PENOKEAN  HILLS FIELD NATURALISTS
108th Annual
Audubon Christmas Bird Count
(PHFN’s 12th Annual, 9th Official)
Friday, December 14, 2007

 Outdoor Participants: (20)

Ray Cormier (Group Leader, Area I =N. to Panel Mine Rd.)  Diane Kanafa, Shirley Young, Joannie Lindamood

 Joan & Gerard MacGillivray (Group Leaders, Area II = Sherriff Crk Sanctuary & Area) Lionel Frigault, Elizabeth Matheson, Bruce Colvin (guest)

 Terry Carr (compiler) (Group Leader, Area III = S. to Depot Lake) Maxine Forsyth, Ilona Zarins, Harry Treijs, Dan Humeniuk, Nancy-Jo Wannan, Scott Helman

 Brenda Clark (Group Leader, Area IV = Urban Elliot Lake Area) Jim Lindamood, Linda Shore, Jim Johnston

Feeder Watchers:  We had 51 Individuals on 34 properties

 Weather & Environmental Conditions:
Sky conditions: AM: Sunny, PM Mostly Sunny 
Temperature: -14 C to –12 C Wind:  Strong
Snow Cover: 40 to 50 cm in sheltered areas
Winds: 20 to 30 K, Gusts to 40 K, some drifting
Precipitation: None 
Still Water… 10 to 30 % Open
Moving Water (rivers & streams) 60 to 80% Open

Note: Significant snowfalls had occurred prior to Count day.   Most of our routes “passable”.

 Natural Food Available:  Poor tree crop year and heavy snow cover made food scarce except at feeders.  Good Feeder Watch results at a number of homes.  A few (exposed) feeders had low or zero visitation.

 
2007 Christmas Bird Count~ Species & numbers:

Reported during “Count Week”(cw):
3 Glaucous Gulls, 1 Black-backed Woodpecker
A total of  2 cw species

 Totals from Outside Teams and Feeder Watchers:

2007 - 32 species on Count DayPlus 2 cw Total is 34 species (all time high!)

2006~29 plus 2 cw Total of 31 species

Penokean Hills Field Naturalists’...CBC History 

 Yearly Totals for our Past Twelve CBC’s:

1996: 16 species, 700 individuals
1997: 28 species, 1072 individuals
1998: 26 species, 1399 individuals
1999: 25 species, 1470 individuals
2000: 25 species, 2003 individuals
2001: 30 species, 2211 individuals
2002: 29 species, 1516 individuals
2003: 27 species, 1404 individuals
2004: 31 species (inclu. 2 cw), 1,668 individuals
2005: 28 species, 1,781 individuals
2006: 31 species (inclu. 2 cw) 2,175 individuals
2007: 34 species (inclu. 2 cw) 1,289 individuals

 Special Report
Blind River Count Week Species My thanks to Andy and Judy Penikette for this interesting look at species sighted in their area Dec. 11 to Dec. 14, 2007.
Dec. 11, 12, 13: Sharp-tailed Grouse, Boreal Chickadee, Cardinal, Common Grackle
Dec. 14: 1 Northern Shrike, 10 Black-capped Chickadee, 3 W-b Nuthatch, 2 R-b Nuthatch, 2 Blue Jay,  2 Common Raven, 1 Amer. Crow, 4 Pine Grosbeaks.
(Outside our official circle. Not on our CBC)

 My sincere thanks to all who contributed their time and effort to this year’s results.

 Terry Carr, compiler 

 
List of all species recorded in 12 years of PHFN Audubon Christmas Bird Counts:

(52 Species – 18,686 individual birds in total)

Ring-necked Duck
Common Goldeneye
Bufflehead
Hooded Merganser
Bald Eagle
Red-tailed Hawk
Ruffed Grouse
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Iceland (Glaucoides) Gull
Glaucous Gull
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Great Gray Owl
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Pileated Woodpecker
Gray Jay
Blue Jay
American Crow
Common Raven
Black-capped Chickadee
Boreal Chickadee
Red-breasted Nuthatch
White-breasted Nuthatch
Brown Creeper
American Robin
Bohemian Waxwing
European Starling
Eastern Towhee
American Tree Sparrow
Chipping Sparrow
House Sparrow
Fox Sparrow
Song Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Snow Bunting
Red-winged Blackbird
Rusty Blackbird
Common Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
Pine Grosbeak
Evening Grosbeak
Purple Finch
Pine Siskin
American Goldfinch  
White-winged Crossbill
Common Redpoll
Hoary Redpoll
Northern Shrike
Belted Kingfisher