2012 Christmas Bird Counts in Northumberland County

                                                                          © Katsu Sakuma

One of nine Barred Owls seen 

on the Port Hope-Cobourg Christmas Bird Count

Nature Notes for December 28, 2012

In the birding calendar, December is the month for ChristmasBird Counts. These counts have been held in North American since 1900.

They grew out of a Victorian era tradition of the Christmas season, where hunters would go out for a day close to Christmas and shoot as many birds and and small mammals as they could. In 1900, American ornithologist, Frank Chapman suggested that it might be better to spend a day in the field without a gun and count all the birds seen.

This tradition has since spread throughout North America, and is now organized jointly by the National Audubon Society in the U.S. and Bird Studies Canada in Canada.

I have participated in two local counts, the Port Hope-Cobourg one on December 15 and the Presqu’ile-Brighton one the next day.

The day of the Port Hope-Cobourg count was overcast all day, with a brisk east wind for most of  the day. At the end of the day, 39 field observers had tallied 23,110 birds of 80 species.

Two species new to the count were found, both in Cobourg Harbour: a Greater White-fronted Goose and a female Blue-winged Teal.

Some other highlights were:

Red-necked Grebe (1 in Cobourg Harbour), Cackling Goose (record high of 11 birds), Green-winged Teal (2 birds), Turkey Vulture (1), Bald Eagle (1 sub-adult in Port Hope), American Coot (1), Barred Owl (record high of 9 birds), Red-bellied Woodpecker (record high of 15 birds), Carolina Wren (1), HermitThrush (1), Northern Mockingbird (tied the record high of 3 birds), BohemianWaxwing (record high of 1,324 birds), Eastern Towhee (record high of 2), FoxSparrow (one bird seen count week at a feeder), Pine Grosbeak (44), CommonRedpoll (618), Hoary Redpoll (1 at a feeder) and Evening Grosbeak (32 at a feeder).

The Presqu’ile-Brighton Count on December 18 had terrible weather – rain throughout most of the day. Such weather always suppresses bird activity to say nothing of making it really miserable for the field observers. Nevertheless, the day’s 29 participants tallied 13,667 birds of 85 species.

Two Red-throated Loons were a new species for this count.

Record high counts were found of several waterfowl species: Gadwall (52), Northern Pintail (16), Black Scoter (10), Hooded Merganser (262), Canada Goose (2,499).

Red-bellied Woodpecker tied the high count of 6, set last year.

Several passerine species were down in numbers. No wren species were found. American Crow, American Robins, European Starling and HouseFinch were found in numbers well below past years.

On the other hand, Golden-crowned Kinglets posted a near record high of 60 and Northern Cardinal set a record high of 74. Three RustyBlackbirds and one Field Sparrow were unusual for the count.

Irruptive species present in good numbers included White-wingedCrossbill, Pine Grosbeak, Common Redpoll, Hoary Redpoll (1). The prize, however, goes to Bohemian Waxwing at 936 birds, just one short of the record high set in 1995.

As is customary, the participants gathered at the end of the day to share a meal, share the day’s stories and add up the numbers.

As if that wasn’t enough, Northumberland County is holding yet another count on January 1, 2013. This is a trial year for a Rice LakePlains Christmas Bird Count. It seems that birders, if they can, see the new year in asleep, so that they can begin their new year list bright and early on New Year’s Day.