The sixth Linwood CBC was held today, January 2. Weather throughout the day was quite challenging with near whiteout conditions for a majority of the day, however 35 hardy observers gave the circle perhaps the best coverage yet and as a result many species were recorded in record highs (17(!) record highs vs. 3 record lows). 53 species were found today (not quite beating the 54 in 2008).
2 new species for the count were found: Barred Owl (1 bird near the town of Crosshill), and Merlin (1 bird seen in Glen Allan) bringing the six-year total to 79.
Other unusual species included: Ring-necked Pheasant, Red-shouldered Hawk (present for its ninth winter), Great Black-backed Gull (5, HC), Common Raven (2, HC), White-throated Sparrow, and White-winged Crossbill (4).
Raptors are always one of the highlights of the Linwood CBC and this year was no exception:
Bald Eagle - 6 (HC)
Northern Harrier - 6 (HC)
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 3
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 3
Cooper's Hawk - 6
Rough-legged Hawk - 75 (low)
Red-tailed Hawk - 51 (low)
American Kestrel - 6 (lowish)
Merlin - 1 (new)
Other species of interest:
Merlin - 1 (new)
Other species of interest:
Snow Bunting - 13,932 !!! (this smashes our previous high of 3,187)
Common Redpoll - 1
Pine Siskin - 176 (HC)
Total Individual Birds - 19,830 (HC, previous high - 10,104)
Pine Siskin - 176 (HC)
Total Individual Birds - 19,830 (HC, previous high - 10,104)
Sounds like a great day.. It's funny the SNBU count surpassed the previous "total birds" high count!
ReplyDeleteHaha ya, crazy weather man, really too bad the visibility was so poor, would've likely broken 100 RLHA, 10 NOHA, 15 AMKE, lol oh well, ya pretty good!
ReplyDeleteHad 1 flock of over 3,000 birds! Everyone had flocks of several thousand though, so pretty neat!
Hi great reading your bblog
ReplyDelete