These are the results of the 37th Woodhouse Christmas Bird Count held on
Sunday December 17th, 2023. 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. 33 field birders covered the count area plus 5 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
numbers of woodpeckers, raptors, and other species that took shelter.

We tallied 87 species on the day which I think is quite remarkable given
the rainy conditions and is equal to the average of the last 10 years, and
above the 37 year average of 83. There were 2 additional count week
species: Tufted Titmouse coming to feeders that remained holed up out of
the rain, and a Turkey Vulture reported the day before on ebird. No new
species were added to the count.

Total Species: 87

Average for the last 35 years = 83.

Average for the last 10 years = 87.

Total Individuals: 18,264

Average over all 37 years = 24,757.

Average for the last 10 years = 18,692.

Highlights:

5 Canvasback are the first ones recorded since 2012

1 Red-headed Woodpecker (2nd year in a row after absent since 2008)

1 Ruby-crowned Kinglet (rarely recorded)

1 Eastern Towhee (1st since 2017)

4 Fox Sparrow (2nd highest count and often missed)

1 Red Crossbill (3rd time ever on count)

New count highs:

105 Gadwall (81 in 2012)

9 American Green-winged Teal (8 in 2014)

100 Ring-necked Duck (28 in 2021)

40 Ruddy Duck (37 in 1998)

66 White-throated Sparrow (54 in 2005)

Low counts:

0 Rough-legged Hawk (1st miss in 37 years)

1 Belted Kingfisher (ties lowest)

0 Pileated Woodpecker (1st miss since 2008)

80 House Finch (new low, 90 in 2017)

322 House Sparrow (new low, 361 in 2022)

Below is the full species list:

SPECIES

Total

Horned Grebe

2

Great Blue Heron

2

Mute Swan

1

Trumpeter Swan

9

Tundra Swan

275

Canada Goose

4306

Cackling Goose

22

Mallard

945

American Black Duck

45

Gadwall

105

Northern Pintail

2

American Green-winged Teal

9

Canvasback

5

Redhead

471

Ring-necked Duck

100

Greater Scaup

74

Lesser Scaup

584

Common Goldeneye

78

Bufflehead

194

Hooded Merganser

22

Common Merganser

60

Red-breasted Merganser

298

Ruddy Duck

40

Bald Eagle

3

Northern Harrier

2

Sharp-shinned Hawk

2

Cooper's Hawk

3

Red-tailed Hawk

45

Peregrine Falcon

1

American Kestrel

12

Merlin

3

Wild Turkey

155

Bonaparte's Gull

212

Ring-billed Gull

2294

Herring Gull

267

Great Black-backed Gull

1

Rock Pigeon

358

Mourning Dove

899

Eastern Screech-Owl

1

Belted Kingfisher

1

Red-headed Woodpecker

1

Red-bellied Woodpecker

24

Downy Woodpecker

53

Hairy Woodpecker

15

Yellow-shafted Flicker

11

Northern Shrike

1

Blue Jay

221

American Crow

551

Common Raven

4

Horned Lark

1

Black-capped Chickadee

242

Red-breasted Nuthatch

3

White-breasted Nuthatch

29

Brown Creeper

8

Carolina Wren

26

Winter Wren

6

Golden-crowned Kinglet

32

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

1

Eastern Bluebird

39

Hermit Thrush

2

American Robin

12

Northern Mockingbird

1

European Starling

2631

Cedar Waxwing

11

Myrtle Warbler

3

Eastern Towhee

1

American Tree Sparrow

384

Chipping Sparrow

3

Field Sparrow

2

Fox Sparrow

4

Song Sparrow

33

Swamp Sparrow

13

White-throated Sparrow

66

White-crowned Sparrow

4

Slate-colored Junco

933

Snow Bunting

88

Northern Cardinal

172

Red-winged Blackbird

7

Rusty Blackbird

1

Common Grackle

2

Brown-headed Cowbird

107

Purple Finch

1

House Finch

80

Red Crossbill

1

Pine Siskin

19

American Goldfinch

188

House Sparrow

322

This year was the 32nd count for our count circle which includes most of Caledon and parts of Erin, Orangeville and Mono. We had an excellent turnout of 35 observers grouped into 13 teams, plus 8 feeder watchers. Observers logged 64 hours and 686 km driving and on foot.

The bird count was on Dec 28, a warm day of 6 to 8° C but with fog all day long and rain in the afternoon. The fog meant that every bird was grey. Although we started out with low expectations due to the conditions, we ended the day with excellent numbers: a record high 50 species, and 5,304 birds, the best number since 2015.

Record highs were influenced by the mild winter up to this point:
Trumpeter Swan - 10
Lesser Scaup - 12
Red-breasted Merganser - 10
Belted Kingfisher - 4 (tie)
Merlin - 1 (tie)
Golden-crowned Kinglet - 19
American Robin - 203
Northern Mockingbird - 1 (tie)
Cedar Waxwing - 374
White-throated Sparrow - 3 (tie)
Rusty Blackbird - 9
Brown-headed Cowbird - 3 (tie)

The Rusty Blackbirds were a new addition to our all-time species list, now at 99.
A notable miss was any gulls.

Thanks to all the participants and especially to Ron Jasiuk for organizing the teams and providing the venue for an excellent after-count dinner and socializing.

Russ McGillivray, CBC Compiler for ONCD