Friday, January 5, 2018

Mactaquac Christmas Bird Count

Annual Christmas Bird Count

White-throated Sparrow

The Mactaquac Christmas Bird Count is an annual event taking place on January 1.  A team of hardy citizen scientists brave the cold weather and conduct a bird census in a large 24-km circle running from Keswick to Upper Prince William and Mazerolle Settlement to Springfield.  This count has been done for many years now and the data are collected and compiled by NatureNB, Bird Studies Canada and the Audubon Society.  

The weather was severe this year.  Participants braved extreme temperatures and a wind chill up to - 29ÂșC.  Being on the road for most of the day made conditions difficult.  Participants observe from their cars but frequently get out to look for birds and to walk through woods, roads and lanes.  Most groups consist of 2 people, a driver and a recorder, both watching carefully for birds.  

White-winged Crossbill
This year we counted 1697 birds representing 32 species.  Both total numbers and species numbers were below average.  This is probably for two main reasons.  Firstly, the weather was so severe many birds held tight in whatever hiding place they had chosen away from the wind and cold.  Secondly, so far this has not been a finch year.  Our fruit and cone crops are low and migrating flocks of finches are not coming into the area to feed.  Many of these flocks are staying well north of us.  That may change as the season progresses and they are forced to move into this area seeking food sources.  There was also less open water this year with the extreme cold so a lot of waterfowl have moved out of the area.  

We did however find a remnant of winter finches.  Note the White-winged Crossbill shown above.  We found only 6 of these.  And, only 1 of the White-throated Sparrow shown above.  We did, however, notice some trends.  The Blue Jay population is high, having seen 164.  We also noticed that the American Goldfinch population is rebounding.  In the last few years the goldfinch population has plummeted.  Not so anymore.  They are increasing now in this area.

Shown below are two charts, one showing a summary of the birds seen on this year's count.  Below that is a comparison of the last 7 years of counts comparing species numbers and total numbers of birds counted.  

Mactaquac CBC 2017


Jan. 1, 2018





Species
Total




Am Black Duck
80

Mallard
1

Common Goldeneye
84

Hooded Merganser
4

Common Merganser
41

Bald Eagle
9

Ruffed Grouse
3

Great Black-backed Gull
11

Rock Pigeon
231

Mourning Dove
35

Barred Owl
1

Downy Woodpecker
7

Hairy Woodpecker
18

Pileated Woodpecker
2

Blue Jay
164

American Crow
88

Common Raven
51

Black-capped Chickadee
223

Red-breasted Nuthatch
37

White-breasted Nuthatch
12

Brown Creeper
4

Golden-crowned Kinglet
8

European Starling
167

American Tree Sparrow
24

White-throated Sparrow
1

Dark-eyed Junco
29

Northern Cardinal
4

Snow Bunting
13

Purple Finch
58

White-winged Crossbill
6

Pine Siskin
51

American Goldfinch
229

Accipiter sp.
1

Total 
1697

No. of Species
32





Mactaquac CBCs 

No. of Species
Total Birds
2011
38
2821
2012
40
2469
2013
32
1942
2014
39
1616
2015
38
1747
2016
36
1965
2017
32
1697
Average
36
2037



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