Week 7 Cancelled

 Hi everyone, 

Whoever is following the survey I would like to convey that the Week 7 (05-Dec-2020) count will be cancelled. This is due to a lack of access to the birds. I have been keeping up to date with the current issue along Lake Erie and the repair that is happening along Blue Water Parkway and Lakeshore Rd east of Fisherville. This has cut my count in half in the past few weeks and with Blue Water now closing it cuts it into 1/4 of the count area. This is not a precise measure of the birds as there have been some trespassing hunters along that side of the count area which has diminished the birds from the western half of the count. 

Sorry for the bad news but I feel as if this is the best course of action at this time. 

Thank you all for following along, and hopefully, we can return by 12-Dec-2020. 

Week 6 (28-Nov-2020)

 After the storm on the 15th of November, the majority of Lakeshore Road is closed. I had to cut down the count from 31 to 15 count spots for this week and all the following weeks until roads are repaired. 

This was a slow week by far, even though we finally eclipsed 20,000 individuals. Nothing super notable going on except the sheer lack of birds! Major drops were seen all over the board with Common Loon being 0 and Bufflehead being 9. The western part of the count area between RR55 and Selkirk Provincial Park has been hunted consistently over the last few weeks and this has majorly dropped my numbers and impacted the study. My guess is they're all flocking east to the area currently closed. This is by far not a good sign but it is the way things are, for the time being. Hopefully, the lakeshore opens back up next week and we can get the counts back up to the 3000-4000 range again. 

Here is where I stand for the week and the total count season:

Week	Week 6 (29-Nov)	Total Seen
American Black Duck	0	1
Bonaparte's Gull	178	1644
Bufflehead	9	660
Canada Goose	431	3966
Common Goldeneye	44	459
Common Loon	0	125
Common Merganser	4	320
Double-crested Cormorant	0	192
Gadwall	0	5
Great Black-backed Gull	0	3
Greater Scaup	25	1683
Herring Gull	2	31
Hooded Merganser	0	12
Horned Grebe	57	811
Long-tailed Duck	1	4
Mallard	26	163
Red-breasted Merganser	336	7065
Red-throated Loon	0	1
Trumpeter Swan	0	5
Tundra Swan	0	5
Redhead	72	2550
White-winged Scoter	0	15
Ring-billed Gull	35	770
Total Species	13	23
Total Individuals	1220	20490

I don't have any pictures for the week so I apologise! 

Week 5 (21-Nov)

 After the storm last weekend (15-Nov-2020) the majority of Lakeshore Road is closed. I had to cut down the count from 31 to 16 count spots for this week and all the following weeks until roads are repaired. 

Other than the shut down the week looked like it would average out another 4,000 individual birds. I also added 2 new species to the count; Red-throated Loon, and White-winged Scoter! 

The top birds for the week included: Red-breasted Merganser (865), Greater Scaup (475), Canada Goose (306), Horned Grebe (135), and Bufflehead (50). 

I would do the typical raises and drops from the week before but this week being cut short makes it difficult to do this. 

Here are the totals for the season: 

Week	Week 5 (22-Nov)	Total Seen
American Black Duck	0	1
Bonaparte's Gull	9	1466
Bufflehead	50	651
Canada Goose	306	3535
Common Goldeneye	38	415
Common Loon	18	125
Common Merganser	0	316
Double-crested Cormorant	0	192
Gadwall	0	5
Great Black-backed Gull	0	3
Greater Scaup	475	1658
Herring Gull	3	29
Hooded Merganser	0	12
Horned Grebe	135	754
Long-tailed Duck	1	3
Mallard	33	137
Red-breasted Merganser	865	6729
Red-throated Loon	1	1
Trumpeter Swan	0	5
Tundra Swan	0	5
Redhead	40	2478
White-winged Scoter	15	15
Ring-billed Gull	42	735
Total Species	15	23
Total Individuals	2031	19270

Close up of a Ring-billed Gull - Port Maitland 

Another close up of an intrigued Ring-billed Gull - Port Maitland

Week 4 2020 (14-Nov)

The weather held up nicely today with minimal winds and plenty of sun but most of the birds were ways offshore and unidentifiable (probably preparing for the crazy day tomorrow). 

With the birds being so far offshore I saw a decline in a few of the species including Bonaparte's Gull (by 231 individuals), Red-breasted Merganser (by 479 individuals) and Redhead (by 190 individuals). This was unfortunate but with the drop in certain species, there was a rise in others substantially like Canada Goose (by 303 individual species) and Horned Grebe (by 207 individuals). With the rise of 207 Horned Grebe, this marks the highest count I've ever had in a single day to 336 individuals! Finally, one of the coolest birds I got this week was a close-up Long-tailed Duck! Only the second one on the count but I'm hoping to get a few more! Both of these birds were females which is interesting, but very cool. 

