Counting Birds

Tuesday I participated in the Belleville CBC (Christmas bird count), organized by the Quinte Field Naturalists. It was my second time out, and what a difference from last year.

Last year the temperature when I left the house was -18C, the high that day was about -10C. There was some wind blowing in our faces for the trail portion of the event (a hike of about 3 hours). And for the first hour or so, almost no birds at all were so foolish as to be up and about in those temperatures. But we did see birds that day, 18 species plus a bonus of a flock 300-400 snow buntings in a field just outside our count area.

This year the temperature was just below 0C when we started, and rose to just a little above. (This has been the temperature around here for the last several days.) It was cloudy, but there was no rain or snow, and the sun broke through in the afternoon.

We started out slow: a few birds at feeders on the drive to the trail we would hike, but then things got better with the spotting of the first northern shrike--sitting high in a tree, at some distance away. Then a second, a little further along, flew into an apple tree, and out again with a piece of apple. After that it stayed with us for several minutes flying to one spot and then another on the sides of the trail, giving us some excellent views. One of the other counters and I got pictures. I think his were probably better. One of mine confirms the sighting (the other was entirely out of focus), but is way overexposed for reasons unknown to me.

Tracks in the snow on the trail included squirrel, rabbit, muskrat, deer, coyote, and one of the larger members of the weasel family, small otter or mink maybe.

After the trail we got into one of the cars headed back to the others for lunch, then headed out for the driving portion of the count in one car. Last year there were just two of us--so only one watcher during the drive. This year with four I think we saw more birds more safely.

We did finally see a red-tailed hawk, just as we were beginning to despair of being able to count at least one of these normally ubiquitous raptors. But we never saw any wild turkeys, although I did have a flock of these guys fly across a road behind me on the drive down to meet the group (and that's one weird sight to see in your rearview mirror!). Towards the end of the afternoon I think it was me who cried "stop" for some robins hanging out by some apple and sumac trees. We saw that they were indeed robins--first time for us that day--first time for me since much earlier in the season--a good bird to count. We got out of the car for a better look when another in the group cried "bluebird!" And indeed there were, five eastern bluebirds, possibly a family group, as there seemed to be only one mature male. They weren't with the robins (who left soon after we arrived), but were presumably attracted to the spot by the same food source. As we watched they flew down, one or two at a time, to eat the fuzzy, red fruit of the sumac. Mourning doves were the most numerous of the birds we saw, and in the bit of coverage remaining we counted many more--then the last bird added to the list, a flock of 50 snow buntings!

Not a good shot either--but you might be able to make out that this is indeed an eastern bluebird
I've learned since Tuesday that the Belleville count area is a circle with a radius of 12 kilometres and its centre at the Belleville city hall (front steps). Nuthatch of Bootstrap Analysis wrote this week of an interesting tool available from Google that can be used to create precise mappings of CBC areas, describing how to go about this--all you need to know is the centre point (well, you also need broadband and a newer operating system than Win98). I think you also probably need a club (like the Quinte Naturalists, not like a baseball bat). I'd like there to be a count that includes Thomasburg some year, but it takes organization to get people out to cover the area on the appointed day. Something to think about though--isn't it Peter? No hermit thrush so far in the count (see species list below), but a sighting might come in as a count period sighting--any species identified in the circle between Dec 24 and Dec 30. These birds aren't counted, but their presence is noted. I won't hear for a little while what the final species list is.

I'd recommend this to any birder--even if you have to travel a little to find a count. It's an excellent time of year to take a whole day off and do some birding.

Preliminary List of Species in the Belleville Count
(species found in my team's area in bold)
Canada Goose
American Black Duck
Mallard
Common Goldeneye
Wild Turkey
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Cooper’s Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
American Kestrel
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Eastern Screech Owl
Great Horned Owl
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Pileated Woodpecker
Northern Shrike
Blue Jay
American Crow
Common Raven
Black-capped Chickadee
Red-breasted Nuthatch
White-breasted Nuthatch
Brown Creeper
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Eastern Bluebird
American Robin
European Starling
Cedar Waxwing
American Tree Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Snow Bunting
Northern Cardinal
Pine Grosbeak
House Finch
Common Redpoll
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow

Last Count

Saturday (December 30) was the day for the Belleville Christmas Bird Count (CBC). What a difference from the Presqu'ile count of two weeks before. Dark, cold, and early I set out from Prince Edward County headed for the IGA on Highway 62 north of Belleville to meet my this-time partner Mel. The snow started as I reach Belleville, and was rather heavy by the time I reached the meeting place. But no matter, off we went.

