Brier Island Bird Count

BRIER ISLAND CHRISTMAS COUNT, 15 DECEMBER 2009
by Eric mills

Weather overcast, 4-8C; wind E 10kph, then SSE 10 kph


0730-1700 AST


Participants: Anne Mills, Eric Mills (compiler), Jim Wolford


52 species; about 2207 individuals


Canada Goose - 9; Black Duck - 103; Mallard - 5; Green-winged Teal - 1; Common Eider - 61; Surf Scoter - 3; White-winged Scoter - 10; Black Scoter - 2; Long-tailed Duck - 106; Bufflehead - 3; Common Goldeneye - 35; Red-breasted Merganser - 29; Ring-necked Pheasant - 5; Ruffed Grouse - 1; Common Loon - 45; Red-necked Grebe - 6; Northern Gannet - 71; Double-crested Cormorant - 2; Great Cormorant - 127; Turkey Vulture - 12; Bald Eagle - 1; Northern Harrier - 1; Red-tailed Hawk - 1; Peregrine Falcon - 1; Pomarine Jaeger - 1; Ring-billed Gull - 8; Herring Gull - 812; Iceland Gull - 13; Glaucous Gull - 1; Great Black-backed Gull - 287; Black-legged Kittiwake - 58; Razorbill - 1; Black Guillemot - 24; alcid sp. - 40; Rock Pigeon - 4; Mourning Dove - 33; Hairy Woodpecker - 1; Blue Jay - 13; American Crow - 93; Common Raven - 11; Black-capped Chickadee - 32; Boreal Chickadee - 1; Golden-crowned Kinglet - 22; Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 1; European Starling - 52; American Pipit - 11; American Tree Sparrow - 11; Song Sparrow - 2; White-throated Sparrow - 1; Red-winged Blackbird - 1; Common Grackle - 25; Brown-headed Cowbird - 3; American Goldfinch - 5.


Birds in the count week but not on count day: Red-throated Loon, Horned Lark, Bohemian Waxwing.


Comments: There can't have been many Brier Island counts without a single Junco. There was also a real dearth of Song Sparrows, White-throated Sparrows, and not a single Cardinal remaining from another successful breeding season. But despite the scarcity of land birds, bringing the count of the individuals below average, the total number of species was about average, and birding conditions were good, which is rare during these counts. Calm winds and very good visibility on the sea helped a lot, although it was not a year of sea bird spectaculars. Nonetheless, several hours of sea-watching added significantly to the species count and to numbers. The highlight on the sea was a distant but very well seen adult Pomarine Jaeger hurrying to the southwest out of the Bay of Fundy. The big pond in Pond Cove, which had been totally frozen up to 24 hours before count day opened up when the temperature rose and an east wind came up, and the ducks responded, to the advantage of the count. Great sights: the jaeger, of course, but also a stunning adult Peregrine surveying Pea Jack Cove from atop a rocky pinnacle. It was good to have a Ruby-crowned Kinglet for the count - definitely an off again - on again species in December on Brier Island.