North Bay Christmas Bird Count

For the 2011 North Bay Christmas Bird Count we had 17 field observers and three feeder watchers. 
All told we had 33 species which is low but typical. 

By area the highlights were:

Area 1 (Fred Pinto, Marc Buchanan): Canada Goose

Area 2 (Cal Osborne, Elaine Fudge): Gray Jay

Area 3 (Brent Turcotte, Laura Chowns): Brown Creepers: 2

Area 4 (Grant McKercher, Shirley Mackie, Lori Anderson, Ken Gowing): Brown Creepers: 2, Common Redpolls (16)

Area 5 (Gary Sturge, Connie Sturge, Steven O'Donnell, Judy Arai): Bald Eagles: 4, Northern Shrike, Golden-crowned Kinglets: 3, American Robin, Purple Finch

Area 6 (Dick Tafel, April McCrum): Common Loons, Common Mergansers, Hooded Mergansers, Common Goldeneyes, Pileated Woodpecker (the only one), Brown Creeper

Area 7 (Craig Hurst, Elaine Hurst): Bohemian Waxwing: 111, Dark-eyed Junco

Notable about this count was the open water on Trout Lake.  The count produced seven species of waterfowl mostly from Trout Lake.  If it wasn't for a sudden freeze the day before the count, even more waterfowl would have been spotted. 

This count produced all time highs of five Brown Creepers and five Bald Eagles.  On the other hand Ruffed Grouse, Mourning Doves, Hairy Woodpecker and Pileated Woodpecker (only one?) all had low numbers.

Birds seen during count week but not in the count are Iceland Gull, Glaucous Gull, Snowy Owl, Ring-billed Gull, Common Grackle and Evening Grosbeak.

Birds that have made a reappearance after not being seen for a while include (with the last appearance listed) Canada Goose (2003), Common Goldeneye (2006), Common Merganser (2006), Hooded Merganser (2001), Bohemian Waxwing (2008) and Purple Finch (2006).