2020 Christmas Bird Count Results

Results of St. Thomas Field Naturalist Club 2020 CBC held on Dec 26, 2020.

Photograph of Trumpeter Swan taken at Port Stanley Sewage Lagoon by Diane Dobson.

We had natures coat of snow to thank for our success this year. Birds were flocking to feeders and waters were a mixed bag of frozen and unfrozen. Ponds you would expect to be frozen were open and vice versa. We had 48 people out looking this year, they saw 80 species and a total of 17,836 birds. A Trumpeter Swan, Canvasback and Hoary Redpoll were seen on count week.

The unusual species we were expecting from the poor pine cone season up north partially arrived. We had George’s 12 White-winged Crossbill and 113 Common Redpoll with a Hoary Redpoll for count week. The hemp fields at the corner of Fairview and Dexter Line are attracting them in the hundreds. No Snowy Owl reported on count day.

The Ontario wing tagged (V53) Trumpeter Swan at Port Stanley Sewage Lagoons seen by the Auckland’s was a first for our CBC on count week and is still staying in the partially open waters of pond 2 with a Tundra Swan. The Tundra Swans set a new high of 364 almost a hundred more than the previous high set almost a decade ago.The Bufflehead’s stayed this winter with a good showing of 42 approaching our high of 50.

The resurgence of Bald Eagles was revealed in our count with 40 almost a 25 percent jump over our previous high. Everyone was hearing and seeing the noisy Carolina Wren and they established a new high of 30 also a 20 percent jump over previous high. The Common Yellowthroat seen at Yarmouth NHA by the Howe family was only the second reported for our CBC, the last reporting was over 4 decades ago.

With global warming maybe the Savannah Sparrows are thinking of wintering here. We had 3 this year which is a new high. The Turkey Vultures are really liking the Port Stanley area with 67 being reported.

This years totals mean the club has seen 1,081,399 birds with an average of 70 species a year. Our number of volunteers is still good with a club average of 39 and we had 48 volunteers out this Covid-19 season.

Click here for a complete list of this years birds.

All in all a very good day. You can see that each year has it’s surprises and misses, which makes doing the count such a joy.

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