Christmas Bird Count numbers are in the thousands

Submitted by Derek Connelly

Seven thousand birds and 49 species - those are the numbers from the 21st Uxbridge Christmas Bird Count!

A yellow-bellied sapsucker. Photo by dfaulder/wikimedia Commons, southcarolinapublicradio.org

Fifty-five people participated in the annual bird count. Some stayed inside and watched their feeders while others drove around and walked the trails. One international couple arrived by bus, walked a town trail and checked out our town for their first Christmas Bird Count, and first year in Canada. They also photographed their birds and wrote a very complimenting ‘thank you’ note for the experience!

While it is significantly lower than last year’s count, this year was an average count of birds for Uxbridge given the weather conditions. The deep snow and colder temperatures drove waterfowl south to open water, along with some birdwatchers migrating to the tropics!

Highlights were the northern finches the evening and pine grosbeaks, bohemian waxwings, snow buntings, a couple of common redpolls and a single pine siskin. Three barred owls were seen, along with the usual winter hawks and a bald eagle. Summer rare birds included a hermit thrush, and a yellow-bellied sapsucker. Full details will be posted online and in the North Durham Nature club newsletter.

Thanks go out to all participants; special thanks to Mark Stabb and Caroline Shultz for hosting our field tally pot luck supper, and to Mark Dorriesfield for inputting data, and to James Kamstra and Mark Dorriesfield for editing.

See you all next year!