Our area adjoins the area of the Belleville count I've worked before, but lacks the good trails, so we spent most of our time in the car, watching for likely spots, jumping out, jumping back in. Not much to see during the snow (well, there were the Canada Geese and even a few ducks, as well as the usual in built up areas, starlings and house sparrows)--but by lunchtime the weather cleared and it started to warm up.

Our area was partly rural, and partly small town, running along the west side of the Moira River. The bit of snow wasn't enough to bring birds to the feeders, so we didn't see a lot of the usual suspects, though we did find a nice collection of birds at the foot of a small trail leading up into some bush and fields, including a singing house finch. The big story of the day though was the raptors: Red-tailed Hawk 4; hawk species (probably a Cooper's) 1; Kestrel 1. The Kestrel was the best of all. It flew across the road in front of us, carrying a mouse or vole, and settled in a tree. Mel has a scope, and we set it up and had an excellent time watching this beautiful bird enjoying its lunch.

In the end we came up with 20 species. Not bad given the tough conditions in the first part of the day, and the fact that we were driving so much of the time. There are still a few days left in the CBC period (until January 5). Check out the Audubon CBC page. If you're in North America, there may be a count still to be done near you. If there isn't, and especially if you've never counted birds before but would like to start, February is the time of the Great Backyard Bird Count.

Presqu'ile CBC

Yesterday was the Presqu'ile Christmas Bird Count (CBC).

I guess I'm a floating counter for sure now. When the Belleville compiler (boss of the count) called me this year, he invited me to take part in two counts, Belleville and Presqu'ile. The Presqu'ile count centres in the park, I'm guessing, and the east side of the circle (this part I know) takes in at least part of Trenton (aka Quinte West), a town on the shores of Lake Ontario immediately to the west of Belleville. (Here's a link to the weekly Presqu'ile birding report.)

So dark and early Sunday morning I headed down to meet (for the first time) my partner Jim, a very experienced birder, to make the rounds of a little piece of Trenton. I'd been watching the weather forecasts all week--half of them called for rain on Sunday, but as it turned out it was partly cloudy and very warm, high +12C.

The great things about a warm weather CBC: it's not too cold; ponds are open and ducks are on them; short-distant migrants might be hanging around out of season....did I say, "it's not too cold"?

The bad things: no birds at feeders, or in large groups at other sources of food or shelter; the living is easy, food is plentiful, and the need to eat isn't as great as it is when it's cold, in other words, birds are loosely flocked, widely dispersed, not sitting around waiting to be counted; oh, yes, and you have to watch out for the golfers if you're birding a golf course--this is not usually a problem on December 17 in southern Ontario. There were 8 parties of golfers on the small course we birded--At one point, after we let the guys behind us play through, we were focused on the edge, a steep, shrubby bank going down to a railway line, looking for birds. When we turned around there were two balls on the course just behind us, driven there by players we hadn't noticed sneaking up. On the other hand we had some very good looks at a Merlin on that golf course.

We saw lots and lots of chickadees, and some other good birds (list below), but it wasn't all birds all the time. Our route took us to the top of a drumlin (great view of the lake and the town). The summit was accessible by stairs, and as we were climbing we noticed that a couple of crows were kicking up a terrible fuss on the other side of the parking lot below, behind some kind of big tank. We watched for a bit, then decided we better go back down and try to see what had them so upset. Just as we started down a red fox trotted out from behind the tank and down the hill into town. The crows quieted immediately. Who knew crows had a thing about foxes? Ummm, I have a feeling that I have heard something about this. Gotta love Google. See Aesop's The Fox and the Crow. Now I understand.

