Kitchener CBC

Christmas Bird Counts (from this point forward referred to as a 'CBC') are an annual event that happen around the Christmas time (hence the name), where volunteers try and count all birds in a 24km diameter circle. There's thousands of counts across North America, and even more in the UK. The CBC has been running for over a hundred years, and is therefore one of the longest running standardized counts ever.
          I usually do at least two counts per season, one Kitchener (my hometown), and Meaford (where my chalet is. This blog post will just be about the Kitchener count, because the Meaford count hasn't happened yet! I might write another post about it in the coming Christmas weeks, but it depends on how it goes, and how my Tufted Duck twitch goes tomorrow...

I (like to think I) co-run my CBC section, with Fraser Gibson, a very good local birder. At 5:30 on (last) Saturday, the 16th, me and my mom set out to meet Fraser on his owling run. Our section is in the South West corner of the circle, and is comprised of mostly farmland, with a few woodlots, and a few small rivers. The combination makes for surprisingly good owl habitat, or maybe my perception of owl numbers is skewed.
          Anyways, at the first stop we were successful, and got two Eastern Screech Owls to respond to our tape! We moved farther up the road, and heard a lone Great-Horned Owl hooting up a woodlot. We made a few more unsuccessful stops, and the world began to wake up. We decided to make one last stop, and a good thing too, as a Barred Owl called back! I was so close to missing this owl for the year (along with quite a few other species it seems...). They are fairly uncommon in the area, but occasionally turn up. There well known call 'who cooks for you, who cooks for you, who cooks for you all', is quite recognizable. Quite content with the day already, we proceeded to our first stop. Little did I know, we were for a big day for rarities...
          The first stop we usually make is at a large wooded property, with lots of mixed hardwood and also plantation style forests. Immediately upon arriving, we heard a Raven call, and I also later saw it, a 3rd count record! There wasn't much else at this spot, besides some chickadees and kinglets, so we moved on.
       
Our next stop is a walk between Oxford-Waterloo Road to Bridge Street. It follows one of the only open waterways in our section, and normally yields the most (and best) finds. As soon as I got out of the car, a small, thrush-like bird flew up into a snag. I got a quick look at it before it flew off. A Bluebird! I didn't think it was overly rare, as Bluebirds are known for overwintering. But everyone wanted to get a good look at it, which I was perfectly fine with! As we were watching it, it was joined by a female! They were quite active and kept hidden, which made it hard for photos. But I did get one:

Obviously cropped and lightened pretty hard. But it's definitely a Bluebird!

Content with this sighting, we started down the path. A few mallards were taking advantage of the flowing water, and a few kinglets were also around. We decided to split our group again, I continued to follow the river, while the other group veered off into the woods. We'd only walked a 100 meters or so, when I saw a small brown, roundish object on some exposed rocks on the creek. I doubled back, and even with my eyes I could tell it was a shorebird. I quickly got my bins up, and I was greeted by  a beautiful Wilson's Snipe! We called the other group to come back.

          Shorebirds are my favourite group of birds, and Snipes are no exception. Snipe (along with woodcock) prefer grassy fields, with some dense busy cover. They both do flight displays in the spring and summer, and are quite fun to watch! But this Snipe had made some poor life choices, and had ended wading through a freezing river, feeding on whatever it could find in the near frozen mud. 

So cute!

It bobbed up and down as it fed, maybe stirring up stuff with its feet? It seemed to be oblivious to us, but I didn't want to get too close, in case it flew away from the only water it has. Thankfully my 500mm lens had no problem with that!

My mom texted Mike Burrell about our find, as he had said to contact him about anything decently rare. I also mentioned the Bluebird, just in case that was of interest.

          Turns out the Bluebird was of more interest! The Snipe represented the 9th record, but incredibly surprising to me, the Bluebirds were a 1st count record!!! Apparently Eastern Bluebird is the most common thing missing from the Waterloo list, and has evaded counters for 82 years! Interestingly enough, the Cambridge count just South East of here gets them pretty much every year! Boy am I glad I took that picture 😃

          We continued walking as a single group, and managed to pick up 2 Red-bellied Woodpecker, a species that has been very quickly expanding into Ontario, a Brown Creeper, and American Tree-sparrow and a single Great Blue Heron. 

Red-bellied Woodpecker

When we rounded another bend, a medium sized bird flew up from the creek, a Snipe! Very very likely the same one, just weird how it got ahead of us without us noticing! Right after the Snipe had flushed, 19 all white geese flew over, Snow Geese! Another rarity, and my first for the region! Thrilled with our walk, we split up to check our separate places.

Despite driving many backroads, I couldn't manage to turn up any Snow Buntings, which we have always gotten in the past few years. There was a few sizeable flock of House Finches around, as well as all the common backyard birds, and some Red-tailed Hawks.

          Our final stop for the day was the Williamsburg Cemetery, which turned up an overwintering Eastern Towhee last winter. No Towhee was to be had this year, but there was a few sizeable flocks of American Tree-sparrows, as well as some Robins. Amongst the flock of Passerines, a female Purple Finch appeared! Another county first for me.

American Robin - Yes, they do stay the winter sometimes!

American Tree-sparrow - One of the prettiest Sparrows in my opinion, their rusty tones and bicoloured are some of the best field marks for this species, as well as their 'stickpin', a small dark central dot on their chest (not visible in this picture)

And that concludes this CBC. I would definitely recommend them to any level of birder, whether you're a birder just starting looking for someone knowledgable to bird with, an advanced birder looking for rarities, or not a birder at all (but if you're not a birder I'm not sure how you'd be reading this). Good luck on your CBC's, and Merry Christmas!

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