NWO Fall Bird Roundup
2020 Roundup (Click to Expand)
At least 67 people in 28 parties participated in the 2020 fall roundup of birds. This year 8,692 birds of 84 species were tallied. Reports were submitted from Atikokan, Dorion, Dryden, Kakabeka Falls, Marathon, Pearl, Pigeon River, Rainy River, Raith, Sioux Lookout, Sunshine, Terrace Bay, and Thunder Bay. At the Thunder Bay Airport the min/max temperatures that day were -1.4 and 6.6oC, the sky was overcast and there was a light east wind. There were 14 species that were reported by only one party: Canvasback, Black Scoter, Long-tailed Duck, Spruce Grouse, Turkey Vulture, Great-horned Owl, Barred Owl, Black-backed Woodpecker, Merlin, Boreal Chickadee, Golden-crowned Kinglet, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Purple Finch, Fox Sparrow, and Song Sparrow. Only one of the Evening Grosbeaks was sighted in Thunder Bay. Little attempt has been made to track down multiple sightings of the same birds, though totals have been adjusted for obvious duplicates.
Thank you everyone for providing data to produce this unique snapshot of the state of Thunder Bay’s birds late in the fall.
The top 10 most abundant species counted:
- 1,498 Canada Goose
- 825 American Crow
- 706 Rock Pigeon
- 702 Common Raven
- 612 Herring Gull
- 506 Black-capped Chickadee
- 362 European Starling
- 287 Pine Grosbeak
- 248 House Sparrow
Species are listed in phylogenetic order in accordance with the 59th AOU Supplement (2018)
*Little attempt has been made to separate-out multiple sightings of the same birds by different parties. That being said, multiple parties observed the one Ruddy Duck and the one King Eider. There were 2 Coots at Chippewa also observed by multiple parties.
John Woodcock
McKellar Island Bird Observatory www.facebook.com/mckellar
2020 TOTALS | |||
TOTAL | Species Name* | TOTAL | Species Name* |
18 | Cackling Goose | 1 | Black-backed Woodpecker |
1,498 | Canada Goose | 53 | Downy Woodpecker |
5 | Tundra Swan | 49 | Hairy Woodpecker |
13 | American Widgeon | 10 | Pileated Woodpecker |
233 | Mallard | 1 | Merlin |
6 | American Black Duck X Mallard Hybrid | 66 | Canada Jay |
3 | American Black Duck | 129 | Blue Jay |
1 | Canvasback | 23 | Black-billed Magpie |
7 | Redhead | 825 | American Crow |
2 | Ring-necked Duck | 702 | Common Raven |
28 | Greater Scaup | 506 | Black-capped Chickadee |
54 | Lesser Scaup | 1 | Boreal Chickadee |
1 | King Elder* | 204 | Red-breasted Nuthatch |
1 | Black Scoter | 11 | White-breasted Nuthatch |
1 | Long-tailed Duck | 1 | Golden-crowned Kinglet |
223 | Bufflehead | 1 | Ruby-crowned Kinglet |
163 | Common Goldeneye | 2 | Eastern Bluebird |
184 | Hooded Merganser | 23 | American Robin |
84 | Common Merganser | 362 | European Starling |
16 | Red-breasted Merganser | 64 | Bohemian Waxwing |
1 | Ruddy Duck* | 5 | Cedar Waxwing |
28 | Ruffed Grouse | 248 | House Sparrow |
1 | Spruce Grouse | 248 | Evening Grosbeak |
21 | Sharp-tailed Grouse | 287 | Pine Grosbeak |
5 | Wild Turkey | 2 | House Finch |
706 | Rock Pigeon | 1 | Purple Finch |
4 | Mourning Dove | 151 | Common Redpoll |
4 | American Coot* | 8 | Hoary Redpoll |
2 | Wilson’s Snipe | 12 | Red Crossbill |
7 | Bonaparte’s Gull | 135 | White-winged Crossbill |
59 | Ring-billed Gull | 32 | Pine Siskin |
612 | Herring Gull | 10 | American Goldfinch |
2 | Glaucous Gull | 3 | Lapland Longspur |
6 | Common Loon | 147 | Snow Bunting |
1 | Turkey Vulture | 17 | American Tree Sparrow |
221 | Bald Eagle | 1 | Fox Sparrow |
9 | Rough-legged Hawk | 1 | Song Sparrow |
1 | Great Horned Owl | 4 | White-throated Sparrow |
3 | Snowy Owl | 2 | White-crowned Sparrow |
5 | Great Gray Owl | 76 | Dark-eyed Junco |
1 | Barred Owl | 8 | Rusty Blackbird |
2 | Belted Kingfisher | 5 | Common Grackle |
4 | Northern Cardinal | ||
8,692 | Total Indviduals | ||
84 | Total Species |
2019 Roundup (Click to Expand)
Saturday Nov. 2, 2019 was a great day to get out and participate in the annual Fall Roundup. Twenty-nine parties participated this year, one more party than last year. Collectively, they observed 82 species, down slightly from 88 in 2018. The total number of birds reported (11,077) was up from 7,813 last year. Much of this increase is attributable to the huge flocks of Snow Buntings found seemingly everywhere. In Thunder Bay the weather cooperated except for some wind in the afternoon. The temperature hovered around zero, it was partly cloudy and there was a trace of snow. The wind was from the west at 10 to 20 km/hr.
