reported by Ian Paterson
The 2003 Wolfville Christmas Bird Count was held on December 20. It was a great success, with fine weather (a nice change from last year) and lots of sightings.
A total of 81 species were counted, plus an additional four count-week species (indicated by CW in the list below). Count-week birds are those sighted in the three days preceding and the three days following the actual count day. The total number of birds seen on count day was 45,637.
The bush-beater groups spent a total of 134 hours in the field (79 hours on foot, 55 hours in cars). Bush beaters covered 164 km of territory on foot and 617 km by car, for a total of 781 km. Feeder watchers added significant counts to the total, including two count-day species (mockingbird and Baltimore Oriole) and two CW species.
| Species | Count |
|---|---|
| Red-throated Loon | 1 |
| Common Loon | 3 |
| Red-necked Grebe | 2 |
| Pied-billed Grebe | 1 |
| Great Blue Heron | 5 |
| Canada Goose | 944 |
| Green-winged Teal | 7 |
| American Black Duck | 3,820 |
| Mallard | 409 |
| Northern Pintail | 4 |
| American Wigeon | 2 |
| Common Eider | 12 |
| White-winged Scoter | 5 |
| Common Goldeneye | 15 |
| Bufflehead | 1 |
| Common Merganser | 6 |
| Bald Eagle (adult) | 185 |
| —–(immature) | 149 |
| —–(unknown) | 21 |
| Northern Harrier | 6 |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk | 4 |
| Red-tailed Hawk | 204 |
| Merlin | 5 |
| Peregrine Falcon | 2 |
| Rough-legged Hawk | 16 |
| Ring-necked Pheasant | 176 |
| Ruffed Grouse | 3 |
| Ring-billed Gull | 240 |
| Herring Gull | 5,045 |
| Iceland Gull | 5 |
| Snipe | 1 |
| Great Black-backed Gull | 1,066 |
| Dovekie | 1 |
| Murre (sp.) | 1 |
| Rock Dove | 463 |
| Mourning Dove | 985 |
| Great Horned Owl | 1 |
| Barred Owl | 3 |
| Short-eared Owl | 3 |
| Downy Woodpecker | 102 |
| Hairy Woodpecker | 53 |
| Common Flicker | 29 |
| Pileated Woodpecker | 5 |
| Woodpecker (sp.) | 1 |
| Red-bellied Woodpecker | CW |
| Horned Lark | 185 |
| Blue Jay | 1,078 |
| American Crow | 11,245 |
| Common Raven | 283 |
| Black-capped Chickadee | 1217 |
| Boreal Chickadee | CW |
| Red- breasted Nuthatch | 29 |
| White- breasted Nuthatch | 50 |
| Brown Creeper | 1 |
| Golden-crowned Kinglet | 8 |
| American Robin | 6 |
| Northern Mockingbird | 1 |
| Cedar Waxwing | 54 |
| Northern Shrike | 1 |
| European Starling | 13,480 |
| Ruby-crowned Kinglet | 1 |
| Yellow-rumped Warbler | 3 |
| Yellow-breasted Chat | 1 |
| American Tree Sparrow | 145 |
| Clay-colored Sparrow | CW |
| Savannah Sparrow | 38 |
| Chipping Sparrow | 9 |
| Song Sparrow | 143 |
| Swamp Sparrow | 1 |
| White-throated Sparrow | 61 |
| White-crowned Sparrow | 3 |
| Dark-eyed iunco | 649 |
| Lapland Longspur | 2 |
| Snow Bunting | 250 |
| Red-winged Blackbird | 16 |
| Brown-headed Cowbird | CW |
| Baltimore Oriole | 1 |
| Pine Grosbeak | 6 |
| Purple Finch | 43 |
| Red Crossbill | 2 |
| White-winged Crossbill | 11 |
| Common Redpoll | 635 |
| Pine Siskin | 161 |
| American Goldfinch | 1,331 |
| Evening Grosbeak | 87 |
| House Sparrow | 388 |
Feeder Watchers
Agar Adamson, Diana Bishop. Dick Cain, Lana Churchill, Sandy Connelly, Ed Connolly, Chris Cox, Sue Cox, Pat Davis, Pat Dix, Betty Eaton. Joan Eaton, Paul Elderkin. Wendy Elliott, Mary Ellis. Bob & Rob & Morgan & Ryleah Flecknell. George E. Forsyth, Hilma Frank. Mary Sue Goulding, Eileen Harris, Sharon Harris. Lorna Hart, Avril & John Harwood, Heather Hennigar. Gail Herbin. Janet & John Herbin. Maxine Hill. Marg & Bob Home. Isobel Horton, Winnie Horton, Shirley Jackson. Jean Leung, Del and Mac Maclnnes. Ron Margesoti, Don Marston, Pat Martell. Jessie Martin, Eleanor Mason, Sheila McCurdy, Terry Murphy, Edna Mutch. Gary Ness. Andy Nette. Nancy Nickerson. Pam Nickerson, Terry Pearson. Dorothy Perkin. Meg & Roger Pocklington. Mar Pratt (2 yards). Ladny Richmond. Gordon Robart, Marg Russell. Linda Sacouman, Gladys & John Saltzman. Don Sam. Ruth Scott, David Silverberg, Peter Smith, Sandy Stevens, Merriam Sullivan. Phil Taylor, Dianne Thorpe. Dave Tracy, Eva & Deanna Urban, Jackie White. Jim Wolford. Jean & Ken Wood, Irene & Don Wright, Betty Yoell
Bush Beaters
Margaret Alliston, George Alliston, Peter Austin-Smith Jr., Amy Baur, Larry Bogan. Soren Bondrup-Nielsen, Mike Boudreau. Dennis Brannen. Peggy Crawford, Gail Davis. Harold Forsyth. George Forsyth, Bernard Forsythe. Glenys Gibson. Jamie Gibson. Merritt Gibson. Pat Hawes. Patrick Kelly, Angus MacLean, StelIa MacLean, Doug Maru]e. Randy Milton, Terry Milton, Adele Mullie, Leigh Murdoch, Reg Newell, Ruth Newell, Mike O’Brien, Mick O’Neill, Jan Paterson, Mike Peckford, Barry Sabean. Sarah Sabean. Dave Shutler, Peter Smith. Brian Starzomski. Richard Stem, Bill Thexton, Brenda Thexton. Jean Timpa, Sean Timpa. Judy Tufts, Rick Whitman. Shennan Williams. Jim Wolford, Barry Yoell