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Christmas Bird Count

Hamilton Christmas Bird Count Circle. Click on image to view an enlargement. It may take a while to load, due to its large size (125 KB).

CBCs began in New York City in 1900 and have continued ever since. On one day between December 14th and January 5th, participants go into the field and try to count all birds of all species in a 24km (15 mi.) diameter circle. The Hamilton circle, centered on Dundurn Castle, as shown below, is divided up into a large number of small areas. Hamilton's first CBC was in 1921. In Hamilton, it usually takes place on Boxing Day, Dec. 26th. Hamilton Christmas Bird Count Circle.

Whether you are a veteran of many CBCs or someone new to birding, the CBC always needs counters. The more people in the field the better a picture of Hamilton area bird life we can capture on Count Day. There is also an opportunity for people who know their birds but cannot get out into the field to assist with the CBC by recording birds seen at their feeders. To help as a Feederwatcher you must live inside the circle - click on the image to the right to see if your feeder(s) is/are in the circle.

2008 Hamilton Christmas Bird Count Summary

Count Day: December 26, 2008

Brown Creeper
Photo: Tom Thomas

December 26, 2008 (Boxing Day) was very benign weather wise with little wind and temperatures ranging from -1 to +1, as 94 participants either went out into the field or counted birds at their bird feeders. This year we counted 66,923 birds which is below the last ten year average of 73,234. The reasons for the low count are many. We no longer get great numbers of American Crows which used to be counted by the thousands and also in some years the diving ducks at the lake can be widely scattered and difficult to count owing to the prevailing winds. European Starlings are now down by 50% of their 10 year average.

The good news is that we counted a record 104 species beating the previous record by one. We also broke 17 records for the number of individual species. A few of these records may also prove to be Ontario records especially the large numbers of White-Winged Crossbills. We added the Cackling Goose to our historical record as a new count species. The new historical record for total species for all 54 years is now 178.

Wild Turkey
Photo: Stephanie Lechniak-Cumerlato

Species missing from this year’s count day:
• Tundra Swan
• American Wigeon
• Northern Goshawk

Birds seen in count week but not on count day:
• Red-throated Loon
• Yellow-rumped warbler
• Gray Catbird

The count statistics are as follows:

Counters in the Field 94
Number of hours feeder watching: 52
Number of hours owling: 8
Number of hours walking: 163
Number of hours driving: 64
Distance driven owling (km): 40
Distance driven daytime (km): 1,082
Distance walked owling (km): 4
Distance walked daytime (km): 203

The individual species count is as follows:
(Average refers to average count over the last ten years)

2008 Participants:
Barrie Boatman, Laurel Boatman, Helen Booker, Mary Booker, Peter Booker, Mike Boyd, Carl Brouer, Fran Bullock, Wayne Bullock, Albert Butwick, Evelyn Butwick, Ann Campanelli, Ezra Campanelli, Giovanni Campanelli, Lorenzo Campanelli, Sue Carson, Cindy Cartwright, Jerry Chapple, Michael Clark, Mark Cranford, Tim Cranford, Bill Crins, Tom Crooks, Bob Curry, Martin Daly, Jeni Darling, Sandy Darling, Edward Dinniwell, Rob Dobos, Dave Don, Dave Donn, Brian Drown, Barney Dutka, Helen Dutka, Cheryl Edgecombe, Kathy Evans, Lois Evans, Russ Evans, Christian Friis, Denys Gardiner, Helga Gerhardt, Branimir Gjetvaj, Bob Hawkins, Sandra Hawkins, Charles Herman, Kyna Intini, Mark Jennings, Jean Johnson, Ian Jolliffe, Graham Jones, Aaron Keating, Tim King, Bill Lamond, Deborah Lindeman, Ray Landry, Joyce Lister, Rick Ludkin, Bruce Mackenzie, Stuart Mackenzie, Deborah MacLeod, Heather McLeod, Kevin McLaughlin, Don McLean, Gord McNulty, John Millman, Matt Mills, Frank Morley, George Naylor, John Olmsted, Dennis Price, Bill Read, David Restivo, Orv Reynolds, Matt Riches, Caleb Scholtens, Peter Scholtens, Alfred Senior, Glenda Slessor, Bill Smith, Bob Stamp, Chris Street, Mike Street, Neil Taylor, Tom Thomas, Anthony Valentin, Philip Waggett, Rob Waldhuber, Gavin Wells, Angie Williams, Ken Williams, Joyce Wong, Ross Wood, Brian Wylie, Dan Wylie.

Compiler: Tom Thomas

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