The 78th Kingston CBC was held on Sunday, December 14. The count circle covers the entire west end of Wolfe Island and all of Kingston from Collins Bay in the west to the tip of Howe Island in the east; it extends north of Highway 401 to include the Little Cataraqui Creek Conservation Area and Kingston Mills.
The weather on count day was cold (-12°C to -5°C) and mostly clear with light northwesterly winds (0-15 km/hr). There was no precipitation and about 15 cm of snow on the ground. Lake Ontario was mostly open with minimal chop, while shallow bays and smaller bodies of water were frozen. We had 131 participants (59 in the field and 72 feeder/yard watchers) who together did close to 300 hours of birding. A total of 84 species was tallied on count day with 3 additional count week species. This is below the 20 year average of 93 species but in line with the lower average of 84 seen over the past 10 years. The backyard/feeder watchers tallied 38 species and added several species to the field list this year: Carolina Wren, Redpoll, Evening Grosbeak, Ruby-crowned Kinglet and a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (count week). There were 23,556 individual birds tallied, which is only 52% of the previous 20 year average of 45,087 and still significantly less than the 34,357 average over the past 10 years. Most species were present in low to average numbers with the exception of some birds that come to feeders which remained high due to the continued high number of feeders included in our count. Waterfowl counts were low to average and no loons or grebes were seen. Owl numbers remained low (or absent) except for a notable high number of Barred Owls. There were continuing high counts of Bald Eagles, American Crows, Common Ravens, Red-bellied Woodpeckers and Northern Cardinals. Tufted Titmice have moved northward into the area and, like last year, we saw a record high number. There were very few winter finches; just the usual scattering of Purple Finches, a single Redpoll and a single Evening Grosbeak. House Sparrow numbers continued to be very low this year. More details are provided below. THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO MADE THIS YEAR’S COUNT A SUCCESS! Kathy Webb Kingston CBC Compiler ********************** SPECIFIC DETAILS TOTAL SPECIES: 84 + 3 count week additions (20 year average 93) TOTAL INDIVIDUALS: 23,556 (20 year average 45,087) PARTICIPANTS: 59 in the field + 72 feeder watchers NEW SPECIES: none COUNT WEEK SPECIES: Trumpeter Swan, Canvasback, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker NOTABLE FINDS: Sandhill Crane, Snowy Owl, Peregrine Falcon, Fish Crow, Tufted Titmouse, Carolina Wren, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Eastern Bluebird, Hermit Thrush, Swamp Sparrow, Red-winged Blackbird RECORD/EQUAL HIGH (last 20 years): Bald Eagle 49 (avg 20, previous high 33) Sandhill Crane 35 (avg 0.2, previous high 2) Tufted Titmouse 9 (avg 1.1, previous high 9) NOTABLE RECORDS ABOVE AVERAGE (last 20 years): Barred Owl 8 (avg 3) American Crow 1508 (avg 603) Common Raven 65 (avg 22) Red-bellied Woodpecker 29 (avg 11) Dark-eyed Junco 617 (avg 294) Northern Cardinal 211 (avg 97) RECORD/EQUAL LOW (last 20 years): Gadwall 59 (avg 343, previous low 78) American Wigeon 1 (avg 86, previous low 1) Great Black-backed Gull 2 (avg 21, previous low 2) Snowy Owl 1 (avg 12, previous low 1) NOTABLE RECORDS BELOW AVERAGE (last 20 years): Canada Goose 6099 (avg 17919) Tundra Swan 127 (avg 483) Mallard 1161 (avg 5241) Redhead 15 (avg 1422) Ring-necked Duck 14 (avg 110) Bufflehead 40 (avg 234) Common Merganser 434 (avg 1349) Red-breasted Merganser 882 (avg 1856) Northern Harrier 11 (avg 22) Rough-legged Hawk 4 (avg 17) American Coot 6 (avg 79) Ring-billed Gull 160 (avg 408) American Kestrel 3 (avg 8) Horned Lark 5 (avg 72) Golden-crowned Kinglet 5 (avg 25) European Starling 876 (avg 2839) Lapland Longspur 1 (avg 16) House Sparrow 94 (avg 314) NOTABLE MISSES (typically seen in >50% of counts): Cackling Goose, Northern Pintail, Common Loon, Horned Grebe, Great Blue Heron, Short-eared Owl, Winter Wren, Common Grackle A full checklist will soon be available on the CBC website (count code ONKG): http://netapp.audubon.org/CBCObservation/CurrentYear/ResultsByCount.aspx -- 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 To find out more about OFO, please visit our website at ofo.ca or Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/OntarioFieldOrnithologists.
