American Dipper seen on Count Day ©2007 Brian Elder

Bird Study Group - Species Counts

Calgary Area Christmas Bird Count 2007

Thanks to everyone who participated in the 56th Calgary Christmas Bird count yesterday, December 16, 2007.  Special thanks go to Lenora and Dick Flynn for hosting a most enjoyable wind-up party, to Donna and Arthur Wieckowski who provided much valuable assistance in the compiler’s duties, to Cedric Hitchon, Terry Korolyk, John McFaul and Jim Washbrook for organising the teams and to Pat Harvey and her team of helpers for organising the feeder-watch part of the count. 

It was a beautiful winter day, with a high of + 4 and a low of -2. Westerly winds of around 20 km/hour in the morning slackened after noon. Glenmore Reservoir was fully frozen several weeks ago, and the Bow River was partially frozen.

Some count highlights were:

• 67 species recorded, our 7th highest for the 56 counts. Two additional species recorded in count week, so far (Mourning Dove and Western Meadowlark.) Count week ends on December 19.
• 59780 individual birds, the third highest-ever.
• Unusual species (recorded in three or less years in the prior ten): Northern Harrier (4), Northern Hawk Owl (1), Northern Pygmy-Owl (1) and Rusty Blackbird (4). It was only the second record for Northern Hawk Owl on a Calgary Christmas Bird Count.
• Record numbers for: Wood Duck (40), Greater Scaup (6), Common Goldeneye (5356), Barrow's Goldeneye (23),  Northern Flicker (120), Northern Shrike (7), American Crow (138), Common Raven (333), Brown Creeper (29) and House Finch (811).
• High counts (more than twice the prior ten-year average) for: Ring-necked Pheasant (29), Red-tailed Hawk (2) , Rough-legged Hawk (13) , Belted Kingfisher (5), Red-breasted Nuthatch (657), Townsend's Solitaire (7), Song Sparrow (3) and Dark-eyed Junco (302).
• Low counts (less than one-half the prior ten-year average) for: Hooded Merganser (2), Cedar Waxwing (12), Pine Grosbeak (7), Red Crossbill (14) and Pine Siskin (22).
• Missing species (seen on count-day in five or more years in the prior ten, but missed this year): American Wigeon, Northern Pintail, Green-winged Teal, Gyrfalcon, American Tree Sparrow and Snow Bunting.

There were 92 field observers and 113 feeder-watchers, with 228 party-hours spent in the field, and 1468 kilometres covered.

There was an intriguing report from one of the teams of a flock of 14 Sharp-tailed Grouse near the footpath between the Elks and Fox Hollow golf courses. This is being reviewed further, and anyone out birding in that area is asked to keep a “sharp” look out.

A full list of species seen is listed below. I will be presenting the results at the Bird Study Group meeting on Wednesday January 2, 2008 at 7:30 PM in Room 211 of the Biosciences Building, University of Calgary, as part of the traditional Calgary region CBC review evening. Please let me know if you notice any obvious omissions or errors in this provisional compilation.  Also, please inform me of any count week (December 13-19) sightings of any species not on the list.

Good birding and happy Christmas counting!

Phil Cram

CBC for Calgary 1990 to present and 1965 - 1989

Full report (PowerPoint file)

Spreadsheet of CBC Team Reports (Excel)

Back to the Species Counts page.