It was a lot of hard work and effort to set up and organize, but the first Desbarats Christmas Bird Count was a great success!
I got the idea for starting a Christmas Bird Count in Desbarats while scrolling through the Bird Studies Canada website one day this past summer while looking for event ideas I could use for the Kensington Conservancy, which I am the Land Stewardship Coordinator for. I got everything organized with Bird Studies Canada, picked out the exact location of the count circle and chose the date of December 29, 2016. I then advertised the event and the interested stated pouring in! I had way more interest than I expected, which made for some more work, but I wasn't complaining. There was eight of us in my group for the actual count. I was joined by my girlfriend, my mother, Cheryl from the North Channel Current and three members of the Sault Naturalists. Our job was to cover the Desbarats area of the count circle, which included all of the Kensington Conservancy's 893 acres. Our first stop was for a snowshoe around the Kensington Conservancy's Archibald Homestead, a 170 acre property that used to be farmed. We snowshoed around, seeing nothing but some ravens and chickadees. We got down near the water and finally saw something a little more interesting. Two medium-sized birds were hoping around in the trees, but they were far away and hard to see. Finally, I was able to get a decent look at one through my binoculars and realized they were Pine Grosbeaks. Next, we started making our way back to our cars to complete the loop. We saw a Bald Eagle fly overhead, a Ruffed Grouse among the trees and a Red-breasted Nuthatch with some chickadees along the way. Just before we reached the cars, we saw about 17 Pine Grosbeaks gathering grit from the road and a Hairy Woodpecker in a nearby tree. Next, we traveled along a few back roads before stopping at the next property and saw a House Sparrow and some European Starlings and Rock Pigeons in addition to the regular crows and ravens. We strapped on the snowshoes again and took a walk around the Kensington Conservancy's Foster Parkland and Walking Trails property. This portion of the day barely produced at all. I think we saw one crow fly over and maybe a couple chickadees. After lunch, our group was now down to four people, as some had to take off. We drove around again and manged to see some more chickadees, some Blue Jays and an American Goldfinch at some feeders in Desbarats. Just before arriving at our last property of the day, there were five Wild Turkeys on the side of the road. We snowshoed into the Black Hole Preserve, another Kensington Conservancy owned property. We thought we weren't going to see any birds at all, then all of the sudden a hawk flew overhead. We all threw our binoculars up to our eyes and quickly determined it was a Red-tailed Hawk. By now, it was 3:00pm and the last three members of the group called it quits for the day. I decided I wasn't done yet, so I did some more driving around to see what I could find. The only significant thing I managed was a small flock of 19 Snow Buntings in a field. The snow and wind then started to really pick up, so I finished and went home. In total, my group was able to record 16 different species for a total of 126 birds. Add that to all the other groups and feeder watchers, the Desbarats Christmas Bird Count saw 35 species and 1532 birds. This event had a total of 34 people participate, which made it the best field work event that the Kensington Conservancy had all year. I'm already looking forward to next year and hopefully it will be even better! To see the full results from the Desbarats Christmas Bird Count, click here.
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Yesterday, I had the pleasure of participating in the Sault Ste. Marie Christmas Bird Count, which is run by the Sault Naturalists each year. I joined Bob Knudsen, who teaches Ornithology at Sault College, Rob Routledge, a professor at Sault College and a student they had recruited to help out. Our job was to cover the downtown area of Sault Ste. Marie, including Whitefish Island, one of the best places for birds in the area.
Our morning started with a Bald Eagle sitting in a tree right at the parking lot of Whitefish Island. As we started our walk, a Downy Woodpecker flew off in the distance. The Black-capped Chickadees were everywhere, which was no surprise for this location. A few more Bald Eagles flew overhead and we figured there were at least four in the area. We made our way down the shore of the St. Mary's River to check for waterfowl and gulls. There were the usual Common Goldeneyes, Mallards and Herring Gulls. After a while, we found something different. A Long-tailed Duck landed in the water. Bob had seen one the day before, so he was excited that we had managed to find it again. We made our way over to the St. Mary's Rapids, which were full of goldeneyes. In total, we counted 388 of them, which greatly contributed to the count total of 424, which was a record for the Sault Ste. Marie Christmas Bird Count. Also in the rapids was the same Long-tailed Duck, this time accompanied by another, pushing their total to two. On the other side of the rapids sat a bunch of Mallards, American Black Ducks and Herring Gulls. Using the spotting scope, Bob was able to find a different gull, this one being a Great-black Backed Gull, a lifer for me. We continued down the path on Whitefish Island. I was leading the group and as we turned a corner, there was a Northern Shrike hanging out at the top of a tree. It stuck around long enough for everyone to catch up and see it. We wrapped up our morning at Whitefish Island without seeing much else of significance. Our next stop was at Station Mall to count the gulls, pigeons and Mallards that hang out in the parking lot. One of the gulls was actually a Glaucous Gull, which was another life for me. We continued on to check out some visible bird feeders and got some more chickadees and some American Goldfinches. The last task of the day was to drive around downtown and count all the Rock Pigeons and European Starlings that were hanging around. The final count of pigeons for the day was 1218, which led to another record for this count. By the end of the day, our group at recorded 18 species for 2229 birds, which was by far the highest total bird count for any of the groups. The day was followed by a potluck dinner and a discussion about the day's results. It was a great birding experience and I'm definitely looking forward to doing it again next year! Next up is the Desbarats Christmas Bird Count, a new count that I have started, taking place on December 29, 2016. JANUARY 17, 2017 UPDATE: To see the full results from the Sault Ste. Marie Christmas Bird Count, click here. JANUARY 18, 2017 UPDATE: One of the count's co-compilers, Don Hall, stepped down from his role, which was putting all the data together at the end of the count and submitting it. The Sault Naturalists were looking for someone to take on this role. Due to my experience running a Christmas Bird Count and computer skills, I was chosen and I'm really looking forward to helping out later this year! |
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Carter is an avid birder, living in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada. Archives
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