Yesterday, a number of area birders scoured the Wallaceburg area conducting a Christmas Bird Count. Last year it did not run, but this year it was nice to get back in the groove. It was a rather successful day!
It was clear all night, but around 06:45 the clouds rolled in for a gloomy day. No significant wind either. That did not deter the effort though. Nor did it affect the birds!
The count stands at 81 species. Some good birds on Walpole Island were found, as they often are. Included was a Yellow-headed Blackbird, some Eastern Towhees, Iceland Gull, among other species.
I toured my usual area around Wallaceburg, and ended up with 32 species. Ice had moved into the Chenal Ecarte the day before (gone today!), so that did not help my area since nothing can swim in ice.
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| View towards Walpole Island |
I started at Roberta Stewart Wetland first light.
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| Clouds not yet hiding the sun! |
Not much there since it has been frozen for some time. A Great Blue Heron flushed from the riverbank and headed over to Walpole Island. That and another I saw later, were the only two on the count!
In the past, the Sandhill Crane flock would usually fly over at some point here. However, this year they are feeding farther north towards Lambton Line. More suitable fields there this year. A group of 140 were seen near Port Lambton....an impressive number!
Not far from Stewart at one of my usual walking locations, I encountered a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. Ended up being my best bird. Another was seen on Walpole Island. A tied-high count (2006) for those, and not surprising this year. This woodpecker has only been recorded four times before on the count. They seem to be everywhere this winter in southwestern Ontario.
There was not anything special during the rest of the survey for me, although I got the only Winter Wren for the count at Peers Wetland. Around mid afternoon I was basically finished my area, so stayed at home to watch the feeder. It is well within the circle anyway!
Good thing I did, because that elusive Fox Sparrow showed up. Only one for the count.
As well, the local Merlin even made an appearance. I had only seen it once last week, the first time in at least five weeks. Turns out several Merlins were recorded for the count. They certainly have been more regular in winter in recent years.
Link to Wallaceburg CBC eBird list (all participants were able to use eBird and link to the overall list):
https://ebird.org/tripreport/458031
Yesterday was the last day of the Christmas Bird Count period for this year. Most counts were reporting lower than usual numbers. Not unexpected this year.
On to some winter birding........
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