Peterborough citizen science at its best
Number and diversity of owls a highlight of local bird counts
Between mid-December and early January each year, birders in nearly 2,600 localities across North, Central and South America take a break from the holiday festivities to spend a day outside, identifying and counting birds. Dating all the way back to 1900, the Christmas Bird Count is one of the longest-running Citizen Science projects in the world.
Last year, 2,585 counts took place, thanks to a record participation of 76,669 observers. Of these, 463 counts were in Canada, 1,957 in the United States, and 165 in Latin America, the Caribbean and the Pacific Islands. The participants found 666 species in the United States and 287 in Canada.
The top 15 most abundant species reported on Canadian counts last year (listed from most to least abundant) were: American crow, Canada goose, European starling, mallard, black-capped chickadee, rock pigeon, house sparrow, snow bunting, American goldfinch, mourning dove, herring gull, glaucous-winged gull, blue jay, common raven and common redpoll. Though American crow was the most abundant species, its close relative, the common raven, was the most widespread species, showing up on 434 counts. The next most widespread species included black-capped chickadee, downy woodpecker, hairy woodpecker, red-breasted nuthatch, rock pigeon, European starling, bald eagle, blue jay, and house sparrow to round out the top 10.
Christmas Bird Counts are organized at the local level, often by a birding club or naturalist organization. The count area is a circle, measuring 24 kilometres in diameter. The circle is then subdivided into sectors, each of which is covered by a different group of birders. This involves starting at first light — or before if you want to hear owls — and driving the roads, walking or skiing the trails and even checking out front yard feeders. The challenge — and fun! — is to try to identify and count all of the birds you see or hear.
Once again this year, two local counts were held — one centred in Peterborough and the other in Petroglyphs Provincial Park. The Petroglyphs Count circle can be viewed at bit.ly/2EfuPt8. About twice as many species turn up on the Peterborough count, thanks mostly to the wider variety of habitat. Martin Parker of the Peterborough Field Naturalists organized the Peterborough count, while Colin Jones was in charge of the Petroglyphs count.
Peterborough Count
The 67th Peterborough Christmas Bird Count was held Dec. 16 under cool but sunny conditions. Sixty-one members and friends of the Peterborough Field Naturalists spent all or part of the day in the field, while eight others kept track of birds visiting their feeders. The cold temperatures in November and early December meant that all of the major lakes were frozen, therefore reducing the number and variety of waterfowl and gulls. For example, a total of 1,168 Canada geese were observed, which pales in comparison to the 3,795 counted in December 2015. However, there was a good variety of winter finches and even some late-departing summer birds.
By the end of the day, participants found 13,322 individual birds and a total of 65 species. Record high numbers were tallied for sharp-shinned hawk (6), rock pigeon (2,027), peregrine falcon (2), black-capped chickadee (2,148), white-breasted nuthatch (225) and northern cardinal (173). Previous highs were tied for eastern screech-owl (4), snowy owl (1), chipping sparrow (1), hermit thrush (1) and Carolina wren (1).
Several groups went out before dawn to listen for owls. They were rewarded. Five species of owls were recorded on the count, namely snowy, eastern screech, barred, saw-whet and great horned. The party led by Matthew Tobey found all five of these owls in a period of just three hours in the Harper Park and Peterborough Airport area.
Once again this year, three species stood out by the relative absence. Only three ruffed grouse were found, which is a far cry from the 82 grouse counted on the 1979 count. This species is slowly declining in the area. Part of the explanation may be predation by the increased numbers of eastern coyotes and red foxes. As for great horned owls, only two birds were recorded, compared to 40 in 1992. According to Don Sutherland of the Natural Heritage Information Centre, these owls were hit extremely hard by West Nile virus and have never really recovered. Another declining species is the American kestrel. On the 1979 count, 14 birds were tallied, but this year only a single kestrel was found.
