Christmas Bird Count

37th Woodhouse Christmas Bird Count Results

(Image above: Trumpeter Swans – Photo by Member, Jan Grincevicius) Report by Adam Timpf The Woodhouse CBC is centred 7 km east of Simcoe, at the crossroads of Highway 3 and Cockshutt Road at Renton, and roughly covers from Port Dover to Waterford and just west of Simcoe to east of Jarvis. These are the results of the 37th Woodhouse Christmas Bird Count held on Sunday December 17th, 2023. Thirty-three field birders covered the count area plus five feeder watchers. Conditions were wet with rain and drizzle throughout the day, temperatures around 6-7 degrees Celsius, moderate south winds (16-21 km/h), zero snow on the ground, and plenty of open water as nothing was frozen. The mild temperatures leading up to the count contributed to us setting new count highs for 4 species of waterfowl, while the rainy conditions meant low…
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35th Christmas Bird Count, Woodhouse

Report by Adam Timpf These are the results of the 35th Woodhouse Christmas Bird Count (CBC) held on Sunday December 19th, 2021. The Woodhouse CBC is centred 7 km east of Simcoe, at the crossroads of Highway 3 and Cockshutt Road at Renton, and roughly covers from Port Dover to Waterford and just west of Simcoe to east of Jarvis. Conditions were pretty much ideal with temps just below freezing, little to no wind, clear skies, and a light dusting of snow on the ground. 31 field birders covered the count area split between 17 groups, plus 5 feeder watchers. While I initially reported we tallied 94 species, and then 95, I can confirm we tallied 94 species on the day which ties last year's count as the 3rd highest species total ever, and the highest since the record of…
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2020 Christmas Bird Count – Fisherville

(Feature photo, above: Tundra Swans, photo by Diane Salter) Report by Linda Thrower, Compiler As a compiler I was lucky enough to have a Christmas Bird Count this year. A lot of people had to do double duty and cover more than one square to say this count was covered. So, with a lot of co-operation from the birders and the weather the Fisherville CBC was held on December 28th, 2020. It had snowed for Christmas which a lot of parents and Santa were glad to see. The luck continued with enough warmer temperatures and rain to take away all of that snow by the 28th. But luck can only go so far and once again the winds picked up just enough to send all of the smaller species of birds and even some of the larger ones into hiding.…
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Fisherville Christmas Bird Count (December 2019)

Report by Linda Thrower, Compiler December 28th, 2019 certainly didn’t bring the weather of 2017, but who needs wind chills of -30 C while trying to count birds? Instead it was on the plus side with the temperature of +2 C at midnight and no winds to speak of until later in the day. And who could complain about having open water—not the waterfowl. But even with the weather co-operating, the birds were well hidden. Did they know all of us were looking for them? Thankfully, there were a bunch of keen eyes out there and some really good species popped out here and there. So, the new high and low numbers look like this: Horned Grebes were found in their lowest numbers since 2001 when 197 were counted. This year, 76 were seen. American Wigeons are back on the…
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Woodhouse Christmas Bird Count (December 2019)

Report by Adam Timpf   These are the results of the 33rd Woodhouse CBC held on Sunday, December 15th, 2019. The Woodhouse CBC is centred seven kilometres east of Simcoe, at the crossroads of Highway 3 and Cockshutt Road at Renton in Norfolk County and roughly covers from Port Dover to Waterford and just west of Simcoe to east of Jarvis. First of all, let me thank all 45 participants for spending their time and energy and contributing important data to this count. It wouldn’t be possible without you and I hope I can count on you all again next December. Also, let me thank the NFN for sponsoring the count and to my mom Tresa for putting on a delicious wrap-up dinner at her house. Nourishment is always needed after a full day in the field! Weather: The weather…
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Christmas Bird Count: Fisherville

Report by Linda Thrower, Compiler The Fisherville Christmas Bird Count was held on Friday December 28th, 2018. Thanks so much for all the effort that was put out that day to count birds. Fisherville CBC has seven new records. Unfortunately, these records are all for the lowest number since the count began—but that’s what the day held. The weather was not what might be expected for late December, but it was a nice day for a walk. The temperature was +11C with no snow and open water visibility of about 10 km. As the afternoon arrived, so did the clouds and light drizzle. The winds picked up to about 20 to 25 km/hour from the south. Even then the birds hid. Highlights: So first, a new high number record Sandhill Cranes. First time seen in Square 8 and in their largest…
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Woodhouse Christmas Bird Count Report

Report by Adam Timpf The 32nd Woodhouse Christmas Bird Count (CBC) took place Sunday, December 16, 2018. The Woodhouse CBC is centred seven kilometers east of Simcoe, at the crossroads of Highway 3 and Cockshutt Road at Renton in Norfolk County and roughly covers from Port Dover to Waterford and just west of Simcoe to east of Jarvis. Weather: The weather this year was relatively warm, being on the plus side of 0. The lack of precipitation made for comfortable birding conditions, but the lack of snow cover made it tricky to find the birds since they were not concentrated. The wind was mostly calm or light from the northeast. Total Species: 82 with 1 additional Count Week species (average for the last 31 years = 80; average for the last 10 years = 86) Total Individuals: 16,635 (average for the last…
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