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Hi there, I was interested to see Blake's report of the Nova Scotia Winter List reaching 200 species. I confess that I'm always a little ambivalent about winter listing, since finding lots of lingering songbirds in early December seems to be the key to a big list. I feel sorry for the "doomed birds", but am astonished by those which survive thanks to the kindness of backyard bird-feeders. It is fascinating, though, to see the range and variety of species which have turned up here between the first of December and the end of February, and I salute Blake for compiling these records for us - for eleven years! On the other hand, the diversity of bird species which are found here, in even the coldest weather, impresses me too - as well as the hardiness of the birders who seek them out. You have to get outdoors, often in bitter weather, if you want to see a Snowy Owl or some other winter specialty. And as we've seen this week, surprises turn up. So the idea of a list of what's still around once winter has really set in, such as the "Dead of Winter List" kept by Rob Parsons in Manitoba, appeals to me as representative of winter in our province. For his purposes, this is a February list. I was looking at the reports on Manitobabirds at http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/MANI.html the other day, and at present the list stands at 46 species. I began to compare it with what we might find, and of course many of the birds are the same. We aren't going to get a Sharp-tailed Grouse or a Black-billed Magpie, though a Varied Thrush would be possible. It was amusing to see Harris's Sparrow on both lists. And WE have two other typically western birds, a Yellow-headed Blackbird and a Western Tanager! I have compiled the following list of birds reported (via NatureNS or the NS-RBA) so far in Nova Scotia this month, (plus a few I've seen myself). Since I was comparing it to the Manitoba list, I followed the same taxonomic order. I could see how things were going to shape up as soon as I got to Bald Eagle, which is 8th on their list and 28th on ours - we have so many ducks still, thanks to the seacoast and open freshwater magnets like Sullivan's Pond. Nova Scotia Depths of Winter List 2007 1 .. Canada Goose 2 .. Brant 3 .. Green-winged Teal 4 .. Black Duck 5 .. Mallard 6 .. Northern Shoveler 7 .. Northern Pintail 8 .. Gadwall 9 .. American Wigeon 10.. Eurasian Wigeon 11.. Redhead 12 ..Ring-necked Duck 13 ..Lesser Scaup 14.. Greater Scaup 15.. Common Eider 16.. Black Scoter 17.. Surf Scoter 18.. White-winged Scoter 19.. Bufflehead 20.. Barrow's Goldeneye 21.. Hooded Merganser 22.. Common Merganser 23.. Red-breasted Merganser 24.. Ring-necked Pheasant 25.. Northern Fulmar 26.. Great Cormorant 27.. American Bittern 28.. Bald Eagle 29.. Northern Harrier 30.. Sharp-shinnned Hawk 31.. Cooper's Hawk 32.. Red-tailed Hawk 33.. Rough-legged Hawk 34.. Merlin 35.. Peregrine Falcon 36.. American Coot 37.. Black-bellied Plover 38.. Killdeer 39.. Red Knot 40.. Sanderling 41.. Purple Sandpiper 42.. Dunlin 43.. American Woodcock 44.. Black-headed Gull 45.. Ring-billed Gull 46.. Herring Gull 47.. Iceland Gull 48.. Great Black-backed Gull 49.. Dovekie 50.. Common Murre 51.. Thick-billed Murre 52.. Razorbill 53.. Black Guillemot 54.. Rock Pigeon 55.. Mourning Dove 56.. Great Horned Owl 57.. Snowy Owl 58.. Barred Owl 59.. Short-eared Owl 60.. Belted Kingfisher 61.. Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 62.. Downy Woodpecker 63.. Hairy Woodpecker 64.. Northern Flicker 65.. Gray Jay 66.. Blue Jay 67.. American Crow 68.. Common Raven 69.. Horned Lark 70.. Black-capped Chickadee 71.. Red-breasted Nuthatch 72.. White-breasted Nuthatch 73.. Brown Creeper 74.. Golden-crowned Kinglet 75.. Hermit Thrush 76.. American Robin 77.. Northern Mockingbird 78.. European Starling 79.. Pine Warbler 80.. Western Tanager 81.. American Tree Sparrow 82.. Chipping Sparrow 83.. Vesper Sparrow 84.. Savannah Sparrow 84a.."Ipswich" Savannah Sparrow 85.. Song Sparrow 86.. White-throated Sparrow 87.. Harris's Sparrow 88.. Dark-eyed Junco 89.. Lapland Longspur 90.. Northern Cardinal 91.. Yellow-headed Blackbird 92.. Common Grackle 93.. Pine Siskin 94.. American Goldfinch 95.. Evening Grosbeak 96.. House Sparrow This was much more work than I thought when I started it, in an idle moment, but if others think it's interesting I'll update it periodically. Cheers, Patricia L. Chalmers Halifax
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