By Mike Cadman – Guelph’s 58th Christmas Bird Count (the 125th year of the survey) took place on Sunday December 15, with lowish totals generally but some interesting finds. The morning weather was quite suitable for the count: partly cloudy with a low temperature of -4 C, warming to 0 C and wind around 15 km/hr from the southeast. But the rain and snow that came in around 1pm definitely slowed things down. There was a centimetre or two of snow on the ground. Unfortunately, most standing water froze up a couple of days ahead of the count, reducing the waterfowl/waterbird count considerably, but still allowing some surprises. We ended up with 64 species (plus a possible hybrid MallardxNorthern Pintail female), well below last year’s record 72 species. Our tally of 15,478 birds was about average for recent years.
Seventy-six people (listed below) took part in this year’s count, a number topped only by last year’s 87. Those folks worked in 13–26 groups over the course of the day, logging 600 km of driving and 186 km on foot. They put in 27 hours in vehicles and 87 hours on foot. This effort is fairly typical of recent years. However, they also tallied 18 hours and 88 km of owling (surveying owls in the dark), both of which were records.
Perhaps because of that extra effort, owls were a highlight of the count. We had a record number of Eastern Screech-Owls (32 – previous record 27 from 2023). (The Cambridge CBC also had a record number of Screech-Owls in 2024, suggesting that the species may be increasing in our general area.) Two Long-eared Owls and two Barred Owls (all found during the day) were unusual for the Guelph count – tying records for both species. Barred Owls are slowly becoming more frequent in the area over the past couple of decades.
Other records were for Mute Swans (7 – previous record 6 from 2016); Hooded Merganser (62 – previous record 38 from 2023); Cooper’s Hawk (15 – previous record 12 from 2016); Red-bellied Woodpecker (36, now far outnumbering Hairy Woodpecker (20) – previous record 33 from 2021); Winter Wren (12 – previous record 10 from 2021).
Tying records were Chipping Sparrow (1), Golden-crowned Kinglet (80) and Brown Thrasher (1).
Redhead (1) and Ring-necked Duck (6) were unusual waterfowl, both found in pits at the south end of the count circle.
Low counts included the absence of Common Goldeneye or the first time since 2017, and there was a total lack of most species of winter finches – with only 7 Purple Finches.
Count Week birds (i.e., species reported in the 7 days around the count, but not on count day) include Common Goldeneye, Glaucous, Iceland, and Lesser Black-backed Gulls and Common Grackle.
Thanks to all participants (listed below), especially the group leaders (bolded), Nature Guelph and Birds Canada for helping to organize things, and to Wild Birds Unlimited for hosting the Tally Rally.
Megan Allan, Tamara Anderson, Metisse Arsenault, Susan Atkinson, Andrew Bailey, Farqd Barghash, Andrew Bendall, Wayne Bennett, Marnie Benson, Kate Bishop, Jenn Bock, Dave Brewer, Vojtech Brlik, Mike Cadman, Monica Carere, Sally Cheung, Jonathan Chu, Jeff de Ruyter, Jer de Waard, Weston de Waard, Tammie Dobbie, Jelany Duali, Chris Earley, Karla Everard, Kristyn Ferguson, Brett Forsyth, Colin Gerber, Tim Griffiths, Sophia Golarz, Kyle Horner, Brian Husband, Peter Kelly, Laurena Kirkwood-Lazazzera, Dan Kennaley, Joseph Langlois, Mike Lepage, Robert Linfield, Ron Lohr, Meggan MacCallum, Keri Malanchuk, Aleks Mell, Greg Meredith, Dav Nemethy-Fekete, Jasper Nemethy-Fekete, Colin Oaks, Gard Otis, Marlene Paibomesai, Beth Parks, Dean Post, Patricia Quackenbush, Judy Qin, Mary Ramotar, Luke Raso, Ann Schletz, Julie Scott, Hannah Sennit, Tyson Shank, Greg Staines, Heather Staines, Heather Sutton, Julie Tidman, Patrick Tuck, Alexis Van Esch, Randy Van Gerwen, Rohan van Twest, Marina van Twest, Frances Westwood, Glenn White, Marilyn White, Anita Wilcox, Christa Wise, Barrett Work, Leslie Work, Alyssa Wright, Shanze Yoell
Results of Guelph Christmas Bird Count 2024
| Canada Goose | 5,683 |
| Mute Swan | 7 |
| Trumpeter Swan | 9 |
| American Black Duck | 51 |
| Mallard | 2,710 |
| Ring-necked Duck | 6 |
| Redhead | 1 |
| Bufflehead | 8 |
| Hooded Merganser | 62 |
| Common Merganser | 66 |
| Ruffed Grouse | 4 |
| Wild Turkey | 64 |
| Great Blue Heron | 9 |
| Bald Eagle | 2 |
| Northern Harrier | 4 |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk | 3 |
| Cooper’s Hawk | 15 |
| Red-tailed Hawk | 43 |
| Rough-legged Hawk | 5 |
| Peregrine Falcon | 2 |
| American Kestrel | 1 |
| Merlin | 2 |
| Ring-billed Gull | 505 |
| Herring Gull | 275 |
| Rock Pigeon | 437 |
| Mourning Dove | 221 |
| Barred Owl | 2 |
| Eastern Screech-Owl | 32 |
| Great Horned Owl | 3 |
| Long-eared Owl | 2 |
| Belted Kingfisher | 11 |
| Red-bellied Woodpecker | 36 |
| Downy Woodpecker | 84 |
| Hairy Woodpecker | 20 |
| Northern Flicker | 2 |
| Pileated Woodpecker | 9 |
| Northern Shrike | 4 |
| Blue Jay | 154 |
| American Crow | 359 |
| Common Raven | 26 |
| Horned Lark | 1 |
| Black-capped Chickadee | 494 |
| Red-breasted Nuthatch | 18 |
| White-breasted Nuthatch | 54 |
| Brown Creeper | 9 |
| Winter Wren | 12 |
| Golden-crowned Kinglet | 80 |
| Brown Thrahser | 1 |
| Eastern Bluebird | 19 |
| American Robin | 298 |
| Eurasian Starling | 1,891 |
| Cedar Waxwing | 119 |
| Chipping Sparrow | 1 |
| American Tree Sparrow | 199 |
| Song Sparrow | 3 |
| Swamp Sparrow | 2 |
| White-throated Sparrow | 13 |
| Dark-eyed Junco | 610 |
| Snow Bunting | 144 |
| Northern Cardinal | 116 |
| Purple Finch | 6 |
| House Finch | 77 |
| American Goldfinch | 302 |
| House Sparrow | 69 |
| Hybrids | |
| MallardxPintail | 1 |
| Total Birds | 15,478 |
| Total Species | 64 |
| Count Week | |
| Common Goldeneye | |
| Glaucous Gull | |
| Iceland Gull | |
| Lesser Black-backed Gull | |
| Hermit Thrush | |
| Common Grackle |
Above photo: Marilyn White