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

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