Peter Blokker
Special to The Morning Star
The 2012 annual Christmas Bird count was the 113th count for Canada and the 63rd for the Vernon area and was held Dec. 16.
The weather co-operated with moderate temperatures.
About 50 people took part in addition to feederwatchers who phoned in their observations.
We want to thank everybody who participated and also people who kindly allowed access to their backyards.
A total of 24,335 birds of 98 species were counted. More than the last few years.
Notable this year was the large number of birds of prey, especially the many red-tailed hawks.
Also more owls were found than most years, with eight short-eared owls and a barn owl being noteworthy.
Unusual, also, was a golden-crowned sparrow. This is only the second or third sighting ever during the count.
The list of birds seen:
3,130 Canada Goose
8 Trumpeter Swan
24 Gadwall
43 American Wigeon
3,334 Mallard
58 Northern Shoveler
1 Northern Pintail
5 Green-winged Teal
160 Redhead
2 Greater Scaup
45 Lesser Scaup
20 Bufflehead
33 Common Goldeneye
14 Barrow’s Goldeneye
84 Hooded Merganser
378 Common Merganser
1 Red-breasted Merganser
5 Gray Partridge
66 Ring-necked Pheasant
1,127 California Quail
3 Common Loon
13 Pied-billed Grebe
19 Horned Grebe
8 Red-necked Grebe
5 Western Grebe
11 Great Blue Heron
55 Bald Eagle
52 Northern Harrier
11 Sharp-shinned Hawk
13 Cooper’s Hawk
2 Northern Goshawk
153 Red-tailed Hawk
45 Rough-legged Hawk
3 Golden Eagle
19 American Kestrel
12 Merlin
1 Peregrine Falcon
2 Virginia Rail
891 American Coot
3 Killdeer
3 Wilson’s Snipe
228 Ring-billed Gull
55 California Gull
72 Herring Gul
2 Thayer’s Gull
9 Glaucous-winged Gull
2 Glaucous Gull
184 Rock Pigeon
198 Eurasian Collared Dove
552 Mourning Dove
1 Barn Owl
4 Great Horned Owl
1 Northern Pygmy Owl
1 Barred Owl
8 Short-eared Owl
8 Belted Kingfisher
23 Downy Woodpecker
6 Hairy Woodpecker
267 Northern Flicker
6 Pileated Woodpecker
10 Northern Shrike
12 Steller’s Jay
5 Clark’s Nutcracker
447 Black-billed Magpie
330 American Crow
249 Common Raven
408 Black-capped Chickadee
16 Mountain Chickadee
3 Chestnut-backed Chickadee
55 Red-breasted Nuthatch
4 White-breasted Nuthatch
44 Pygmy Nuthatch
2 Brown Creeper
1 Marsh Wren
12 Golden-crowned Kinglet
26 Townsend’s Solitaire
298 American Robin
2,480 European Starling
3,700 Bohemian Waxwing
4 Spotted Towhee
11 American Tree Sparrow
191 Song Sparrow
2 White-throated Sparrow
29 White-crowned Sparrow
1 Golden-crowned Sparrow
660 Dark-eyed Junco
740 Red-winged Blackbird
11 Brewer’s Blackbird
110 Pine Grosbeak
1 Cassin’s Finch
1150 House Finch
4 Red Crossbill
9 White-winged Crossbill
180 Common Redpoll
490 Pine Siskin
330 American Goldfinch
3 Evening Grosbeak
800 House Sparrow
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