Di Labio Birding | Dunrobin-Breckenridge Christmas Bird Count

Join us for the 31st Annual Dunrobin-Breckenridge Christmas Bird Count (Thursday, December 29, 2011)!

Join us again this year for the annual Dunrobin (ON) - Breckenridge (QC) Christmas Bird Count, now in it's 31st year. The count takes place every year in late December/early January. It involves teams of volunteers who spend most of the day outdoors tallying species and numbers of birds within a 12 km (7.5 mile) radius of the count centre in Dunrobin, ON. Other volunteers contribute by noting the birds that come to their backyard feeders on the day of the count. Details on the 30th annual count and on results from previous years can be found below.

During the event it is important to count every bird you see: even the common ones like starlings and jays!	Anything is possible at a bird feeder. Watch for late lingering species such as Pine Warbler.
If you live in the CBC area, learn how you can participate by counting birds at your feeder.	The Boreal Owl has never been seen on the Dunrobin-Breckenridge CBC. Will this be the year?

When is the count?

The date of the 31st annual count is Thursday, December 29, 2011.

How to Participate

To participate in the 30th Annual Dunrobin (ON) - Breckenridge (QC) Christmas Bird Count, register using the link below which puts you directly in contact with the count coordinator:

REGISTER NOW - December 29, 2011
(scroll down for CBC option)

Coordinator:

Bruce Di Labio
bruce.dilabio@sympatico.ca
(613) 839-4395 (Home)
(613) 715-2571 (Cell)

The date of the 31st annual count is Thursday, December 29, 2011.

There is a cost of $5 to participate in the Christmas Bird Count that goes to Bird Studies Canada. This amount is waived if you are a Bird Studies Canada member or under the age of 18.

ONLINE REGISTRATION AVAILABLE HERE
Scroll to bottom of form for CBC option

Feeder Watchers

Reports from feeder watchers are an important part of the Christmas Bird Count. As long as you live within the designated Dunrobin-Breckenridge Christmas Bird Count circle, count the birds at your feeder and report in to the count coordinator. Contact Bruce Di Labio in advance and to report your count.

Map of Dunrobin-Breckenridge Christmas Bird Count Area

The blue lines on the map indicate the boundaries of the Dunrobin-Breckenridge Christmas Bird Count area and the five sectors that make up the area.

Click on the

for the latitude and longitude of the centre of the count area.

Click on the

to see the name of each of the five sectors of the count area.

Use the zoom tool to move about on the map or zoom in or out of the map to see more or less detail.

You can also view a larger map by clicking here.

Reports

2010/2011 REPORT (2009/2010 report is located here)

The 30th Annual Dunrobin (ON) - Breckenridge (QC) Christmas Bird Count took place on Sunday, January 2, 2011. A record total of 57 field observers and 7 feeder watchers recorded 57 species and 10,130 individuals. T

Weather Conditions:
The high temperature for the count was reached at midnight with +8c and at 2:30a.m. it was +6c, great for owling. Over the course of the day the temperature dropped to a afternoon high of -2c with occasional light snow and light rain around noon. The winds were steady from the SW at 22 km at dawn and switched to WSW for most of the day with winds from 18 to 33 km/ hr and gusts up to 48 km/hr.

The Ottawa River has been frozen since mid December, which is more typical than it has been over the last 5 years. On the day of the count, a few some small creeks and storm sewer outlets were open in the Kanata North area. The cone crop was poor in most of the count circle but there was still a good berry crop including Mountain Ash, Buckthorn, and Crab-apple.

Sunrise: 7:42 a.m.
Sunset: 4:31 p.m.

Species:
Overall an interesting day in the field. Not a lot of activity but definitely an improvement over last year’s count. Again bird feeders had a good concentration of birds but many were empty. The 30th Annual count, with 57 species, ties the 5rd highest record for this count which was recorded in 2006/07. The average number of species observed on the Dunrobin-Breckenridge CBC remains at 51 species. There were no new species found so both Boreal Owl and Northern Mockingbird are still likely candidates for next year.    A number of interesting observations were made, including: Bald Eagle, Snowy Owl, Northern Saw-whet Owl and Red-winged Blackbird.

New Species: No new species and the overall total remains at 110 species.

Record Highs:
Previous Highs are shown in parentheses followed by year.

    Mallard 116 (89,1993)
    Great Blue Heron 2 (1 6yrs. Last 2006)
    Barred Owl 9 (4,1998)
    Red-bellied Woodpecker 2 (1,1989)
    European Starling 1,374 (1196,2002)

Tied Record Highs:

Previous record year in parentheses.

