Annual bird count shows decline of species

With more than 15 centimetres of snow on the ground, clear skies and temperatures ranging between -13 and -22, the 70th annual Christmas Bird Count is a wrap for 2017. The count, held on Sunday, Dec 17, had more than 50 volunteers helping identify and count 82 bird species and 16,910 individual birds. According to the report filed by Mark D. Read with the Kingston Field Naturalists, this count is below the 20-year average of identifying 103 species and is less than 2015’s low count of 84.

“The number of birds was approximately 34,000 down on the 20-year average of 50,960,” Read said in the report. “Like last year, two-thirds of this decrease was directly attributed to just two species — Canada Goose (Branta canadensis )and mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) — perhaps this year due to extensive inland ice and thick, rising mist over Lake Ontario.” The total number of individual birds identified is down as well, from a 20-year average of 50,960 to 16,910.

Source: The Whig, Dec 27, 2017
http://www.thewhig.com/2017/12/27/annual-bird-count-shows-decline-of-sp…