The 105th Hamilton Christmas Bird Count was held on December 26, 2025. This is a preliminary report where some details will be missing or a bit more generalized. A later final report will fill in these details in full.
The count circle centres upon Dundurn Castle; it is bounded in the west by Christie Lake, in the east by Lake Ontario, in the north by Lake Medad, and in the south by Hamilton International Airport. It includes two Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs): the West End of Lake Ontario (WELO) KBA, and Hamilton Harbour Waterbird Colonies KBA. The day’s weather was challenging for birding, starting off with overcast, -6° C and ENE winds of 30 km/h, leading to later snow, sleet, then freezing rain and a high of -2° C. Most field counters called it a day by about 1:30 pm in the afternoon due to this weather. Some locations important to the count, such as the RBG’s Arboretum, were closed completely and inaccessible. At least 53 separate parties of counters were active on the count day. With almost all reports in by the time of writing, 95 species were counted on the day. Add to this an additional 7 species from the count week period brings the total in at 102 species for the count period. (Remaining reports may affect this, and add to further data below.) A total of 28,901 individual birds were counted, making for a substantially below-average count, 8,151 less than the ten-year average of 37,052. Despite the challenging circumstances, five species managed to have record-high counts this year. Trumpeter Swan came in strong with 211 individuals counted in 9 different locations. This beats the previous record of 193 in 2010. While most waterfowl had below-average counts this year, a total of 1,843 Red-breasted Mergansers were found, setting a record two years in a row (1,301 last year). The vast majority of these (1,711) were in a single location, Windermere Basin. The Yellow-bellied Sapsucker has now been present for five years in a row, the longest streak it has ever maintained in the history of the count. With 5 individuals counted by 4 separate count groups this year, it has set a new record. Once again we have counted 7 Merlins on count day, and this is the third time this exact record has been matched (2015, 2021, 2025). The species has been seen every year since 1998, and in the last 25 years the average has been 4 found per count. This species was seen by six different groups. The most impressive record of the year is the discovery of 12 Hermit Thrush, seen by 7 different groups, beating out a record of 11 seen in 2002 and being only the second count on record to have double-digit counts of this species. As expected in a count with a low total, some species hit record lows not seen in the count since the very early days of the count where only a few participants were involved. While our count circle began in 1921, it wasn’t until 1955 that it was standardized for scientific purposes with a set circle. Since that time, we have never had as few House Sparrows as this year, with a count of 841. Song Sparrow also hit a record low, with only 9 observed, the first single-digit report in the 70 counts since 1955. Species with a 25-year low included: Bufflehead (103), Mourning Dove (189), Ring-billed Gull (298), Downy Woodpecker (111), Black-capped Chickadee (584), White-breasted Nuthatch (115), Northern Mockingbird (4), House Finch (99), and Northern Cardinal (319). Count week species included: Glaucous Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Snowy Owl, Great Horned Owl, Fox Sparrow, Common Grackle, Yellow-rumped Warbler. A lot of these lows are likely due to the very poor weather making observation conditions challenging. (A later final report will be able to comment on whether hours-effort was affected by weather conditions.) Thank you to the dozens of participants this year, especially given our poor weather conditions! We consistently see between 90 to 110 participants each year making this one of the biggest counts in the province and it is evident from the results that our counters are very determined to find all they can. If you have any questions about this report or the Hamilton count, please feel free to reach out to me. For exact numbers of each species, see the raw data below this written section. Happy New Year, Rob Porter Hamilton Christmas Bird Count Compiler Hamilton Naturalists’ Club Additional Notes: Last year’s report can be seen at: https://ebird.org/tripreport/311739 CBC Hamilton wrote an article about our count (using early preliminary data): https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/hamilton-bird-count-2025-9.7029182 Species Count Data Count Day Species: 95 Count Week Species: 7 Total Species Countable: 102 Spuh/Slash Species: 4 Hybrid Species: 0 * Record high (105 years) *10y 10-year high CW denotes "Count Week" species (3 days before or after the count day but not observed the day-of) Cackling Goose 3 Canada Goose 6,584 Mute Swan 44 *Trumpeter Swan 211 Tundra Swan 9 Wood Duck 2 Northern Shoveler 66 Gadwall 49 American Wigeon 1 Mallard 5,019 American Black Duck 204 Northern Pintail 6 Green-winged Teal 6 Canvasback 45 Redhead 26 Ring-necked Duck 85 Greater Scaup 732 Lesser Scaup 36 Surf Scoter 5 White-winged Scoter 117 Black Scoter 4 Long-tailed Duck 548 Bufflehead 103 Common Goldeneye 833 Hooded Merganser 87 Common Merganser 1,438 *Red-breasted Merganser 1,843 Ruddy Duck 55 duck sp. 14 Wild Turkey 106 Rock Pigeon 1,471 Mourning Dove 189 American Coot 44 Ring-billed Gull 298 American Herring Gull 331 Great Black-backed Gull 11 Glaucous Gull CW Lesser Black-backed Gull CW Iceland Gull 1 gull sp. 15 Pied-billed Grebe 1 Horned Grebe 2 Common Loon 2 Double-crested Cormorant 54 Black-crowned Night Heron 1 Great Blue Heron 3 Turkey Vulture 9 Sharp-shinned Hawk 2 Cooper's Hawk 14 Northern Harrier 1 Bald Eagle 13 Red-shouldered Hawk 1 Red-tailed Hawk 66 Rough-legged Hawk 1 hawk sp. 1 *10y Eastern Screech-Owl 10 Snowy Owl CW Great Horned Owl CW Belted Kingfisher 2 *Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 5 Red-bellied Woodpecker 83 Downy Woodpecker 111 Hairy Woodpecker 45 Pileated Woodpecker 2 Northern Flicker 10 American Kestrel 1 *Merlin 7 Peregrine Falcon 3 Northern Shrike 1 Blue Jay 235 American Crow 331 Common Raven 16 Black-capped Chickadee 584 Tufted Titmouse 1 Golden-crowned Kinglet 9 White-breasted Nuthatch 115 Red-breasted Nuthatch 40 Brown Creeper 19 Winter Wren 2 Carolina Wren 30 European Starling 2,433 Gray Catbird 1 Northern Mockingbird 4 Eastern Bluebird 30 *Hermit Thrush 12 American Robin 671 Cedar Waxwing 169 House Sparrow 841 House Finch 99 Purple Finch 2 Pine Siskin 46 American Goldfinch 526 finch sp. 10 American Tree Sparrow 160 Fox Sparrow CW Dark-eyed Junco 968 White-crowned Sparrow 16 White-throated Sparrow 104 Song Sparrow 9 Swamp Sparrow 1 Red-winged Blackbird 4 Brown-headed Cowbird 1 Common Grackle CW Orange-crowned Warbler 1 Yellow-rumped Warbler CW Northern Cardinal 319 TOTAL 28,901 Rob Porter Director of Bird Studies, Hamilton Naturalists' Club Creator/Host, "Songbirding" Podcast [email protected] -- Ontbirds and Birdnews are moderated email Listservs provided by the Ontario Field Ornithologists (OFO) as a service to all birders in Ontario. 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