Compared to 2018; raptor numbers were down, pigeon numbers were up (could there be a correlation?), corvid numbers were up, junco & sparrow numbers were down, blackbird numbers were down and Snow Bunting numbers were over 3 times higher than last year.
Observed in the 2018 fall roundup but not observed this year were: any grebes, Mute Swan, Black Duck, Pintail, 2 species of scoters, Long-tailed Duck, Red-breasted Merganser, Sandhill Crane, Golden Plover, White Pelican, kingfisher, Red-bellied & Black-backed Woodpeckers, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Townsend’s Solitaire, Chipping sp., Fox sp., White-crowned sp., Rusty Blackbird and redpolls.
Observed in the 2019 fall roundup but not observed last year were: Cackling Goose, Redhead, Greater Scaup, Golden Eagle, Goshawk, Coot, Dunlin, Nashville Warbler, Song Sparrow, eastern Meadowlark, Summer Tanager and Red Crossbill.
Little attempt has been made to separate-out multiple sightings of the same birds by different parties. That being said, it is likely that there were indeed 2 Western Meadowlarks around, one at Chippewa and another in the fields south of Viterra; 2 parties saw the same Summer Tanager.
Four of the Cackling Geese were sitting in the fenced area in-front of Keefer Terminal. No Black-backed Woodpeckers or Black Ducks were observed but one of each was seen the day after the count.
To everyone who participated in this outstanding ‘citizen science project’, many thanks! Events like this contribute significantly to our understanding of the birds in our environment.
2019 TOTALS | |||
TOTAL | Species Name* | TOTAL | Species Name* |
2 | Common Loon | 49 | Canada Jay |
4 | Snow Goose | 130 | Blue Jay |
6 | Cackling Goose | 10 | Black-billed Magpie |
1,789 | Canada Goose | 1,669 | American Crow |
11 | Trumpeter Swan | 344 | Common Raven |
46 | American Widgeon | 36 | Horned Lark |
77 | Mallard | 340 | Black-capped Chickadee |
3 | American Green-winged Teal | 6 | Boreal Chickadee |
16 | Redhead | 84 | Red-breasted Nuthatch |
62 | Ring-necked Duck | 5 | White-breasted Nuthatch |
20 | Greater Scaup | 2 | Brown Creeper |
57 | Lesser Scaup | 1 | Winter Wren |
14 | Scaup sp. | 4 | Golden-crowned Kinglet |
2 | Black Scoter | 65 | American Robin |
199 | Bufflehead | 230 | European Starling |
205 | Common Goldeneye | 32 | Bohemian Waxwing |
303 | Hooded Merganser | 2 | Cedar Waxwing |
29 | Common Merganser | 1 | Nashville Warbler |
20 | Ruffed Grouse | 8 | American Pipit |
9 | Spruce Grouse | 108 | Lapland Longspur |
14 | Sharp-tailed Grouse | 2,615 | Snow Bunting |
1 | Golden Eagle | 39 | American Tree Sparrow |
3 | Northern Harrier | 1 | Fox Sparrow |
1 | Northern Goshawk | 2 | Song Sparrow |
178 | Bald Eagle | 3 | White-throated Sparrow |
5 | Red-tailed Hawk | 1 | White-crowned Sparrow |
19 | Rough-legged Hawk | 84 | Dark-eyed Junco |
1 | Broad-winged Hawk | 2 | Western Meadowlark |
4 | Merlin | 1 | Meadowlark sp. |
11 | American Coot | 8 | Red-winged Blackbird |
1 | Dunlin | 23 | Common Grackle |
2 | Wilson’s Snipe | 1 | Summer Tanager |
1 | Bonaparte’s Gull | 7 | Evening Grosbeak |
167 | Ring-billed Gull | 5 | Purple Finch |
400 | Herring Gull | 24 | Pine Grosbeak |
1,176 | Rock Pigeon | 6 | Red Crossbill |
3 | Mourning Dove | 3 | White-winged Crossbill |
1 | Northern hawk-owl | 63 | Pine Sisken |
40 | Downy Woodpecker | 151 | American Goldfinch |
46 | Hairy Woodpecker | 67 | House Sparrow |
14 | Pileated Woodpecker | 11,077 | Total Individuals |
2 | Northern Shrike | 82 | Total Species |