Here are my totals for the past week: 

Week	Week 4 (15-Nov)	Total Seen
American Black Duck	0	1
Bonaparte's Gull	390	1457
Bufflehead	184	601
Canada Goose	1059	3229
Common Goldeneye	135	377
Common Loon	37	107
Common Merganser	3	316
Double-crested Cormorant	0	192
Gadwall	2	5
Great Black-backed Gull	2	3
Greater Scaup	13	1183
Herring Gull	12	26
Hooded Merganser	8	12
Horned Grebe	336	619
Long-tailed Duck	1	2
Mallard	65	104
Red-breasted Merganser	1267	5864
Trumpeter Swan	0	5
Tundra Swan	2	5
Redhead	1041	2438
Ring-billed Gull	206	693
Total Species	18	21
Total Individuals	4763	17239

Bonaparte's Gull - Port Maitland Harbour 

Two Horned Grebes - Port Maitland Harbour

2 more Horned Grebes - Rock Point Provincial Park

Female Long-tailed Duck - Port Maitland Harbour

Female Long-tailed Duck - Port Maitland Harbour

Female Long-tailed Duck - Port Maitland Harbour

Ring-billed Gull - Port Maitland Harbour

Week 3 2020 (07-Nov)

 This week was a little different than the past 2 for a few reasons. 1, I wasn't able to do all 30 (I had to remove one stop due to being asked not to park where I was by a resident) due to construction, and 2, I had a fellow birder with me for a 2nd pair of eyes. 

The 2 of us ended up counting 15 species, which I guessed would happen due to the increase in temperature. 

The biggest dips from last week include Bufflehead (145 less than last week), Common Loon (29 less than last week), and Red-breasted Merganser (1104 less than last week). 

With the dips came some rises though. The most extensive of which included Bonaparte's Gull (236 more than last week), Greater Scaup (461 more than last week), and Redhead (1071 more than last week). 

With the loss of individual loons, we got some crazy views! The best one could ask for along Lake Erie. Definitely, still, a great week ending with 5673 individual birds! Bringing the total for the year up to over 12000!! We also added the first Great Black-backed Gull of the year! 

Here are the final totals for the week: 

Week	Week 3 (07-Nov)	Total Seen
American Black Duck	0	1
Bonaparte's Gull	621	1067
Bufflehead	134	417
Canada Goose	756	2170
Common Goldeneye	123	242
Common Loon	11	70
Common Merganser	6	313
Double-crested Cormorant	9	192
Gadwall	0	3
Great Black-backed Gull	1	1
Greater Scaup	789	1170
Herring Gull	9	14
Hooded Merganser	0	4
Horned Grebe	129	283
Long-tailed Duck	0	1
Mallard	2	39
Red-breasted Merganser	1746	4597
Trumpeter Swan	0	5
Tundra Swan	0	3
Redhead	1231	1397
Ring-billed Gull	106	487
Total Species	15	21
Total Individuals	5673	12476

Common Loon - Stop 28 

Common Loon - Stop 28

Horned Grebe - Stop 26

Horned Grebe - Stop 26

Common Loon - Stop 28

Ring-billed Gull - Port Maitland

Week 2 2020 (October 31st)

     This was a very successful Survey. Over the 40 km stretch, there were plenty of birds around averaging 5.8 species per stop and an average of 165 individual birds. I was able to count 20 species and 5,116 individuals. I had personal high counts on 3 species (Common Loon, Red-breasted Merganser, and Horned Grebe) The following is the final rundown of the day: 

Week → Species ↓	Week 2 (31-Oct)	Total Seen Entire Study
American Black Duck	1	1
Bonaparte's Gull	385	446
Bufflehead	279	283
Canada Goose	409	1414
Common Goldeneye	118	119
Common Loon	40	59
Common Merganser	20	307
Double-crested Cormorant	23	183
Gadwall	3	3
Greater Scaup	321	381
Herring Gull	5	5
Hooded Merganser	4	4
Horned Grebe	141	154
Long-tailed Duck	1	1
Mallard	37	37
Red-breasted Merganser	2850	2851
Trumpeter Swan	5	5
Tundra Swan	3	3
Redhead	160	166
Ring-billed Gull	311	381
Total Species	20	20
Total Individuals	5116	6803

Bonaparte's Gull - Port Maitland

Bonaparte's Gull - Port Maitland

Red-tailed Hawk - Cheapside Rd 

Red-tailed Hawk - Cheapside Rd