CHRISTMAS BIRD COUNTS

BY GEOFF HOGAN

The annual Christmas Bird Counts were held December 22 and 29 for the National Park and Hillsborough count areas respect- ively. Weather proved to be a major factor again with blowing snow and freezing rain . for the National Park count but near-per- fect viewing conditions for the Hillsbor- ough count. Low temperatures resulted in normally open water areas being frozen by December 29 with a resulting scarcity of birds in some areas. Nevertheless, enough hardy souls ventured out for both counts to come up with respectable results. Ex- cellent pot-luck suppers were held following each count and our sin- cere thanks to Rosemarie Proctor and Rosemary Curley for_hosting these. Results of the counts in 1984 are as follows: -

NATIONAL PARK: 33 species, 2998 individuals. Great Cormorant 1, Double- crested Cormorant 1, Canada Goose 87, Black Duck 199, N. Shoveler l, Scaup sp. 100, Oldsquaw 5, Black Scoter 127, Common GOldeneye 158, Bar— row's Goldeneye 40, Common Merganser 469, Red-breasted Merganser 4, N. Goshawk 1, Gray Partridge 9, Ring-necked Pheasant 1, Ruffed-Grouse 4, Ring-billed Gull 17, Herring Gull 419, Greater Black-backed Gull 73, Rock Dove 54, Downy Woodpecker 1, Hairy Woodpecker 1, Blue Jay 30, Am. Crow 387, Common Raven 15, Black—capped Chickadee 60, Boreal Chickadee 17, Golden-crowned Kinglet 4, Starling 337, Brown-headed Cowbird 46, Evening Grosbeak 11, House Sparrow 282, Snow Bunting 37.

i-; HILLSBOROUGH: 39 species, 1 hybrid, 6,655 indiv- “' iduals. Double—crested Cormorant 1, Great Blue Heron 4, Canada Goose 397, Black Duck 1097, Black Duck x Mallard hybrid 1, Mallard 6, Common Eider l, Oldsquaw 13, Common Goldeneye 325, Common Mer- ' w.ganser 278, Red-breasted Merganser 4, Sharp-

.‘P‘. x~, shinned Hawk 2, Rough-legged Hawk 1, Gray Part-

Wmum“ \us "~:”V" ridge 15, Ruffed Grouse 3, Ring-billed Gull 5, Herring Gull 6 4, Thayer's Gull 1, Iceland Gull 8, Greater Black-backed Gull 213, Rock Dove 261, Downy Woodpecker 8, Hairy Woodpecker 2, Horned Lark 36, Blue Jay 126, Am. Crow 480, Common Raven 8, Black—capped Chickadee 79, Boreal Chickadee 5, Brown Creeper 1, Golden-crowned King- let 14, Robin 1, Starling 1403, Common Grackle 12, Brown-headed Cowbird 6, Pine Grosbeak 3, House Sparrow 1075, Am. Tree Sparrow 5, Song Spar- row 2, Snow Bunting 100.

Participants: Bill Bowerbank, Rick Burger, Jamie Burton, Rosemary Cur- ley, Peter Peldstein, Geoff Hogan, Ann Howatt—Krahn, Winston Johnston, Norah Longworth, Gerald MacDonald, Kathy Martin, Dan McAskill, Danny McAskill jr., Alan Saint, Liz Townsend. Thanks to all.