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<b>BRIER ISLAND CHRISTMAS COUNT, 18 DECEMBER 2006</b></span></font>
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Weather partly cloudy, clearing, -7 to -4C; wind NW 40 kph.</span></font>
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0715-1715 AST</span></font>
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Participants: George Garron, Louise Garron, Anne Mills, Eric Mills (compiler), Richard Stern, June Swift</span></font>
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55 species, about 1889 individuals. </span></font>
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Black Duck - 65; Mallard - 1; Common Eider - 148; Surf Scoter - 9; White-winged Scoter - 13; Black Scoter - 1; Long-
tailed Duck - 35; Common Goldeneye - 84; Red-breasted Merganser - 15; Ring-necked Pheasant - 6; Red-throated Loon
- 1; Common Loon - 17; Horned Grebe - 1; Northern Gannet - 1; Great Cormorant - 91; Turkey Vulture - 4; Bald Eagle -
1; Northern Harrier - 1; Sharp-shinned Hawk - 2; Red-tailed Hawk - 1; Merlin - 2; Ring-billed Gull - 7; Herring Gull - 161;
Iceland Gull - 11; Great Black-backed Gull - 51; Black-legged Kittiwake - 16; Razorbill - 1; Black Guillemot - 111; alcid
species - 45; Rock Pigeon - 11; Morning Dove - 18; Blue Jay - 4; American Crow - 207; Common Raven - 21; Horned
Lark - 38; Black-capped Chickadee - 82; Golden-crowned Kinglet - 7; <b>Hermit Thrush</b> - 1; American Robin - 2; European
Starling - 62; American Tree Sparrow - 5; Chipping Sparrow - 1; Song Sparrow - 9; White-throated Sparrow - 4; Dark-
eyed Junco - 24; Snow Bunting - 253; Northern Cardinal - 2; Red-winged Blackbird - 7; Common Grackle - 8; Brown-
headed Cowbird - 3; Common Redpoll - 199; <b>Hoary Redpoll</b> - 1; Pine Siskin - 2; American Goldfinch - 7; House
Sparrow - 9. </span></font>
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Birds in the count week, but not on count day: </span></font>
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Canada Goose; Greater Scaup; Northern Goshawk; Bonaparte's Gull; Northern Shrike; <b>Townsend's Solitaire</b>;
Bohemian Waxwing. </span></font>
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Comments: A cold and windy day, but bad roads in the Valley rather than count day weather prevented some of our long-
time participants from getting to the  the island. Those of us already there (or arriving on the count day morning, like
Richard Stern), had a good day of birding. But we were down 10 species from last year's total, partly attributable to the
early winter's very hard weather, and also to the lack of a concerted sea-watch. On the topic of the sea, it was relatively
calm and relatively birdless, especially compared to last year when a magnificent flypast of many species occurred. The
most interesting aspect of this year's limited watch was the number of Black Guillemots on the move, some of them very
white and apparently birds from much farther north. The Hermit Thrush found by June Swift and the Hoary Redpoll seen
by Richard Stern and George and Louise Garron, were outstanding, and the thrush was new for Brier Island counts.
Undoubtedly the most tantalizing bird of the count week was the Townsend's Solitaire well described by the Garrons
from their feeder, where it lingered for only a few minutes on Dec. 17 - and then completely disappeared. That was the
only real disappointment, and the beauty of all those Snow Buntings, the Horned Larks feeding along the tide lines,
hundreds of crows in Pond Cove, flyby Red-throated Loons and a Gannet, the Turkey Vultures looking us over as
potential food, Cardinals in the early morning light, the clouds of Redpolls, and many other sights made the day
memorable. Brier Island is never the same twice.
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ</span></font>
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Eric L. Mills </span></font>
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286 Kingsburg Road</span></font>
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RR#1, Rose Bay, Nova Scotia B0J 2X0, CANADA</span></font>
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E.Mills@Dal.Ca</span></font>
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