By Paul Pratt

This 24 km diameter count circle includes McGregor, Essex, Harrow and Kingsville. Our 39th annual count was held December 14. 35 participants record almost 500 km by car and 77 km by foot to record 82 species and 19,571 individual birds. Birds seen count week but missed on count day were Sandhill Crane, Short-eared Owl and Northern Shrike. Following the count observers gathered at Tom and Peggy Hurst’s home for lively discussion on the results and an excellent potluck dinner. A big thanks to all returning veterans, new birders and especially Tom and Peggy for being wonderful hosts.

Over the years we have tallied a remarkable total of 165 species and 2,133,298 individuals and recorded the annual Canadian high count for twenty species on one or more occasions. This year we added one new species for the count, Clay-colored Sparrow, found in a weedy field that was
overflowing with sparrows. A few highlights recorded during the count included high counts of 16 Whitewinged Scoter (record high), 23 Bald Eagle (record high), 3 Merlin (a tied record high), 895 American Tree Sparrow, 190 White-throated Sparrow, 1873 Dark-eyed Junco (record high), 683 Common Grackle (record high), and 774 Brown-headed Cowbird (record high). Our biggest misses this year were Eastern Screech-Owl and Yellow-rumped Warbler.

Join us next year for the 40th Cedar Creek count on December 20, 2025

PARTICIPANTS: J Affleck, J Bensette, J Burk, K Burk, M Burkoski, A Campbell, K Cedar, L Cedar, K Derbyshire, P DesJardins, K Fawdry, L Foy, J Hatt, N Herke, P Hurst, T Hurst, C Lapain, S Laurin, D Lee, C Lee, P Lee, M Lee, D Loncke, C Maiolani, J Matte, J McGorman, L Onysko, P O’Rourke, Adam Pinch, P Pratt, P Renaud, B Sanford, D Ware, A Wiebe, K Wiebe, I Woodfield.

Species Count: