GORE BAY—Two-thousand seven hundred and fifty-five birds of 34 species were seen on the 49th annual Christmas Bird Count at Gore Bay on December 18. There seem to be few birds around the Island this winter and there were not as many birds as usual on the count.
Thirty feeder watchers and 12 birders took part this year. They included one new birder and one new feeder watcher.
Winter had arrived on December 11 and by count day we had 36 centimetres of snow on the ground—much more than on most previous counts. The big lakes and bays had not frozen but most water birds had left.
The weather on count day was sunny and minus 15 degrees celsius, with a moderate northwest wind.
The waters were searched for ducks and gulls. Little was found on Lake Kagawong but there was a flock of 800 common goldeneye ducks on Wolsey Lake. Gore Bay harbour is often a favourite spot for waterfowl and a pair of healthy looking Canada geese were spotted.
Gull numbers were down but 21 bald eagles were counted.
Blue jays and chickadees from farther north move south in the fall to Manitoulin and boost the number of our local birds. This year the wintering blue jay population is much lower and only three of the feeder watchers counted more than five jays. In contrast the wintering chickadee population is good and the count is much higher than last year.
We did not find any unusual species that decided to stay here rather than go south for the winter. There were only two juncos and no tree sparrows or blackbirds.
Finch numbers change from winter to winter and this year plenty of American goldfinch and purple finches are coming to feeders. There were a few pine grosbeaks and pine siskins, and just one dead common redpoll-run over on Perivale Road.
We have not had evening grosbeaks on the Gore Bay count for three years but this time had 11.
The top three birds this year were 820 common goldeneyes, 426 American goldfinches and 360 black-capped chickadees.
Fewer than usual numbers of birds were coming to feeders this year and there were only four feeders reporting 10 or more bird species. Judy Land of Gore Bay wins the 2016 award for having a very successful feeder.
The full list of birds seen follows:
2 Canada goose, 820 common goldeneye, 41 common merganser, 1 red-breasted merganser, 28 ring-necked pheasant, 4 red-necked grebe, 21 bald eagle, 1 red-tailed hawk, 1 rough-legged hawk, 9 herring gull, 45 rock pigeon, 89 mourning dove, 6 red-bellied woodpecker, 14 downy woodpecker, 17 hairy woodpecker, 3 pileated woodpecker, 96 blue jay, 124 American crow, 108 common raven, 360 black-capped chickadee, 20 red-breasted nuthatch, 31 white-breasted nuthatch, 212 European starling, 1 bohemian waxwing, 57 snow bunting, 2 dark-eyed junco, 25 northern cardinal, 15 pine grosbeak, 81 purple finch, 1 common redpoll, 4 pine siskin, 426 American goldfinch, 11 evening grosbeak and 78 house sparrow.
