The 56th annual Williams Lake Christmas bird count on Dec. 17, 2023, set another record with a remarkable 69 species. This is seven more than our previous high set in 2008 and brought our all time total to 125.
The high species count was due mostly to the mild conditions and the ice-free lake which allowed many water birds to stay much later than unusual. Although we had a record number of species our total numbers of birds counted was 3,583, well below the 10-year average and almost 4,500 less than our best year in 2021 where bohemian waxwings made up half the numbers.
After failing to find any new species last year, we added two new ones to the list. A double-crested cormorant was a very unexpected winter find as well as a canvasback making its first appearance on the count. Both were part of a water bird contingent consisting of 17 waterfowl species, two grebe species, coots, a heron and a kingfisher, all of which added considerably to our total and will be gone as soon as the lake freezes.
We also had only the second count appearance for a blue jay coming to a feeder in Wildwood, gadwall and ruddy duck on Williams Lake, and the first appearance in 38 years of a golden-crowned sparrow at a North Lakeside feeder.
Counting waxwings was relatively easy this year with a 35-year low of only 58 reported compared to the 10-year average of around 1,500 birds. This also partly explains the paradox between this year’s record high number of species and the well below average total number of birds.
In fact we didn’t have any record high numbers for any species with the exception of marginally higher numbers for three waterfowl. Other than that, black-billed magpies were two shy of the record with 30 and common mergansers one less than the previous high of 21, but nothing else came even close to challenging their previous highs.
The Williams Lake Field Naturalists would like to thank all who participated especially those who traveled from out of town and to the feeder watchers who called in their reports.
Species numbers:
Canada goose1, trumpeter swan 4, gadwall, 3, American widgeon 6, mallard 84, northern pintail 1, green-winged teal 1, canvasback 1*, ring-necked duck 4, greater scaup 2, lesser scaup 8, bufflehead 10, common goldeneye 37, barrow’s goldeneye 2, hooded merganser 9, common merganser 20, ruddy duck 3, ruffed grouse 8, pied-billed grebe 2, horned griebe 2, great blue heron 1, bald eagle 15, red-tailed hawk 2, rough-legged hawk 1, American coot 19, double-crested cormorant 1*, rock pigeon 508, Eurasian collared dove 39, northern pygmy owl 3, belted kingfisher 1, downy woodpecker 22, hairy woodpecker 25, American three-toed woodpecker 1, black-backed woodpecker 1, northern flicker 60, pileated woodpecker 17, northern shrike 1, Canada jay 16, Stellar’s Jay 1, Blue Jay 1, Black-billed magpie 30, American crow 567, common raven 204, black-capped chickadee 250, mountain chickadee 231, red-breasted nuthatch 102, white-breasted nuthatch 1, American dipper 1, varied thrush 2, Townsend’s solitaire 18, European starling 58, bohemian waxwing 58, spotted towhee 1, American tree sparrow 4, song sparrow 25, white-throated sparrow 1, white-crowned sparrow 2, golden-crowned sparrow 1, dark-eyed junco 28, red-winged blackbird 32, brewer’s blackbird 9, pine grosbeak 12, house finch 270, common redpoll 199, white-winged crossbill 25, pine siskin 2, American goldfinch 78, evening grosbeak 9, and house sparrow 420. (all marked with a * are a first for the annual count)
A snow bunting was also spotted during the count week but not on the day of the count.
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