2024-03-06
Local results from the Great Backyard Bird Count are in
The Great Backyard Bird Count took place from Feb. 16-19. Nova Scotia had 140 species with 1,385 checklists submitted from 18 counties.
A breakdown of the number of species for each county is: Halifax 103, Yarmouth 85, Cape Breton 76, Lunenburg 76, Shelburne 74, Kings 68, Annapolis 67, Pictou 56, Richmond 46, Colchester 44, Cumberland 43, Victoria 43, Queens 42, Digby 41, Antigonish 39, Guysborough 39, Hants 35 and Inverness 24.
Rarer birds on the list were common redpoll, winter wren, northern mockingbird, chipping sparrow, snow goose, orange-crowned warbler, brown thrasher, brown-headed cowbird, eastern towhee, yellow-bellied sapsucker, yellow-rumped warbler, killdeer, eastern bluebird, clay-coloured sparrow, red-bellied woodpecker, grey heron, Baltimore oriole, snow goose, American coot, red-shouldered hawk, sanderling, hermit thrush, dunlin, tufted duck, pink-footed goose, mute swan, black-bellied plover, dickcissel, golden-crowned sparrow and northern shrike.
Lunenburg County had 76 species with 224 checklists submitted. Sixty people took part in the count. Rarer birds for Lunenburg County included chipping sparrow, red-throated loon, gadwall, clay-colored sparrow, fox sparrow, lesser black-backed gull, red-winged blackbird (scarce this winter), Barrow's goldeneye, pink-footed goose, purple sandpiper, Cooper's hawk and pine warbler. Queens County had 42 species with 12 participants. Rarer species were brown thrasher and fox sparrow.
I have been looking at the results of the last three Lunenburg Christmas Bird Counts. I was surprised to see that the number of birds in the 2023 count was down by 3,875 from the December 2022 count. Also, numbers were down by 1211 birds from the January 2022 count.
On Feb. 18 Dorothy Poole saw a northern shrike at West Berlin. A merlin was a good sighting for Minga O'Brien in Bridgewater on Feb. 21. The next day, Marg Millard reported 30 red-winged blackbirds. Melitta Jarvis observed an American crow harassing a white-tailed deer. The crow landed twice on the backside of the deer. I've never heard tell of this and can only speculate as to why this interaction occurred.
Common ravens are now nesting and American crows are courting in preparation for nesting. Perhaps the crow was trying to gather fur for the lining of the nest.
Terry Durnavich of Green Bay was pleased to see a pileated woodpecker. On Feb. 25, Kerry Jarvis saw four bald eagles in Riverport. He watched a pair doing cartwheels in the air. On Feb. 26 he saw six common loons, a pair of red-breasted mergansers and a belted kingfisher at Creaser's Cove. On Feb. 27 Dominic Cormier reported a Carolina wren in Liverpool. Apparently this is the third winter for this bird at this specific location.
Nancy Robinson on Feb. 23 had 30 Bohemian waxwings feeding on the berries of her privet plant. Lori Buhlman found a brown thrasher in Dartmouth on Feb. 25 and Logan Moore had three killdeer at Hawk Beach on Cape Sable Island. On Feb. 28 Mark Dennis reported that the common gull was still at West Head on Cape Sable Island. Logan LaLonde saw eight northern shovelers along the Cornwallis River.
You may reach me at 902-693-2174 or email jrhbirder@hotmail.com.
