Bird lore - Project Puffin

THE
Bird-Lore's Sixteenth Christmas Census
Census for 1915 shows that in the northeastern United States, this
winter, there is again a general lack of the irregular winter visitors
from the north. Flocks of Redpolls appear in four reports from Con-
necticut, but one observer in Massachusetts is the only other to report any.
There are a few scattered Northern Shrikes, but only one occurrence of Red
Crossbills (Olean, N. Y.), and White-winged Crossbills, Pine Grosbeaks and
Pine Siskins are entirely absent,—even the Canadians failed to find any
White-wings. It is good to find the Black-capped Chickadees, so scarce last
winter, even more abundant than ever.
In the competition for first place, Santa Barbara, with 102 species, falls
off a little, and even its best record is well beaten by Los Angeles, its first
serious competitor, whose superior number of observers are responsible for a
list of 1 2 1 . A promising future competitor is St. Marks, Fla., whose lone worker,
unfamihar with the ground, listed 85, as yet much the largest Christmas Census
from east of the Pacific coast.
Forty-odd censuses were received too late for publication, and others were
discarded as seeming not at all fairly representative of the Christmas-time
bird-life of the regions concerned. It is hard to draw the line, but we feel that
our errors are of inclusion rather than of exclusion.
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Charles H. Rogers.
Wolfville, N. S.—Dec. 25; 10 a.m. to 12.30 p.m. Cloudless; 3 in. of light snow; no
wind; temp. 30°. Herring Gull, 2; Black Duck, 100; Canada Ruffed Grouse, 4; Downy
Woodpecker, i; Northern Raven, i; Crow, 6; Goldfinch, 11; Vesper Sparrow, i (collected
for positive identification); Black-capped Chickadee, 7; Acadian Chickadee, 2; Golden-
jrowned Kinglet, 5. Total, 11 species, 140 individuals. Dec. 20, a flock of 8 to 10
American Crossbills.—R. W. Tupts.
Yarmouth, N. S.—Dec. 27; one observer, 8.30 a.m. to 12.30 p.m.; other observer,
separately, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Partly cloudy; ground bare; wind west, strong; temp. 30°
at sunrise. Herring Gull, 3; Canada Ruffed Grouse, 2; Downy Woodpecker, i; Northern
Raven, i; American Crow, 25; Junco, 3; Myrtle Warbler, 7; Brown Creeper, 2; Chick-
adee, 35; Acadian Chickadee, 32; Golden-crowned Kinglet, 28. Total, 11 species, 139
individuals.—E. Chesley Allen and Harrison F. Lewis.
Amprlor, Ont.—Dec. 26; 9.30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Clear; 16 in. of snow; wind northwest,
strong; temp. 12° to 20°. Canada Ruffed Grouse, i; Hairy Woodpecker, 2; Evening
Grosbeak, 31; White-breasted Nuthatch, 2; Red-breasted Nuthatch, i; Black-capped
Chickadee, 20. Total, 6 species, 57 individuals. A Northern Shrike was observed on the
27th. Winter visitors, in general, are very few this winter. Ch.arles Macnamara
and LiGUORi Gormley.
London, Ont. (vicinity ofj.—Dec. 26; 2.30 to 5 p.m. Overcast; 8 in. of snow; wind
west, fresh; temp, about 26°. Downy Woodpecker, 2; American Crow, 10; Snow Bunting,
200; Tree Sparrow, 12; Slate-colored Junco, 2; Cardinal (male) i; White-breasted Nuthatch,
I ; Black-capped Chickadee, 6. Total, 8 species, 234 individuals. A female Card-
inal has also been around all winter. John C. Higgins and E. M. S. D.\le.
London, Ont. (vicinity of).—Dec. 28; 8 to 11 a.m. Overcast; 8 to 10 in. of snow;
very little wind; temp, about 28°. Ruffed Grouse, i; Screech Owl, i (heard at night);
Kingfisher, i; Downy Woodpecker, 3; Blue Jay, 3; American Crow, 2,000 to 3,000;
(18)
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