The Christmas Bird Count was on Dec 28, a calm day after a week of bitter cold, snow and howling winds. The temperature was from -2ºC to +3ºC. Unfortunately waterways were frozen from the prior cold spell. The area that Headwaters Nature and friends cover for the annual Christmas Bird Count is officially labelled ‘ONCD’. It covers much of Caledon as well as parts of Orangeville and Erin. This is the 31st count, beginning in 1987 with a few missing years. We had a total of 11 teams, each with part of or the whole of the various Areas outlined in the above map. There were also 4 Project FeederWatch reports submitted to Headwaters Nature. We had 48 species which is the best since 2005 (average 39.4 the last five years), but a number of these species are only represented by one or two birds. Our total count of 3135 is… Read more »
The 120th annual Christmas Bird Count is run by the Audubon Society and Bird Studies Canada. Counts can be done on any single day between Dec 14 and Jan 5 and are conducted within a circle of diameter 24 km (15 miles). This year we counted on 2020 January 04, marking our 28th count as several years were missed. Since 1987, the UCFN/HN have been responsible for the Caledon circle, which includes Orangeville.
On Saturday December 30th, we completed our annual Christmas Bird Count. The Numbers: 23 + 7 participants; 715 km driven; 10.5 km walked; 2.5 hrs owling; -14ºC minimum; 38 species overall; estimated 3983 individual birds overall; most populous: American Crow 931, Snow Bunting 740, European Starling 342, Dark-eyed Junco 335, American Goldfinch 300, Black-Capped Chickadee 272, Wild Turkey 223, least seen: Ruffed Grouse 1, Northern Harrier 1, Sharp-shinned Hawk 1, Cooper’s Hawk 1, Snowy Owl 1, Belted Kingfisher 1, Northern Shrike 1, Christmas Bird Count participants: (23 participants): (Area 1): Ron Jasiuk, Bill, Mike, Russ, Cynthia, Leo; (Area 2): Mark Whitcombe, Jerry, Paul, Katherine; (Area 3): Linda Lockyer, Mike, Dilys, Debby; (Area 4): Ron Ritchie, Mary Lynn, Betty; (Area 5): Dawn Renfrew, Darcie; (Area 6): Rob Best, Kevin, Anne-Marie, Suzanne Christmas Feeder Watch participants: (7 participants): Doug & Jane, Jean, Joan, Robin, Rachel, Liz Comments (by a botanist …) Of… Read more »
