Finalizing 2020

 So as some of you know, last year I kept a tally of the birds I see in one year month by month with totals of species seen and individuals. Well, I decided to do it again in 2020, but this year with eBird making a change to their summarize observations (i.e. removing it altogether) it has taken me a little longer than usual to complete this last year, I also moved it over to Google Docs rather than an excel sheet so there was a little getting used to there! 

This year I decided to do some pie charts as well to visualize the data, and share what birds made it over 1000 birds seen! 

I get asked why I do this from time to time, and it's so I can see my total birds seen and how many I saw of a certain species and when on a quick and easy look instead of the long way of going through every bird in eBird. I also like displaying my sightings with charts to represent the birds I've seen and like going back through the year on what good times I've had in the last year (even this year with COVID).

This data is also going to go into a spreadsheet with my totals for 5 and 10-year intervals to see just how many species and individuals I've seen in that time period, so keep an eye out for that in my 2025 and 2030 year-end posts! 

In 2020 I amassed 262 species and counted 135,454 individual birds! A personal high on both fronts! 

Here are the top 5 species I saw in 2020: 

1. Number 1 at a crazy number was Double-crested Cormorant at a total of 21,307 individual birds! This is mostly due to monitoring the massive colony off the coast of Rock Point PP which can number over 2,000 individuals at 1 time! 
2. Not really a surprise for a Southern Ontario birder like myself, number 2 was Canada Goose at a total of 13,794 birds! I expect to surpass this in 2021. 
3. Number 3 follows suit with the water-bird theme here, a really common bird off the coast of Lake Ontario every winter, Long-tailed Duck at a count of 13,128 birds. 
4. Taking away from the water birds this is the only invasive species on the list, European Starling, with a count of 10,448 birds, which does not seem very big and will probably be bigger in 2021 with the Breeding Bird Atlas keeping more on the look for any breeding birds in my square. 
5. Finally, we dip back into the waterfowl for #5 with Red-breasted Merganser with a count of 7,496 individuals! This is one I never expected to reach the top 5, possibly top 10 but the top 5 is exceptional! 

These birds made up just less than 50% of all the birds I saw in 2020, and 16 other species topped 1000 individual birds seen each which included: 

1. Red-winged Blackbird (6,940)
2. Ring-billed Gull (6,470)
3. Mallard (4,509)
4. Common Grackle (3,412)
5. Greater Scaup (3,313)
6. Redhead (2,743)
7. Bonaparte's Gull (2,449)
8. Common Goldeneye (2,213)
9. Tree Swallow (1,689)
10. American Robin (1,501)
11. Bufflehead (1,349)
12. White-winged Scoter (1,318)
13. Surf Scoter (1,097)
14. American Goldfinch (1,085)
15. Song Sparrow (1,013)
16. Killdeer (1,001)

Some of these birds may change spots in 2021, which I'm excited to see what ones fit in where within the next year!

Chart showing the Total Species I saw for each month in 2020 (p.s. I've already eclipsed January's total from 2020 this year). 

Chart showing the Total Individual birds I saw for each month in 2020 (p.s. I've already eclipsed January's total from 2020 this year). 

Starting the year off Strong!

 Ah COVID-19, the talk of the decade and it's only 2021. Now we are in the second wave, the worst part of any pandemic. And it shows, over 3000 cases a day in Ontario alone, even the numbers in the Haldimand/Norfolk area have reached almost 200 cases, and with this, our world has come to a lockdown, it's been 24 days, and since then I haven't left Haldimand County besides work. It has actually been quite the year all considered. 

Already topping my 2020 January count within less than 2 weeks! This includes my first warbler of the year! If anyone remembers last year, my first warbler did not come until almost 5 months from now! It was a Yellow-rumped Warbler that has been hanging around on the Rotary Riverside Trail in Caledonia. Reported by a few acquaintances of mine (and of course someone I've been birding with for years). 

I have a couple of good birds for the year, including 2 Snowy Owls, 2 Short-eared Owls, and 4 Rough-legged Hawks! 

Northern Mockingbird posing really well for me, always a couple at Taquanyah! 

Found this girl driving around for Snow Buntings, but got this surprise! (thought she was a piece of ice at first)

One of my all-time favourite birds, a Brown Creeper! It was also one of the first birds I've ever banded! 

This far shot nabbed me my first Rough-legged Hawk photo! I don't think it turned out too bad. 

Even though this bird was in low light it's the best time to find them; Short-eared Owl! 

Welcome 2021! Goodbye 2020!

 2020... I don't think I need to tell you it sucked in pretty much every way. I want to emphasize, pretty much. It also set personal records for me with 261 species!!! This consisted of 36 lifers! Here are my top 5 of my favourites: 

1. Worm-eating Warbler - This bird is at the top where it should be! A first county record for Haldimand County and an amazing bird for anywhere in Ontario! Even though it was a one-day-wonder it was still an amazing find by me! 
2. Brown Booby - This rightfully is at #2, seabirds anywhere in Ontario (aside from Jaegers in Hamilton) are an insane bird to find but this bird was amazing and stayed for a long time! I personally went out to see it 4 times, including the second it was found! 
3. Barred Owl - This was a heard-only bird, but one of my all-time favourites from the year, and it could not have come on a better day, our Birdathon! 
4. Piping Plover - What a day that was! I will always remember going up to Wasaga early in the morning and sitting in the sand with little plovers running around by my feet! 
5. Prothonotary Warbler - these little guys were amazing to see! Even though they breed not too far from where I live I've never made the trip out. But, now that I did, I am going to go back every year! 

Now I'm hoping for 2021 to knock 2020 out of the water, and I'm already starting out really well! 

This is one of my all-time favourite shots from 2020, I've always loved shorebirds but Piping Plovers just might take the cake for the most amazing shorebirds I've ever seen! (10-Jul-2020)

Although it's not the best shot, it still shows how bright Prothonotary Warblers really are! They really fit the name Swamp Candle! (31-May-2020)

Definitely a record shot, nothing short of fuzzy, but you can see that this is a Brown Booby! One of the rarest birds to show up in Ontario this year! (only rivalled by the Variegated Flycatcher). (08-Sep-2020)