    Northern Saw-whet Owl 2 (1988,1999)

Belted Kingfisher 1(1988,1998)

Brown Thrasher 1 (2010)

Winter Finches:

    Pine Grosbeak (1)
    Purple Finch (0)
    White-winged Crossbill (0)
    Red Crossbill (0)
    Common Redpoll (337)
    Hoary Redpoll (1)
    Pine Siskin (15)
    American Goldfinch (283)
    Evening Grosbeak (13)

A few Dunrobin-Breckenridge statistics:

Total Species:

    Record High 68 (2001)
    Record Low 32 (1999)

Total Individuals:

    Record High 12,554 (1986)
    Record Low 798 (1999)

I would like to thank the field observers and sector leaders for their great effort and my wife, Laurie, for preparing the wonderful post-count supper and to all participants who brought deserts, food and wine to celebrate the 30th anniversary!

The tentative date for the 31th annual Dunrobin-Breckenridge CBC is Thursday, December 29, 2011, hope to see you there!

If you wish to see the results from all of the CBC's since they began, visit the Audubon Society Website.

Good birding,
Bruce Di Labio
Dunrobin-Breckenridge CBC Compiler

PICTURES FROM THE 2010/2011 BIRD COUNT EVENT

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Constance Bay sector having lunch at Heart and Soul cafe in Dunrobin.

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Moreo f the same Constance Bay group from a different view.

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View along Constance Bay Road showing very little snow on the ground, making walking easy for this count.
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Dunrobin-Breckenridge 30th Anniversary Cake - BEFORE.
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Dunrobin-Breckenridge 30th Anniversary Cake - AFTER.
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Fitzroy team after dessert.
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Bob, Doug, Dan, Ray and Bruce.
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The compilation begins.

