The 13th annual AFNS Christmas Bird Count was held on December 29. The weather was perfect, sunny but cold, little wind. A heavy snowfall on December 26 left deep snow in places, and two of our intrepid field observers got stuck in a drift at Dunromin, requiring a towtruck to get out!
The numbers were generally similar to the 2001 data: 62 species and 6171 individuals were tallied, compared to 63 species and 6648 individuals in 2001, with no new species added this year. Counts were a bit lower for practically all species.
The most important "find" of the day was made by Mick Scromeda and party, a dump/compost heap at the Theme Park, which attracted no less than 40 Common Ravens and 3 Bald Eagles (one of which was immature). We must remember this "hot spot" for future years.
The North American Christmas Bird Count has taken place since 1900. With data on bird species numbers and distributions spanning a century, it is the world's largest biological study, and an invaluable asset for researchers in ecology and the environment. All the data is now available on the Internet. For more information, check out Bird Studies Canada's website at:
<http://www.bsc-eoc.org/national/cbcmain.html>.