Fredericton Christmas Bird Count - Douglas Sector 2021

                                                        Downy Woodpecker Małe

The Douglas Sector of the 2021 Fredericton Christmas Bird Count was held on 19 December 2021.  The weather was mild and cloudy and the river was only partly frozen.  That made good conditions to find most of the birds that were present in the area.  See the following chart for our findings and pertinent information.

Canada Goose	287
American Widgeon
American Black Duck (Anas rubripes) B
Mallard	2
Common Goldeneye (Bucephala clangula)	35
Barrow's Goldeneye
Hooded Merganser	10
Common Merganser (Mergus merganser) B	2
Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) B	5
Northern Harrier (Circus cyaneus)
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Rough-legged Hawk
Ruffed Grouse (Bonasa umbellus) B
Wild Turkey
Ring-billed Gull (Larus delawarensis) B	1
Herring Gull (Larus argentatus) B
Iceland Gull (Larus glaucoides) M
Glaucous Gull (Larus hyperboreus) M
Great Black-backed Gull (Larus marinus) B
Rock Pigeon	21
Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura) B	32
Great Horned Owl
Barred Owl (Strix varia) B
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker	6
Hairy Woodpecker	2
Pileated Woodpecker
Northern Shrike (Lanius excubitor) M
Gray Jay (Perisoreus canadensis) B
Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata) B	15
American Crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos) B	23
Common Raven (Corvus corax) B	4
Black-capped Chickadee	82
Boreal Chickadee (Poecile hudsonicus) B
Red-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta canadensis) B	1
White-breasted Nuthatch B	4
Brown Creeper (Certhia americana) B
Golden-crowned Kinglet
American Robin   (Turdus migratorius) B
European Starling   (Sturnus vulgaris) B
Bohemian Waxwing
Cedar Waxwing
American Tree Sparrow (Spizella arborea) M
Song Sparrow   (Melospiza melodia) B
White-throated Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco   (Junco hyemalis) B	15
Northern Cardinal	3
Snow Bunting   (Plectrophenax nivalis) M
Pine Grosbeak   (Pinicola enucleator) B
Purple Finch (Carpodacus purpureus) B	10
Red Crossbill   (Loxia curvirostra) B
White-winged Crossbill
Common Redpoll (Carduelis flammea) M
Pine Siskin   (Carduelis pinus) B
American Goldfinch   (Carduelis tristis) B	13
Evening Grosbeak
Other
Total No. Species	21
Finch spp.
Gull spp.
Total No. Birds	594
Seen during count period -
White-throated Sparrow
Mammals
Red Fox 1

As you can see we saw 594 birds of 21 different species.  This is  lower than the average for the last 5 or 6 years.  The average total number is 636 and the average number of species is 28.  This is likely due to the departure of much of our waterfowl and the small number of winter finches in the area.  Many species of winter finches have not arrived so far this year and may not come at all depending on the amount of food they are finding in the north.  Note that we have no Pine Grosbeaks, Common Redpolls, Crossbills or Bohemian Waxwings in the count.  

Although there were some Canada Geese remaining the numbers of Blacks, Mallards and Mergansers were down.  The week before the count there were large numbers of Common Mergansers in the area but they had obviously departed.  Even though we had lots of open water we also had almost no gulls.  Sometimes we get many.  Our gulls were probably at the landfill where there are always hundreds or at fast food establishments where they feed on handouts and dropped items.  

We had no hawks and no robins.  The lack of hawks is normal for our count.  We often get none or occasionally a Red-tailed Hawk or a Sharp-shinned Hawk.  There are robins in the province feeding on the abundance of wild and cultivated fruit.  The Moncton area has plenty right now.  These flocks move around and we will get some occasionally.  I did get a report of about a dozen in Douglas recently.  

Worth noting is the low number of pigeons and no starlings.  We must be doing something right!  There are hundreds of both species hanging around farms right now where there are cattle and presumably spilled feed.  We are not a very appealing feeding area in winter so our numbers are low.

Usually on the count we get a few overwintering sparrows.  These stay around and are able to make it through the winter feeding on wild weed seeds and seeds put out in feeders.  We recorded none this year.  The American Tree Sparrow is a winter finch and there are a few in the area but none were seen on count day.  

The Christmas Bird Count is a good example of citizen science.  It has been done every year in the Fredericton area including Douglas since about 1960.  That has produced a lot of data which are used by scientists, biologists, environmentalists and engineers for their research and planning.  

We thank all for your cooperation in reporting birds, welcoming us onto your properties and supporting this endeavour.  Many thanks from me (Bev Schneider), the compiler, and also from Marc Schneider and Paul O'Connell who helped conduct the count. 

                                                                        Dark-eyed Junco