by Brian Williams
The Ninepipes Christmas Bird Count was held on Sunday, 18 December 2016. Sixteen observers braved the single-digit weather and treacherous roads to count birds. The deep cold made open water scarce and held our total species down a bit from 5 and 10 year averages, but we found some excellent birds. Short-eared owls were present in good numbers and, while the windbreaks didn’t yield any of the usual Long-eared Owls, they did yield a Barred Owl, only the second record for the count. Other highlights included a Rusty Blackbird, white-morph Gyrfalcon, a count week only Barn Owl, and a high count of 290 Red-tailed Hawks.
Species Observed:
- Canada Goose
- Trumpeter Swan
- American Wigeon
- Mallard
- Teal sp.
- Bufflehead
- Common Goldeneye
- Hooded Merganser
- Common Merganser
- Gray Partridge
- Ring-necked Pheasant
- Wild Turkey
- Great Blue Heron
- Bald Eagle
- Northern Harrier
- Sharp-shinned Hawk
- Cooper’s Hawk
- Red-tailed Hawk
- Rough-legged Hawk
- Golden Eagle
- American Kestrel
- Merlin
- Gyrfalcon
- Prairie Falcon
- Virginia Rail
- Killdeer
- Wilson’s Snipe
- Rock Pigeon
- Eurasian Collared-dove
- Mourning Dove
- Barred Owl
- Great-horned Owl
- Short-eared Owl
- Belted Kingfisher
- Downy Woodpecker
- Northern Flicker
- Pileated Woodpecker
- Northern Shrike
- Blue Jay
- Black-billed Magpie
- American Crow
- Common Raven
- Horned Lark
- Black-capped Chickadee
- Red-breasted Nuthatch
- Pygmy Nuthatch
- American Dipper
- Golden-crowned Kinglet
- Townsend’s Solitaire
- American Robin
- European Starling
- Bohemian Waxwing
- Cedar Waxwing
- Tree Sparrow
- Song Sparrow
- Dark-eyed Junco
- Red-winged Blackbird
- Western Meadowlark
- Rusty Blackbird
- Brewer’s Blackbird
- House Finch
- White-winged Crossbill
- Common Redpoll
- American Goldfinch
- House Sparrow