Peterborough Count totals
The species totals for the Peterborough count are as follows: Canada goose (1,168), wood duck (2), American black duck (17), mallard (1,254), bufflehead (1), common goldeneye (87), hooded merganser (2), common merganser (24), ruffed grouse (3), wild turkey (94), sharp-shinned hawk (6), Cooper’s hawk (6), bald eagle (3), red-tailed hawk (28), ringbilled gull (17), herring gull (329), Iceland gull (1), great blackbacked gull (2), rock pigeon (2,027), mourning dove (937), eastern screech-owl (4), great horned owl (2), snowy owl (1), barred owl (2), northern sawwhet owl (2), red-bellied woodpecker (12), downy woodpecker (97), hairy woodpecker (75), pileated woodpecker (21), American kestrel (1), merlin (3), peregrine falcon (2), northern shrike (10), blue jay (415), American crow (375), common raven (28), blackcapped chickadee (2,148), redbreasted nuthatch (48), whitebreasted nuthatch (225), brown creeper (17), Carolina wren (1), golden-crowned kinglet (3), hermit thrush (1), American robin (110), European starling (1,291), cedar waxwing (408), snow bunting (146), American tree sparrow (102), chipping sparrow (1), darkeyed junco (302), song sparrow (3), white-throated sparrow (8), northern cardinal (173), pine grosbeak (79), house finch (135), purple finch (16), common redpoll (202), pine siskin (18), American goldfinch (333), evening grosbeak (1) and house sparrow (255). A long-tailed duck, northern flicker, white-crowned sparrow and common grackle were also seen during the week of the count period but not on the count day itself.
Petroglyph Count
The 33rd Petroglyph Christmas Bird Count took place on Jan. 5, 2019, in clement conditions. The 30 field participants and two feeder watchers found 34 species and 2,030 individual birds, which is comparable to the 10-year average. Although no new species were recorded, participants did find a record 41 pileated woodpeckers. There were also much higher-thanaverage numbers of barred owls (8), white-breasted nuthatches (149) and evening grosbeaks
(121). It should be noted, however, that as many as 668 evening grosbeaks have been tallied on past counts. Blue jay (398) numbers, too, were higher than expected, with many of the birds well away from feeders. This probably means that the jays were able to find and cache large numbers of acorns in the fall, which they are now consuming to survive the winter.
Two Canada (gray) jays were also found. Up until 2009, this species was recorded annually, but since then it has only been found on three counts. There were other birds of note as well. A northern cardinal was found for only the fourth time in the count’s history. A black-backed woodpecker also made an appearance, which is only the third time this species has been tallied in the past 10 years. Prior to 2009, this woodpecker was found nearly every year.
Six species were noteworthy for their relative absence. These include American tree sparrow (5), American goldfinch (8), brown creeper (6), goldencrowned kinglet (7), mourning dove (6) and bald eagle (2).
Petroglyph Count totals
The species totals for the Petroglyph Count are as follows. The number in parentheses represents the 10-year average number: ruffed grouse, 23 (14), wild turkey, 47 (46.2), rock pigeon, 58 (53.8), mourning dove, 6 (17.5), bald eagle, 2 (6), red-tailed hawk, 4 (2.3), great horned owl, 1 (0.4), barred owl, 8 (2.5), black-backed woodpecker, 1 (0.6), downy woodpecker, 28 (22.9), hairy woodpecker, 49 (41.3), pileated woodpecker, 41 (11.6), northern shrike, 2 (0.5), Canada (gray) jay, 2 (1.4), blue jay, 398 (257.2), American crow, 6 (6.7), common raven, 72 (90.3), black-capped chickadee, 781 (754.9), red-breasted nuthatch, 59 (92.7), white-breasted nuthatch, 149 (75.9), brown creeper, 6 (13.2), golden-crowned kinglet, 7 (28.3), European starling, 32 (24.5), bohemian waxwing, 5 (38.7), evening grosbeak, 121 (22), pine grosbeak, 6 (15.5), common redpoll, 59 (102.9), red crossbill, 1 (12.5), American goldfinch, 8 (162.7), snow bunting, 20 (8), American tree sparrow, 5 (27.7), dark-eyed junco, 14 (23.3), and northern cardinal, 1 (0.1)