoter 1 Black Scoter 11 Long-tailed Duck 1308 Bufflehead -- Second highest 339 Common Goldeneye 273 Hooded Merganser -- Ties high 😂 40 Common Merganser 1160 Red-breasted Merganser 3606 Ruddy Duck -- Record high (627) 6000 duck sp. — Presumably mostly Redhead 14 Wild Turkey 1 Pied-billed Grebe 1 Horned Grebe 69 Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon) 490 Mourning Dove 1 Virginia Rail 2501 American Coot 21 Sandhill Crane 35 Killdeer -- Second highest 1 Dunlin 1 Western Sandpiper -- Second record 1 Spotted Sandpiper -- Third record 31 Bonaparte's Gull 1289 Ring-billed Gull 566 Herring Gull 1 Iceland Gull -- Thayer’s 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull 34 Great Black-backed Gull 1 Red-throated Loon 1 Common Loon 5 Double-crested Cormorant 10 Great Blue Heron 1 Black-crowned Night-Heron 3 Golden Eagle -- Ties high 9 Northern Harrier 3 Sharp-shinned Hawk 11 Cooper's Hawk 30 Bald Eagle 32 Red-tailed Hawk 4 Rough-legged Hawk 3 Eastern Screech-Owl — low (windy) 8 Great Horned Owl 2 Belted Kingfisher 3 Red-headed Woodpecker 58 Red-bellied Woodpecker 112 Downy Woodpecker 18 Hairy Woodpecker 3 Pileated Woodpecker 10 Northern Flicker 7 American Kestrel 1 Merlin 1 Eastern Phoebe 1 Northern Shrike 110 Blue Jay 871 American Crow 212 Black-capped Chickadee 11 Tufted Titmouse 226 Horned Lark 1 Ruby-crowned Kinglet 20 Golden-crowned Kinglet 22 Red-breasted Nuthatch 49 White-breasted Nuthatch 19 Brown Creeper 3 Winter Wren 2 Marsh Wren 27 Carolina Wren 1099 European Starling 2 Eastern Bluebird 4 Hermit Thrush 2 American Robin — 30 year low 12 Cedar Waxwing 1432 House Sparrow 403 House Finch 294 American Goldfinch 73 Snow Bunting 3 Chipping Sparrow 1 Field Sparrow 495 American Tree Sparrow 2 Fox Sparrow 756 Dark-eyed Junco 21 White-crowned Sparrow 13 White-throated Sparrow 3 Savannah Sparrow 90 Song Sparrow 51 Swamp Sparrow 1 Eastern Towhee 569 Red-winged Blackbird 350 Brown-headed Cowbird 2 Rusty Blackbird 16 Common Grackle 1 Common Yellowthroat 260 Northern Cardinal Count week species: Purple Sandpiper, Wilson’s Snipe, American Pipit, Lapland Longspur, Purple Finch, Pine Siskin If you made it this far. No, I didn’t type all that out lol. And to the participants that already had seen the list, after going over it what seems like 100 times, I’m still finding small errors haha. -- 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.
