December 14, 2002
compiled by Ian Paterson
The Wolfville Christmas bird count was held on Dec 14. The weather was fine for the morning, but the afternoon rain kept both birders and birds under shelter. Despite only half a day of counting, there was a good turn out from participants and a reasonable number of species were recorded. Sixty-five species were counted, with 7 additional species seen during the count week (indicated by ‘cw’ in the table below).
Thanks are also due to Jim Wolford for helping compile this year’s count.
| Species | Total Number |
| Great Blue Heron | cw |
| Canada Goose | 1238 |
| American Black Duck | 2044 |
| Mallard | 738 |
| Green-winged Teal | 2 |
| Greater Scaup | cw |
| Surf Scoter | 3 |
| White-winged Scoter | 29 |
| Black Scoter | 3 |
| Bufflehead | 1 |
| Common Goldeneye | 23 |
| Common Merganser | 39 |
| Bald Eagle adult | 160 |
| immature | 149 |
| unknown age | 40 |
| Northern Harrier | 3 |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk | 11 |
| Northern Goshawk | 1 |
| Red-tailed Hawk | 100 |
| Rough-legged Hawk | 12 |
| Merlin | 2 |
| Peregrine Falcon | 3 |
| Ring-necked Pheasant | 183 |
| Ruffed Grouse | 1 |
| Ring-billed Gull | 39 |
| Herring Gull | 6972 |
| Iceland Gull | 4 |
| Glaucous Gull | cw |
| unidentified immature gulls | 1450 |
| Lesser Black-backed Gull* | cw |
| Great Black-backed Gull | 2196 |
| Rock Dove | 447 |
| Mourning Dove | 1528 |
| Barred Owl | 4 |
| Short-eared Owl | cw |
| Downy Woodpecker | 99 |
| Hairy Woodpecker | 43 |
| Northern Flicker | 51 |
| Pileated Woodpecker | 6 |
| Northern Shrike | 2 |
| Gray Jay | 2 |
| Blue Jay | 688 |
| American Crow | 3819 |
| Common Raven | 312 |
| Horned Lark | 20 |
| Black-capped Chickadee | 894 |
| Boreal Chickadee | cw |
| Red-breasted Nuthatch | 26 |
| White-breasted Nuthatch | 34 |
| Brown Creeper | 18 |
| Golden-crowned Kinglet | 96 |
| Ruby-crowned Kinglet | 1 |
| American Robin | 79 |
| Northern Mockingbird | 12 |
| European Starling | 9969 |
| Cedar Waxwing | 131 |
| unidentified Waxwings | 4 |
| Yellow-rumped Warbler | cw |
| Yellow-breasted Chat | 1 |
| American Tree Sparrow | 277 |
| Chipping Sparrow | 5 |
| Savannah Sparrow | 11 |
| Song Sparrow | 170 |
| Swamp Sparrow | 2 |
| White-throated Sparrow | 89 |
| White-crowned Sparrow | 1 |
| Dark-eyed Junco | 1402 |
| Snow Bunting | 1 |
| Red-winged Blackbird | 3 |
| Common Grackle | 5 |
| Brown-headed Cowbird | cw |
| Baltimore Oriole | 1 |
| Purple Finch | 20 |
| Pine Siskin | 10 |
| American Goldfinch | 1155 |
| Evening Grosbeak | 54 |
| House Sparrow | 689 |
| Eastern Phoebe | 1 |
| Vesper sparrow | 1 |
| Total # of birds: | 37629 |
| No species: | 65+8cw |
| Party hours: | 114.65 |
| On foot | 62.48 |
| By car | 52.17 |
| Party km: | 681.3 |
| On foot | 89.7 |
| By car | 591.6 |
Bush-beaters included:
George Alliston, Margaret Alliston, Peter Austin-Smith, Charlane Bishop, Fen Bishop-Boates, Sherman Boates, Larry Bogan, Silas Bondrup-Nielsen, Soren Bondrup-Nielsen, Mike Boudreau ,Dennis Brannen ,Sam Crawford ,Katie Daley ,Gail Davis, Mark Elderkin, Fred Forsyth ,George Forsyth, Harold Forsyth, Bernard Forsythe, Glenys Gibson ,Jamie Gibson ,Merritt Gibson, Dale Gruchy ,Claire Kellock, Patrick Kelly ,Doug Linzey ,Doug Mackie, Angus MacLean ,Randy Milton, Terri Milton ,Dawn Miner, Adele Mullie ,Mike O’Brien, Ian Paterson, Mike Peckford, Derek Potter ,Barry Sabean, Dave Shutler, P.C. Smith ,Sarah Spencer, Richard Stern, Phil Taylor, Bill Thexton, Brenda Thexton, Jean Timpa ,Chris Toplack, Gerry Trueman ,Rick Whitman ,Sherman Williams, Jim Wolford.
It is good to see that some of the younger generation participated this year including: Fen Bishop-Boates, Silas Bondrup-Nielsen, Sam Crawford and Claire Kellock
Feeder watchers included:
Agar Adamson, Jim Amos, Peter Austin-Smith, Diana Bishop, Carol Buckley, Dick Cain, Sandy Connelly, Chris Cox, Sue Cox, Debbie & Jim Daigle, Pat Davis, Ev Eagles, Paul Elderkin, Wendy Elliott, Mary Ellis, Val Flecknell, Hilma Frank, Mary Sue Goulding, Dale Gruchy, Charlotte Harper, Eileen Harris, Lorna Hart, Avril Harwood, Gail Herbin, Maxine Hill, Marg & Bob Horne, Isobel Horton, Winnie Horton, Lana Isenor, Shirley Jackson, Jean Leung, Del & Mac MacInnes, Ron Margeson, Shirley & Don Marston, Pat Martell, Jessie Martin, Sheila McCurdy, Rosaleen McDonald, Jennifer Miner, Terry Murphy, Edna Mutch, Gary Ness, Linda & Andy Nette, Nancy Nickerson, Linda & Terry Pearson, Dorothy Perkin, Mary Pratt, Shirley Prescott, Ladny Richmond, Gordon Robart, Marg Russell, Linda Sacouman, Don Sam, Ruth Scott, Ed Shynal, P. C. Smith, Sandy Stevens, Merriam Sullivan, Dianne Thorpe, Chris Toplack, Dave Tracy, Gerry Trueman, Eva Urban, Tami &Terry & Neil & Mitch & Sam Whiston, Jackie White, Jim Wolford, Don Wright, Sheila & Earl Young.
| Number of feeders/yards watched: | 65 |
| Number of feeder-/yard-watchers: | 79 |
| Number of hours of watching: | 98.75 |