56th Calgary Christmas Bird Count

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56th Calgary Christmas Bird Count

• Sunday December 16, 2007

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Calgary Count Circle
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Conditions

• Sunny all day
• Temperature Range -2 to 4 deg C
• Wind W 20 km/h in AM light in PM
• Snow Cover 5 cm
• Open Water Rivers 50 100 , Reservoir, 0
• Moderate cone and berry crop

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Participants
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One of our participants
Photo by Arthur Wienskowski
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Effort
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Number of Individuals Seen
59 745
Third-Highest Ever
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Number of Species Recorded
67
20 yr avg - 65
2006 - 69
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Cumulative Species for Count
Cumulative, 133 species
No new species this year
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Battle of Alberta

• Calgary, 67
• Edmonton, 59

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Count Week

• Count Day, 67
• Rank 7th
• Count Week, 5
• Rank tied - 1st
• Total Including Count-Week, 72
• Rank 2nd

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Mammals
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Number 1
19 583
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Number 2
9822
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Number 3
8426
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Number 4
5336
Record High Count
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Number 5
4726
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Number 6
2900
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Number 7
2308
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Number 8
2133
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Number 9
837
Record High Count
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Number 10
653
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Unusual Species
Not seen in previous 10 years
Northern Hawk Owl
Only previous count-day record was in 1984
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Unusual Species
Each seen in 2 of previous 10 years
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Fairly Unusual Species
4 years in previous 10 years
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Record Counts
Record Counts were set for 10 species (2003
19 2004 6 2005 -9 2006 12)
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Record Counts (1)
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Record Counts (2)
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High Counts
More than twice 10-year average
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Low Counts
Less than 50 of 10-year average
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Old Faithfuls (1)
Ten of Last Ten Years
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Old Faithfuls (2)
Ten of Last Ten Years
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Old Faithfuls (3)
Ten of Last Ten Years
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Not Always Seen (1)
5-9 of Last Ten Years
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Not Always Seen (2)
5-9 of Last Ten Years
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Scarcity of Rarities
4/54
21/35
42/44
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Count Week Birds
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Missed Species
Seen in at least 5 of last 10 years

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Sharp-tailed Grouse?
Our "novice" group were on the Nose Creek Pathway
on the south end of Fox Hollow and the Elks golf
course at about 200pm after just spotting
several Gray Partridges on the Elks.  We spotted
more on the east side of the tracks and were
walking through an open grassy area towards them
when the STG flushed in front of us, first group
of six and then eight followed on our left.  We
then spotted the GP that had caught our attention
originally.  Our view of the STG was from behind
with the sun at our backs so the tail profile and
colours were easy to identify, and made a size
and profile comparison with the GP easy. 
Subsequently, I have returned three times and
have been systematically trying to cover the the
area from the parking lot under the first
overpass north of the zoo to the Fox Hollow
dome.  I have pushed the bush and grass on both
sides of the the pathway to the west of the
tracks and cited several more GP and a falcon sp.
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Sharp-tailed Grouse?
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Honorable Mention
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Most Improved (1)

• Team E-8
• (Korolyk)
• improved from 29th place
• to 16th place

Gadwall x Mallard hybrid -- Brewers Duck
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Most Improved (2)

• Team W-6
• (Bargman and Spalding)
• improved from 23rd place
• to 10th place

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6th Place

• Team W-3
• (Yaki, Pelzer, Pincott, Heffler, Heffler,
  Elliott, Choy, Koelwyn and Edworthy)
• Coopers Hawk
• 26 species
• 91.5 points

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5th Place

• Team W-4
• (Thompson and Meyer)
• 29 species
• 93.0 points

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4th Place

• Team E-1
• (Goulet, Goulet,
• Bulman and Seneviratne)
• Lesser Scaup
• 31 species
• 148.9 points

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Bronze Medal

• Feeder Watchers
• Pileated Woodpecker,
• Mountain Chickadee and
• White-throated Sparrow
• 34 species
• 172.6 points

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Contribution of Feeder Watchers
The only Pileated Woodpecker, Mountain Chickadee
and White-throated Sparrow
40 Ring-necked Pheasant, Blue Jay, House
Finch, Red Crossbill and Pine Siskin
8 species 40 vs. 9 species in 2006
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Silver Medal

• Team S-1
• (Hitchon, Hitchon, Hitchon, Clark, Flynn, Flynn,
  Rogers, Wilson and Woods)
• Redhead, Greater Scaup, Long-tailed Duck,
  Barrows Goldeneye and Killdeer
• 29 species
• 218.4 points

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Gold Medal

• Team W-10
• (Elder, Podlubny, Visser,
• Saunders and Callanan)
• Ruffed Grouse, Northern Hawk Owl, Northern
  Pygmy-Owl,
• Northern Saw-whet Owl and Gray Jay
• 33 species
• 227.8 points

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Photos by Brian Elder
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Remembrance of Times Past

• 2001 - Finch Fiesta

2004 - Media Mania (Honk, Honk!!)
2002 - Gaggles of Geese Galore
2005 - Birding Bountiful (Record number of birds
and birders)
2006 - Scarcity of Rarities (LOON-acy)
2003 - Waxwing Wonderland (lots of Finches too)
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2007

• A Parliament of Owls

5th time weve had 4 species this year, all
seen by one team
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Owls on Calgary CBCs
Unrecorded Burrowing, Barred and Great Gray Owls
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Thanks!

• To all Field Observers and Feeder Participants
• To Cedric Hitchon, Terry Korolyk, John McFaul and
  Jim Washbrook
• To Donna and Arthur Wieckowski
• To Pat Harvey, Shirley Hill, Catherine Huene,
  Dorothy Johnston, Mary Lore and Catherine
  McGlashan (with help from Terry Poulton)
• To Lenora and Dick Flynn

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Happy New Year