by Jim Hawkings
Well, that was a very pleasant Whitehorse Christmas Bird Count on Boxing Day – with weather very similar to last year count. It turned out to be one of the warmest days of December – but just a tad on the windy side! In spite of the balmy weather, and above-average temperatures in December, it should be noted that November was NOT above average – in fact it was almost as cold as December…and we had tons of snow by late October! We had a record high 57 participants, including a handful of visiting birders here for the holidays. Our species total of 26 was pretty much bang-on the average of 25.4 over the past 25 years. We often think we should have all kinds of weird birds here when we have relatively mild weather, but the only somewhat unusual species was 11 Snow Buntings found on a grassy slope near Ear Lake – only the third year they have been seen on the Whitehorse CBC. Instead of unusual species, it seems we get more individuals of the species that are just at the northern edge of their wintering range: We had high counts for Mallard (135), Northern Shrike (2), American Crow (12), Red Breasted Nuthatch (29). All four of these have become more regular in recent years. The Crows this year were double the previous high count, and they were found primarily along the Millenium Trail between the Robert Campbell Bridge and the Rotary Centennial Bridge (it was actually a bit tricky to count them as they seemed to be flying all over the place!), whereas in previous years they have been mostly found downtown and in the Shipyards Park area. And the Red-breasted Nuthatches have gone crazy – the previous high count was 9 in 2023! We continue to be awash in Bald Eagles with the second highest count ever (92) – and they were literally seen everywhere, by 13 different parties. We also had a second consecutive high count (176) for Red Crossbills, which are one of several irruptive finches whose numbers fluctuate wildly from year to year. Bohemian Waxwings continue their boom/bust pattern. After a poor berry crop and a dismal Christmas count of Waxwings (21) last year, there was an enormous crop of berries this year around town. But it seems we still only had a modest number of Waxwings in Whitehorse during November and December, including on the Christmas Count (610 – compared to over 4000 in 2022). Those that were here had no shortage of food – on my Boxing Day travels around Riverdale I saw many, many berry trees that seemed to be virtually untouched! There were some close-calls for common species: Spruce Grouse, American Robin, and all three woodpecker species on the count were only represented by 1 individual each! Oh, and several exciting species turned up in Whitehorse after count day, just outside the 3-day “count week” window: A Sharp-shinned Hawk was in Porter Creek on 30 December, a Spotted Towhee appeared in Riverdale on 2 January, and a Northern Hawk Owl was on the Whitehorse Nordic Centre trails on 5 January. All in all a very enjoyable and successful count. Thanks to everyone who took the time to participate!
Here’s the final bird list:
- Mallard 135
- Common Goldeneye 3
- Common Merganser 3
- Spruce Grouse 2
- Bald Eagle 92
- Downy Woodpecker 1
- Hairy Woodpecker 1
- American Three-toed Woodpecker 1
- Northern Shrike 2
- Canada Jay 10
- Black-billed Magpie 132
- American Crow 12
- Common Raven 1594
- Black-capped Chickadee 109
- Mountain Chickadee 3
- Boreal Chickadee 70
- Red-breasted Nuthatch 29
- American Dipper 11
- American Robin 1
- Bohemian Waxwing 610
- Snow Bunting 11
- Pine Grosbeak 107
- Red Crossbill 176
- White-winged Crossbill 165
- crossbill sp. 7
- Common Redpoll 18
- Common/Hoary Redpoll 93
- House Sparrow 78
Total Individuals 3470
Total Species Reported 26
Participants:
Grant Abbott
Lauren Alford
Tracy Allard
Aaron Barker
Diane Brent
Laurie Brochu
Syd Cannings
Hayleigh Conway
Maureen Conway
Paul Davis
Marianne Douglas
Cameron Eckert
Ashwin Freyne
Linda Gerrand
Jim Gilpin
Marcella Grottoli
Jim Hawkings
Jane Haydock
Melody Hazel
Jurg Hofer
Ed Jenni
Knute Johnsguaard
Cathy Koot
Maria Leung
Helen Liskova
Bonnie Love
Erica Dee Mah
Elias Mah-McCord
Zoe Mah-McCord
Elise Maltinsky
Luka Marjanovic
Marko Marjanovic
Meghan Marjanovic
Laura Markle
Marina McCready
Bill McCord
Darcy McCord
Dorothy McCord
John Meikle
Pete Mickelson
Marty Mossop
Wendy Nixon
Alex Oberg
Heidi Reaume
Rick Reaume
Clara Reid
Don Reid
Gemma Richardson
Bob Sagar
Nahanni Sagar
Pam Sinclair
Becky Striegler
Prachi Thatte
Jim Tredger
Hilary Wilkinson
Keith Williams
Ruishen Zhan
Here’s a complete report with more details:
2024-YTWHCountSummary