Jan 4 2023

On January 4th, 31 field observers and 4 feeder watchers went out around the Southampton area to participate in the annual Saugeen Shores Christmas Bird Count. It was a dreary sort of day, rainy and foggy throughout with temperatures ranging from 1C to 5C. Some inland water was frozen, however the majority of Lake Huron remained open for count day.

Despite this, birders still managed to see 53 species. This is exactly average compared to the historical average of 53, but considerably below the all time high of 66.

An ALL TIME HIGH was recorded for total individual birds, with a whopping 18,427. This is over 6,000 higher than the previous high count.

The highlight species of the 2022 count were Tufted Titmouse (2nd count record), Cackling Goose (3rd count record), Northern Flicker (4th count record) White-throated Sparrow (3rd count record)

All time high counts were recorded for the following species:

Cackling Goose (5, previous 2)

Greater Scaup (51, previous 40)

Snow Bunting (10,152!!, previous 4,090)

Bohemian Waxwing (237, previous 154)

Low counts were noted for numerous waterfowl and Ruffed Grouse (1), also raptor numbers in general were quite low this season. This trend has been seen all across Bruce County, and is likely to do a crash in rodent populations.

The poor weather conditions on count day can likely be blamed for making us miss Golden-crowned Kinglet and Brown Creeper completely, something that hasn’t happened in a number of years. It was also a very poor day for finches, Pine Grosbeak and Evening Grosbeak were missed completely, and only 1 Purple Finch and 1 Common Redpoll were recorded.

3 Count week birds were recorded, Common Grackle, Belted Kingfisher and Red-headed Woodpecker.

Thanks to all the participants!