Highlights of the 43rd St. Clair NWA Christmas Bird Count

 The 43rd SCNWA Christmas Bird Count was held again, on New Years Day. A January date has been the norm almost since it started, back in 1981, since much of the best areas to cover were privately owned wetlands, and at the beginning, waterfowl hunting continued up until the end of December. To have a better chance of accessing those wetlands, it was decided that a January date was best for all concerned. However since that time, some waterfowl hunting has been allowed into January, so some wetlands are often inaccessible. I have been on every count except for one, and have been the organizer/compiler since 1988.

This time around, we were fortunate to have almost all of the best wetland areas accessible. The unfortunate part was that the weather wasn't the best! Of course the cold, wintry blast of the previous weekend, caused much of the wetlands to become frozen, and at least some of the waterbirds decided it was time to move on. By the time of this count, the warmer weather had caused a lot of the ice to disappear, but the misty/foggy conditions made 'scoping for waterbirds difficult. And by mid-day, the rain arrived. Every year is different.

There were still some dirty snowbanks present, a reminder that the many tilled fields along with the high winds of a few days ago, moved a lot of topsoil around.

 Nonetheless, seventeen of us carried on, covering our allotted territory. And overall, the results were quite satisfactory. Collectively we tallied 76 species, a bit lower than our average for the past two decades of 82 species, but all things considered, not bad. It will likely end up in the top ten of all counts in Ontario.

There were some highlights, as usual. Since the weather was anything but good for photography, most of the photos featuring some of those highlights that follow are largely from other times.

Bald Eagles aren't quite the novelty that they used to be, but still are a highlight to see. We only had 16 this year, quite a bit lower than the average of 45 over the last few years.

Raptors in general were not all that abundant. There were a few Red-tails, of course, and Cooper's Hawks...

...but this is the first time since 1998, and only the fourth time overall that no Rough-legged Hawks were observed. They have been pretty scarce everywhere this winter, so not all that surprising.

In the waterfowl group, we ended up with 19 species, a bit lower than our usual ~25 species that we often get, and a lot lower than the cumulative 32 species we have on the list. Of course the most abundant species was Mallard....

A highlight was to tally 4 Trumpeter Swans, our previous high being a single bird in 2021.

Long-tailed Ducks are quite rare on this count, but a single bird was reported.

Fourteen Sandhill Cranes were counted, a species we have only had 5 times during the previous 42 years.

 

We get Fox Sparrow on occasion, but typically only one or two. Just one this year.

There was a new high for Wild Turkey, with 54 reported. The previous high was 31, and has only been tallied in 14 of the previous 42 years. However it is a species that was essentially gone from Ontario until major re-introduction efforts were undertaken beginning in the 1980s, and the species has done well. It was not recorded on this count until 2004.

Eastern Bluebirds are always a highlight. We have only had them on two previous counts, with a maximum of two birds. On this day, a total of 7 was seen.

Near a couple of the feeder areas, was this feral cat, doing what cats are programmed to do, which probably explains why no small birds were seen in the vicinity.

Belted Kingfisher is something we get about half the time, but usually only 1-3 birds on any count. There was only one bird reported on this count, so it is always nice to get that one added to the list.

And with that, I also want to mention that the American Birding Association has declared Belted Kingfisher to be its Bird Of The Year for 2023. It is always nice to find, although they tend to be shy and flighty when a camera is aimed at them.

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