Christmas Bird Count
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.
2007 Hamilton Christmas Bird Count Summary
Count Day: December 26, 2007
On a cool - 4 degrees C, relatively calm but foggy morning, 88 participants set out to count birds in the field, at the lake, or at their birdfeeders. The temperature settled in for most of the day - 2 degrees C. There was hoar frost on the pines and the tall weeds, and it was tricky underfoot on some of the woodland trails. In parts of the outlying areas, it was too foggy to see birds in flight. At the lake, counters had difficulty determining the numbers of ducks, as they were scattered over the lake, with many too far out to be counted and identified.
The total of birds counted was 64,054 which is below the last ten year average of 70,228.
Thanks to the influx of some of the northern finches, we broke the old individual species count record of 102 set in 2004 by one, so the new individual count record now stands at 103.
It is obvious that many of the common woodland and garden species are becoming even more common, with new record counts for the following species:
| Species | Old Record | New Record |
|---|---|---|
| Mourning Dove | 1,507 | 2,052 |
| Black-capped Chickadee | 2,109 | 2228 |
| Northern Cardinal | 598 | 672 |
| Red-breasted Nuthatch | 81 | 98 |
| American Goldfinch | 1,005 | 1,082 |
| Red-bellied Woodpecker | 33 | 47 |
| Downy Woodpecker | 288 | 323 |
The number of Hoary Redpolls counted this year ( 5 ) broke the old record of ( 1 ) set in 1993.
On the lake and inland waters we broke count records for the following:
| Species | Old Record | New Record |
|---|---|---|
| Trumpeter Swan | 106 | 162 |
| Mute Swan | 85 | 89 |
| Mallard x American Black Duck | 44 | 48 |
| Red-breasted Merganser | 285 | 331 |
| Hooded Merganser | 48 | 70 |
| Iceland Gull | 7 | 9 |
| Lesser Black-backed Gull | 1 | 2 |
There were low counts for the following species: American Crow, Horned Lark, Snow Bunting, Brown-headed Cowbird, Purple Finch, Ring-billed Gull, Herring Gull, Northern Pintail, Greater Scaup, Canvasback, and Redhead. We missed on the Wood Duck, and American Wigeon.
Evening Grosbeak was reported as the only count week species.
The count statistics are as follows:
Counters in the field - 77
Feeder watchers - 10
Owling Parties - 5
Total participants - 86
Number of hours feeder watching -53
Number of hours owling- 6.5
Number of hours walking - 154.75
Number of hours of daytime driving - 59.35
Total party hours - 273.6
Distance driven - 1048.2
Distance walked owling -1.5 km
Distance walked daytime -196 km
Total party distance -1279.7 km
| Species | 2007 Count | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| Red-throated Loon | 1 | |
| Common Loon | 4 | Above average - 2 |
| Pied-billed Grebe | 2 | Average - 2 |
| Red-necked Grebe | 7 | Above average - 2 |
| Double-crested Cormorant | 56 | Above average - 24 |
| Great Blue Heron | 5 | Average - 6 |
| Black-crowned Night-Heron | 1 | Average - 3 |
| Trumpeter Swan | 162 | New record high - average - 48 |
| Canada Goose | 6,269 | Average - 5,439 |
| Mute Swan | 89 | New record high - average - 70 |
| Tundra Swan | 43 | Average 4 (the last ten years average) |
| Gadwall | 52 | Below average - 83 |
| Mallard | 3,835 | Below average- 4,420 |
| American Black Duck | 40 | Average - 409 |
| American Black Duck x Mallard | 48 | New record high - average - 6 |
| Northern Shoveler | 47 | Average - 43 |
| Northern Pintail | 10 | Below average - 39 |
| Green-winged Teal | 36 | Above average - 29 |
| Canvasback | 22 | Well below average - 200 |
| Redhead | 4 | Well below average -77 |
| Ring-necked Duck | 82 | Average - 63 |
| Greater Scaup | 2,151 | Well below average - 8,943 |
| Lesser Scaup | 1,238 | Below average 1,876 |
| King Eider | 1 | Average - 1 |
| Surf Scoter | 132 | Above average - 83 |
| White-winged Scoter | 704 | Well above average -346 |
| Black Scoter | 4 | Below average - 11 |
| Long-tailed Duck | 7,118 | Average - 7,752 |
| Bufflehead | 598 | Average - 587 |
| Common Goldeneye | 2,022 | Well below average - 3,230 |
| Hooded Merganser | 70 | New record high - average 48 |
| Common Merganser | 1,405 | Above average - 1,160 |
| Red-breasted Merganser | 331 | New record high - average - 126 |
| Ruddy Duck | 602 | Well above average - 259 |
| "Duck" species | 5,001 | Average - 2,480 |
| Bald Eagle | 4 | Average - 2 |
| Northern Harrier | 3 | Average - 2 |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk | 14 | Average - 12 |
| Cooper's Hawk | 16 | Equal record high - average 9 |
| Northern Goshawk | 1 | Average - 1 |
| Red-shouldered Hawk | 1 | Average - 1 |
