Thomas Moore
This year’s 34th Lac-Brome Christmas Bird Count (and 125th Audubon count) took place on December 28th on a nice winter day with complete six-inch snow cover and frozen water conditions after an unseasonably cold pre-Christmas week. About two dozen volunteers participated, with three field parties and about 20 feeder watchers.
A total of 1,031 birds were reported from 33 species, a count in line with others in recent years. With the exception of a small flock of evening grosbeaks at one location and two redpolls, winter finches (grosbeaks, redpolls, and crossbills migrating from the boreal forest) were not spotted on the count for the second year in succession.
With Brome Lake frozen over, ducks and geese were scarce with the exception of more than 200 mallard ducks, mostly in the Knowlton residential area. Perhaps a result of the new mill pond area? The only other wildfowl reported were 14 bufflehead ducks (Knowlton Landing), five hooded mergansers and three Canada geese.
Chickadees were once again the most numerous species (226), followed by mallard ducks (211) and blue jays (79). Cardinals (30) and tufted titmouse (13) seem to be increasing slightly in the region from previous counts.
Unusual or scarce species sightings noted: two goshawks, one Cooper’s hawk, one red-bellied woodpecker, three pileated woodpeckers, two ruffed grouse, one robin and one brown creeper.
The variability of climatic and environmental conditions from year to year across the continent makes these count numbers impossible to compare on a yearly basis. Many reports indicate significant drops in many bird species populations in recent years. The analysis by Audubon/Cornell and Bird Studies Canada of the thousands of Christmas Bird Count reports covering all of North and Central America is an important input to the understanding of environmental issues.
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