By Mike Cadman –
Guelph’s 59th Christmas Bird Count (the 126th year of the survey) took place on Sunday December 14, on a day when record cold played a large role in the results. With a high of -10 Celsius, this was the coldest count day in the history of the Guelph CBC. From a low of -15 C around dawn to a high of -10 C in the afternoon, with winds of 16-19 km/hr., it was a day for birds and birders to spend time in sheltered areas, and especially around feeders. There was a snow cover of 10-15 cm on the ground. Standing water was frozen with some open spots along the rivers. We ended up with 63 species which was (along with 2019 and 2017) the lowest count since 2013, when we had only 61. Our tally of 11246 birds was the lowest in the past 15 years.
Eighty-three people (listed below) took part in this year’s count, a number topped only by 2023’s 87 volunteers. Those folks worked in 13-27 groups over the course of the day, logging 600 km of driving and 186 km on foot. They put in 60 group hours in vehicles and 78 group hours on foot and tallied 14.7 hours and 45.5 km of owling (surveying owls in the dark).
Despite the low numbers overall, we did have a few record tallies. Bald Eagles totaled 26, doubling the previous highest count of 13 in 2022. This amazing total follows years of gradual increases. A Golden Eagle was also spotted over the river near Guelph Lake, tying previous records. We found four Barred Owls, again doubling our previous record of two, and continuing a gradual increase in the species over the past decade. We tallied 601 Cedar Waxwings, barely exceeding the previous record of 599 from 2002. We also tied records for Red-shouldered Hawk, Fox Sparrow, and Eastern Towhee at one each.
On the low end of counts were many waterfowl. The lack of open standing water was a factor here, but so perhaps was a considerable amount of waterfowl hunting activity along the Speed River between Guelph and Cambridge. This may have reduced the number of ducks, geese and swans along the river, but also made those that did occur there very skittish and hard to get good looks at before they flew away.
The hoped-for invasion of Winter finches hasn’t really occurred yet, with no Crossbills or Pine Grosbeaks reported, though we weren’t completely shut out, with tallies of 81 Pine Siskins, 12 Evening Grosbeaks, two Redpolls, and seven Purple Finches. A single Bohemian Waxwing was our first since 2022.
Count Week birds (i.e., species reported in the seven days around the count, but not on count day) include White-crowned Sparrow, 15 Sandhill Cranes soaring together south of town, one Green-winged Teal along the river in town, and a single Brown-headed Cowbird in with Starlings in the south part of town.
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.
2025 Participants. Group leaders are bolded.
Gordon Aitken, Grainne Aitken, Tamara Anderson, Karen Bateman, Andrew Bailey, Andrew Bendall, Rick Beazley, Marnie Benson, Wayne Bennett, Jenn Bock, Mike Cadman, Mary-Anne Cain, Sally Cheung, Jeff de Ruyter, Scott Delyea, Jer DeWaard, Chris Earley, Emily Elder, Karla Everard, Frances Evelyn, Jasper Fekete, Colin Gerber, Ashlyn Govia, Tim Griffiths, Syd Griffiths, Anita Grainger, Erin Hartman, Jeff Hanning, Karl Heide, Kat Huszka, Dan Kennaley, Laurena Kirkwood-Lazazzera, William Konze, Ryan Lane, Joseph Langlois, Mike Lepage, Ron Lohr, Sarah Mainguy, Julie MacDonald, Allie Mayberry, Aleks Mell, Greg Meredith, Hanneke Meredith, Aden Morton-Ferguson., Kevin Morey, Elizabeth Muller, Graham Nacekivell, Alyssa Nakeff, Dav Nemethy-Fekete, Colin Oaks, Gard Otis, Marlene Paibomesai, Paloma Plant, Dean Post, Patty Quackenbush, Luke Raso, Carolyn Ross, Kathy Savage, Ann Schletz, Julie Scott, Hannah Sennit, Chris Sprague, Heather Staines, Greg Staines, Marilyn Swaby, Nina Szpakowski, Laura Toms, Patrick Tuck, Rohan van Twest, Marina van Twest, Randy Van Gerwen, Pearl VanGeest, Amy Virostek, Elanor Waslander, Chris Wagner, Daniel Waters, Glenn White, Marilyn White, Annika Wilcox, Megan Woo, Barrett Work, Al Woodhouse, Valerie Wyatt
Results of Guelph Christmas Bird Count 2025
| Species | Totals |
| Canada Goose | 2227 |
| Mute Swan | 0 |
| Trumpeter Swan | 2 |
| Tundra Swan | 0 |
| Wood Duck | 0 |
| Black Duck | 22 |
| Mallard | 903 |
| Bufflehead | 0 |
| Common Goldeneye | 4 |
| Hooded Merganser | 1 |
| Common Merganser | 44 |
| Ring-necked Pheasant | 0 |
| Ruffed Grouse | 1 |
| Wild Turkey | 36 |
| Great Blue Heron | 4 |
| Bald Eagle | 32 |
| Golden Eagle | 1 |
| Northern Harrier | 0 |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk | 6 |
| Cooper’s Hawk | 5 |
| Goshawk | 0 |
| Red-shouldered Hawk | 1 |
| Red-tailed Hawk | 31 |
| Rough-legged Hawk | 0 |
| American Kestrel | 2 |
| Merlin | 4 |
| Ring-billed Gull | 15 |
| Herring Gull | 195 |
| Great Black-backed Gull | 0 |
| Gull sp. | 683 |
| Rock Pigeon | 697 |
| Mourning Dove | 311 |
| Eastern Screech-Owl | 13 |
| Great Horned Owl | 3 |
| Barred Owl | 4 |
| Long-eared Owl | 0 |
| Belted Kingfisher | 8 |
| Red-bellied Woodpecker | 35 |
| Downy Woodpecker | 64 |
| Hairy Woodpecker | 37 |
| Northern Flicker | 3 |
| Pileated Woodpecker | 4 |
| Northern Shrike | 1 |
| Blue Jay | 200 |
| American Crow | 390 |
| Common Raven | 50 |
| Horned Lark | 0 |
| Black-capped Chickadee | 750 |
| Red-breasted Nuthatch | 57 |
| White-breasted Nuthatch | 77 |
| Brown Creeper | 20 |
| Winter Wren | 8 |
| Golden-crowned Kinglet | 37 |
| Eastern Bluebird | 1 |
| Hermit Thrush | 0 |
| American Robin | 484 |
| Eurasian Starling | 1392 |
| Bohemian Waxwing | 1 |
| Cedar Waxwing | 601 |
| Fox Sparrow | 1 |
| American Tree Sparrow | 217 |
| Song Sparrow | 4 |
| Swamp Sparrow | 4 |
| White-throated Sparrow | 31 |
| Dark-eyed Junco | 756 |
| Eastern Towhee | 1 |
| Snow Bunting | 37 |
| Northern Cardinal | 179 |
| Common Grackle | 1 |
| Brown-headed Cowbird | 0 |
| Pine Grosbeak | 0 |
| Evening Grosbeak | 12 |
| Purple Finch | 7 |
| House Finch | 59 |
| Common Redpoll | 2 |
| Pine Siskin | 81 |
| American Goldfinch | 339 |
| House Sparrow | 66 |
| Total # birds | 11246 |
| Total species | 63 |
Above photo: Patricia Quackenbush