Photo by BarrytheBirder
The 2011 Great Backyard Bird Count numbers are official: 11,471,322 birds seen, 596 species seen, and 92,206 checklists submitted. The most frequently seen species was the Northern Cardinal, followed by the Mourning Dove and the Dark-eyed Junco. The most numerous bird seen was the European Starling, followed by the American Robin and Common Grackle. Not surprising, because of their southern latitudes, Texas, followed by California and Florida, were the states (or provinces) reporting the most species. For the first time in the 14-year history of the GBBC, a Brown Shrike and a Common Chaffinch made the list of 596 species. Closer to home, the most frquently seen species in Ontario was the Common Redpoll, followed by Common Merganser and American Goldfinch. My GBBC top three, most numerous, species were Common Redpoll, American Goldfinch and Dark-eyed Junco. That Common Merganser placing for Ontario is interesting because it doesn't show up on that many checklists, but when it does, it's in spades. Most of the sightings are along the north shore of Lake Erie. The small town of Blenheim, alone, counted 9,601 Common Mergansers on just 4 checklists. Out of curiosity, I checked my youngest sister's village in Northern Quebec, on the eastern shore of James Bay. For the first time ever, a checklist was produced for Wemindji, Quebec, with five species recorded over the 4-day count. The most numerous bird in Wemindji was the Spruce Grouse at 17. There were only 21 reported in the whole darned province! The other four were Willow Ptarmigan, Sharp-taled Grouse, Common Raven and the ubiquitous, Black-capped Chickadee. Once again go to: http://www.birdsource.org/gbbc/ to get all the nifty details. Below are photos I took of some of the birds on my GBBC list.
Please comment if you wish. (Photos by BarrytheBirder)
BtheB
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