| Red-tailed Hawk | 127 | Above average - 114 |
| Rough-legged Hawk | 2 | Average - 2 |
| American Kestrel | 15 | Average - 19 |
| Merlin | 3 | Average - 1 |
| Peregrine Falcon | 4 | Average - 2 |
| Ring-necked Pheasant | 2 | Average - 1 |
| Wild Turkey | 19 | Average - 13 |
| American Coot | 119 | Average - 98 |
| Ring-billed Gull | 1,637 | Below average - 1,928 |
| Herring Gull | 1,197 | Below average - 1,378 |
| Iceland Gull | 9 | New record high - average - 2 |
| Glaucous Gull | 19 | Above average - 9 |
| Lesser Black-backed Gull | 2 | New record high - average - 1 |
| Great Black-backed Gull | 99 | Average - 104 |
| "Gull " species | 21 | Average 27 |
| Rock Pigeon | 1946 | Above average - 1,764 |
| Mourning Dove | 2052 | New record high - average - 936 |
| Eastern Screech Owl | 17 | Average - 18 |
| Great Horned Owl | 2 | Below average - 6 |
| Long-eared Owl | 2 | Average - 2 |
| Short-eared Owl | 2 | |
| Belted Kingfisher | 4 | Average - 6 |
| Red-bellied Woodpecker | 47 | New record high - Average - 11 |
| Downy Woodpecker | 323 | New record high - average - 169 |
| Hairy Woodpecker | 119 | Well above average - 52 |
| Northern Flicker | 8 | Below average - 12 |
| Pileated Woodpecker | 7 | Average - 6 |
| Woodpecker "species" | 3 | Average - 1 |
| Northern Shrike | 8 | Above average - 3 |
| Blue Jay | 376 | Above average - 298 |
| American Crow | 632 | Well below average - 2,187 |
| Horned Lark | 1 | Well below average - 30 |
| Black-capped Chickadee | 2,228 | New record high - average - 1,442 |
| Red-breasted Nuthatch | 98 | New record high - average - 32 |
| White-breasted Nuthatch | 285 | 2nd highest count - average- 160 |
| Brown Creeper | 10 | Below average - 16 |
| Carolina Wren | 30 | Well above average - average - 14 |
| Winter Wren | 8 | Average - 9 |
| Golden-crowned Kinglet | 18 | Below average - 37 |
| Ruby-crowned Kinglet | 1 | |
| Eastern Bluebird | 41 | Above average - 23 |
| Hermit Thrush | 5 | Average - 3 |
| American Robin | 369 | Below average - 449 |
| Northern Mockingbird | 29 | Above average - 22 |
| European Starling | 11,388 | Well below average - 16,272 |
| Cedar Waxwing | 344 | Average - 324 |
| Yellow-rumped Warbler | 3 | Average - 1 |
| American Tree Sparrow | 786 | Above average - 457 |
| Song Sparrow | 25 | Below average - 38 |
| Swamp Sparrow | 4 | Average - 6 |
| White-throated Sparrow | 45 | Below average - 73 |
| White-crowned Sparrow | 37 | Well above average - 9 |
| Dark-eyed Junco | 1,404 | Above average - 1,053 |
| Snow Bunting | 14 | Well below average - 94 |
| Northern Cardinal | 672 | New record high - average - 523 |
| Red-winged Blackbird | 2 | Below average - 5 |
| Common Grackle | 1 | Average - 1 |
| Brown-headed Cowbird | 1 | Well below average - 40 |
| Pine Grosbeak | 84 | Only 3 counted in the last 10 years |
| Purple Finch | 3 | Below average - 5 |
| House Finch | 470 | Below average - 523 |
| Common Redpoll | 378 | Well above average - 23 |
| Hoary Redpoll | 5 | New record high - Not counted in the last 10 years |
| Pine Siskin | 85 | Well above average - 22 |
| American Goldfinch | 1,082 | New record high - average 515 |
| "Finch" species | 43 | Above average - 1 |
| House Sparrow | 2,639 | Well above average - 1,998 |
Birds seen in count week but not on December 26th: Evening Grosbeak
2007 Participants:
James Anderson, Jacob Bruxer, Barrie Boatman, Mary Booker, Peter Booker, Mike Boyd, Hazel Broker, Fran Bullock, Wayne Bullock, Albert Butwick, Evelyn Butwick, Lorenzo Campanelli, Ann Campanelli, Geovanni Campanelli, Ezra Campanelli, Sue Carson, Melanie Cave, Jerry Chapple, Nina Chapple, Stephen Cheesman, Sandy Clay, Michael Clark, Mark Cranford, Tim Cranford, Bill Crins, Tom Crooks, Bob Curry, Martin Daly, Jeni Darling, Sandy Darling, Ewout Degelder, Edward Dinniwell, Rob Dobos, Dave Don, Dave Donn, Jim Dowall, Brian Drown, Cheryl Edgecombe, Kathy Evans, Lois Evans, Russ Evans, Christian Friis, Denys Gardiner, Helga Gerhardt, Jeff Gilbreath, Bob Healy, Bill Hudson, Kyna Intini, Mark Jennings, Jean Johnson, Ian Jolliffe, Tim King, Bill Lamond, Joyce Lister, Julie Liptuk, Rick Ludkin, Stuart Mackenzie, Kevin McLaughlin, Don McLean, Gord McNulty, John Millman, Brian Mishell, Dolores Mishell, Frank Morley, George Naylor, John Olmsted, Bill Read, David Restivo, Orv Reynolds, Michael Rowlands, Peter Scholtens, Caleb Scholtens, Alfred Senior, Glenda Slessor, Hobbe Smit, Bill Smith, Bob Stamp, Mike Street, Neil Taylor, Tom Thomas, Herman VanBarneveld, Rob Waldhuber, Katie West, Angie Williams, Ken Williams, Ross Wood, Brian Wylie, Dan Wylie.
Compiler: Tom Thomas
Copyright © 2006 - 2008 Hamilton Naturalists' Club ... Protecting Nature Since 1919



