Mactaquac Count 1 January 2016
Eleven capable birders braved the winter weather and spent New Years Day surveying the bird population of the Mactaquac area. The 24-km circle covers the area from Keswick to Granite Hill and French Village to above Kings Landing.
Thank you to the many loyal people who feed birds in the area for keeping their feeders well stocked. Also thank you for allowing us to come into your farms and dooryards to tally the birds present.
We had just over 1000 more birds than last year and one species less. Finch numbers were low in spite of the large amount of fruit and cones present. It may mean that we will have a finch invasion later this winter. There were few raptors and the waterfowl numbers were low. That could be because there was so much open water below the dam on which they could disperse.
The two most interesting birds seen (for me) were the Red-bellied Woodpecker and the Northern Saw-whet. The Red-bellied was at a feeder in Mactaquac and the Saw-whet was seen in the Upper Kingclear area.
Mactaquac Christmas Bird Count | 2015 | ||||||
| Jan. 1, 2016 | Compiler Beverley Schneider | ||||||
| Species | Zone 1 | Zone 2 | Zone 3 | Zone 4 | Zone 5 | Zone 6 | Total |
| Am Black Duck | 30 | 4 | 34 | ||||
| Mallard | 7 | 7 | |||||
| Common Goldeneye | 22 | 9 | 31 | ||||
| Barrow's Goldeneye | 1 | 1 | |||||
| Common Merganser | 10 | 17 | 27 | ||||
| Common Loon | 1 | 1 | |||||
| Cooper’s Hawk | 1 | 1 | |||||
| Bald Eagle | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 15 | |
| Herring Gull | 4 | 3 | 7 | ||||
| Great Black-backed Gull | 1 | 11 | 12 | ||||
| Rock Pigeon | 5 | 31 | 162 | 8 | 11 | 217 | |
| Mourning Dove | 22 | 20 | 26 | 2 | 9 | 79 | |
| Northern Saw-whet Owl | 1 | 1 | |||||
| Downy Woodpecker | 1 | 1 | 5 | 10 | 1 | 18 | |
| Hairy Woodpecker | 5 | 7 | 2 | 14 | |||
| Pileated Woodpecker | 3 | 1 | 4 | ||||
| Red-bellied Woodpecker | 1 | 1 | |||||
| Gray Jay | 1 | 1 | 2 | ||||
| Blue Jay | 7 | 5 | 16 | 24 | 9 | 10 | 71 |
| American Crow | 20 | 13 | 20 | 25 | 102 | 21 | 201 |
| Common Raven | 3 | 6 | 6 | 13 | 6 | 4 | 38 |
| Black-capped Chickadee | 14 | 15 | 56 | 60 | 10 | 57 | 212 |
| Red-breasted Nuthatch | 3 | 27 | 14 | 1 | 5 | 50 | |
| White-breasted Nuthatch | 4 | 4 | 8 | ||||
| Brown Creeper | 1 | 1 | |||||
| European Starling | 5 | 58 | 32 | 107 | 27 | 229 | |
| American Tree Sparrow | 1 | 12 | 39 | 15 | 67 | ||
| Song Sparrow | 4 | 2 | 1 | 7 | |||
| White-throated Sparrow | 1 | 1 | |||||
| Dark-eyed Junco | 15 | 6 | 11 | 53 | 7 | 18 | 110 |
| Northern Cardinal | 2 | 2 | |||||
| Snow Bunting | 7 | 11 | 18 | ||||
| Purple Finch | 4 | 4 | |||||
| White-winged Crossbill | 1 | 1 | |||||
| Common Redpoll | 10 | 10 | |||||
| Pine Siskin | 17 | 50 | 67 | ||||
| American Goldfinch | 24 | 7 | 48 | 57 | 40 | 176 | |
| Evening Grosbeak | 2 | 2 | |||||
| Total birds | 1747 | ||||||
| No. species | 38 |