The twenty-seven species Jim and I counted for the Presqu'ile CBC, mostly inland (unofficial):

House Sparrow 24
Double-crested Cormorant 8
Red-breasted Merganser 4
Common Merganser 20
Hooded Merganser 5
Great Blue Heron 1
American Crow 17
Black-capped Chickadee 88
American Goldfinch 21
Ring-billed Gull 10
Great Black-backed Gull 6
European Starling 122
House Finch 18
Blue Jay 15
Sharp-shinned Hawk 1
Ruffed Grouse 1
Downy Woodpecker 3
Mourning Dove 31
Slate-coloured Junco 6
Merlin 1
Northern Cardinal 2
Golden-crowned Kinglet 1
Cedar Waxwing 3
American Robin 8
Mallard Duck 6
American Tree Sparrow 3
Song Sparrow 3

For more about Christmas Bird Counting in Canada, see this page at Bird Studies Canada, or for the rest of North America, this one at Audubon.

And here's a sampling of current CBC blog posts: A DC Birding Blog, 10,000 Birds, Stokes Birding Blog, Search and Serendipity, Bootstrap Analysis, SitkaNature. I wrote about counting for Belleville last year here.

Birder's Luck

When Jim and I found the Merlin (Falco columbarius) during our survey of our part of the Presqu'ile Christmas Bird Count he started to talk about birder's luck. How amazing that we intersected with that good bird during those very few moments in all our lives. We were there, the bird was there, we were looking....what fantastic luck. (Turns out that was the only Merlin seen that day--not surprising, this is not a winter bird here.)

I've often thought this kind of thing myself when I've had the chance to see something rarely seen, either because it's a bird or other animal that's very secretive, or occasionally, because it's rare. I think, when it happens in the fields where I walk, "Wow, if I'd left the house a moment earlier or a moment later, this creature and I would not have crossed paths this way."

A couple of times over the last couple of weeks I've disturbed a large bird in the pines in the first field, the beginning of the walk. On windy days I often go through or along side the pine plantation, down to the cedar bush, to get myself used to the weather before crossing the open spaces. The pines are young, thickly branched and quite close together, so while there's often something in there to hear, it's rare to actually see it. Big bird, flushed, but as far as I could tell, really just moved through the branches to another roost. Not noisy, definitely not a Ruffed Grouse. Bigger than a Blue Jay. Could it be an owl? Owls are not rare around here, we have Great-horned, Barred, Screech, and more. But owls are rarely seen by me.

So the other day I went out late in the afternoon--as the days get longer, and dusk gets a little longer I've been able to do that again. It was cold (by our new standards) and windy, and I've had the mystery bird on my mind, so I walked along the edge of the pines. Nothing flushed but some mammal, probably a rabbit, though it bolted with more of a galumph than usual (very fast), probably a large rabbit.

I continued, very quiet day. Cold, and feeling chillier for the lack of snow (a situation that was remedied yesterday). Not much to see but the land itself. Coming back through the scrape, the openest of the open areas, I paused to take in the sweep of the landscape. It was getting dark now, but already dark doesn't fall like a club as it did back in December. And then I saw, flying straight along the pines down to the cedar bush, a large owl--probably a Great-horned Owl (Bubo virginianus), though the look wasn't good enough to know for sure. An owl for sure. Birder's luck.

Prince Edward County does not disappoint

I'm down in Prince Edward County for the rest of the year (except for a brief excursion north tomorrow for the Belleville Christmas Bird Count).

As always this place is excellent for birds. But for me, particularly for the Red-bellied Woodpecker, a bird I saw for the first time last year, and which is hanging around the yard every day since I've been down here this time. Beautiful bird, wonderful call, great flight pattern. So like the woodpeckers I know well, and yet different enough to intrigue.

Here's a record of the bird--not good, taken through a window, but satisfying for me to have a photograph of this great bird.

Red-bellied Woodpecker at feeder
And here is a link to the range map at Project WildSpace, showing the bird as stopping on the south side of Lake Ontario. No more!! Soon perhaps I'll see it in my Thomasburg yard--what's 75 kilometres to a bird?

All aboard the Friday Ark--Last call for 2006!