Stratford CBC 2019

The Stratford Christmas Bird Count took place on December 28th in remarkably pleasant conditions compared to some years.  Temperatures hovered around two degrees with a pleasant mix of sun and cloud and little wind.  This year, I was once again in the Tavistock zone.

Count day ended with 46 species and 4 more were picked up in count week.  The usual birds were out and about, but feeder birds in particular were not found in any quantity.  Possibly the mild conditions meant feeders were not such an essential food source.

Some hightlights from our wrap up meeting included:

1 Common Raven 

1 Eastern Towhee

14 Turkey Vulture - Reliably winters in Stratford, now becoming a regular find on the CBC

70 Red-Tailed Hawk-  decent number

173 Dark-Eyed Junco- low

1 Great-Horned Owl *

1 Eastern-Screech Owl *

* Early morning owling from the Tavistock zone.  Significant as we sometimes don't get early morning coverage and miss owls entirely. 

I didn't take many photos, but snapped a few.

I would have liked to have found this guy for count day, but since my last post it has once again done the vanishing act after showing reliably for several days.