DETAILED RESULTS

.	SPECIES	RECORD HIGH	YEAR	NUMBER OF YEARS	FIRST YEAR RECORDED	LAST YEAR RECORDED
.	Canada Goose	284	1989	13	1983	2011
.	Wood Duck	1	2006	1	2006	2006
.	American Black Duck	148	1987	26	1982	2011
.	Mallard	116	2011	27	1982	2011
.	Northern Pintail	1	1994	1	1994	1994
.	Green-winged Teal	1	1994	1	1994	1994
.	Ring-necked Duck	2	94,06	2	1994	2006
.	Lesser Scaup	3	1993	4	1988	1994
.	White-winged Scoter	6	2006	1	2006	2006
.	Common Goldeneye	58	2006	8	1983	2006
.	Hooded Merganser	2	1993	6	1984	2006
.	Common Merganser	36	2001	8	1985	2006
.	Red-breasted Merganser	1	2001	1	2001	2001
.	Gray Partridge	61	1984	15	1982	2000a
.	Ring-necked Pheasant	1	1997	1	1997	1997
.	Ruffed Grouse	65	1989a	29	1982	2011
.	Wild Turkey	228	2010	11	2000	2011
.	Common Loon	1	2001	1	2001	2001
.	Red-necked Grebe	1	2001	1	2001	2001
.	Great Blue Heron	2	2011	7	1990	2011
.	Bald Eagle	9	2001	14	1983	2011
.	Northern Harrier	3	2001	4	1994	2011
.	Sharp-shinned Hawk	5	2000	21	1982	2011
.	Cooper's Hawk	4	01,05,06	16	1984	2010
.	Northern Goshawk	6	1991	26	1982	2010
.	Red-shouldered Hawk	1	98,07,09	3	1998	2009
.	Red-tailed Hawk	40	2006	30	1982	2011
.	Rough-legged Hawk	31	1988	25	1982	2011
.	American Kestrel	17	1988	27	1982	2011
.	Merlin	2	06,07	5	1991	2007
.	Gyrfalcon	1	94,95	2	1994	1995
.	American Coot	1	1993	1	1993	1993
.	Wilson's Snipe	1	1988	1	1988	1988
.	Ring-billed Gull	3	2000	3	2000	2011
.	Herring Gull	1225	2001	15	1983	2011
.	Iceland Gull	4	2000	4	1997	2004a
.	Glaucous Gull	15	2000	6	1995	2004a
.	Great Black-backed Gull	301	2001	10	1987	2011
.	Rock Pigeon	845	2002	30	1982	2011
.	Mourning Dove	577	2002	30	1982	2011
.	Eastern Screech-Owl	3	2005	11	1986	2007
.	Great Horned Owl	53	1988	29	1982	2011
.	Snowy Owl	6	1988	11	1982	2010
.	Northern Hawk Owl	2	88,01	9	1982	2011
.	Barred Owl	9	2011	25	1982	2011
.	Great Gray Owl	6	2004a	5	1984	2009
.	Long-eared Owl	3	1982	8	1982	2000a
.	Short-eared Owl	5	1982	3	1982	1994
.	Northern Saw-whet Owl	2	88,89,11	9	1983	2011
.	Belted Kingfisher	1	88,98,11	3	1988	2011
.	Red-headed Woodpecker	2	2005	2	2004a	2005
.	Red-bellied Woodpecker	2	2011	2	1989	2011
.	Downy Woodpecker	89	1984	30	1982	2011
.	Hairy Woodpecker	134	1984	30	1982	2011
.	Am.Three-toed Woodpecker	6	1998	11	1983	2006
.	Black-backed Woodpecker	6	2000	19	1982	2006
.	Northern Flicker	2	95,95a	12	1982	2011
.	Pileated Woodpecker	29	2002	30	1982	2011
.	Northern Shrike	25	1988	30	1982	2011
.	Gray Jay	1	83,95	2	1983	1995
.	Blue Jay	566	1995	30	1982	2011
.	American Crow	1024	2007	30	1982	2011
.	Common Raven	167	2001	30	1982	2011
.	Horned Lark	399	2001	28	1982	2011
.	Black-capped Chickadee	1859	1983	30	1982	2011
.	Boreal Chickadee	6	1987	10	1982	2005
.	Red-breasted Nuthatch	213	2000a	30	1982	2011
.	White-breasted Nuthatch	179	2002	30	1982	2011
.	Brown Creeper	41	2000a	29	1982	2011
.	Carolina Wren	1	1988	1	1988	1988
.	Winter Wren	1	1993	2	1993	2004
.	Golden-crowned Kinglet	71	1983	24	1982	2011
.	Ruby-crowned Kinglet	1	1995	1	1995	1995
.	Eastern Bluebird	6	1999	1	1999	1999
.	Hermit Thrush	1	2001	1	2001	2001
.	American Robin	34	2004	22	1982	2011
.	Gray Catbird	1	2007	1	2007	2007
.	Brown Thrasher	1	10,11	2	2010	2011
.	Varied Thrush	1	1988	1	1988	1988
.	European Starling	1196	2002	30	1982	2011
.	Bohemian Waxwing	1315	2009	21	1982	2011
.	Cedar Waxwing	273	2002	10	1985	2004
.	Yellow-rumped Warbler	1	1983	1	1983	1983
.	American Tree Sparrow	316	1983	29	1982	2011
.	Savannah Sparrow	1	2000	1	2000	2000
.	Fox Sparrow	1	1995	1	1995	1995
.	Song Sparrow	6	1997	21	1983	2011
.	Swamp Sparrow	1	88,93	2	1988	1993
.	White-throated Sparrow	2	1997	9	1983	2011
.	White-crowned Sparrow	1	2006	1	2006	2006
.	Dark-eyed Junco	154	1985	30	1982	2011
.	Lapland Longspur	31	1995	18	1982	2011
.	Snow Bunting	4040	1986	30	1982	2011
.	Northern Cardinal	79	2002	28	1982	2010
.	Red-winged Blackbird	4	1999	9	1983	2011
.	Eastern Meadowlark	2	87,97,98	5	1982	2002
.	Rusty Blackbird	1	87,88,97	3	1987	1997
.	Common Grackle	2	82,00	9	1982	2001
.	Brown-headed Cowbird	11	1993	5	1982	2002
.	Pine Grosbeak	277	2009	18	1982	2011
.	Purple Finch	170	1993	15	1983	2009
.	House Finch	107	1993	21	1988	2011
.	Red Crossbill	10	1991	7	1982	2001
.	White-winged Crossbill	649	1989a	19	1982	2009
.	Common Redpoll	2769	1994	24	1982	2011
.	Hoary Redpoll	4	86,07	13	1982	2011
.	Pine Siskin	949	2000a	25	1982	2011
.	American Goldfinch	1360	1995	29	1982	2010
.	Evening Grosbeak	1931	1988	25	1982	2011
.	House Sparrow	1293	1983	30	1982	2011