Informally Birding the Holiday Beach CBC

(Note:This is an old posting from Dec 27th that I never got around to publishing until today)

Holiday Beach (in Amherstburg) had its CBC on Dec 27, 2012. I had participated in last's year's CBC but this year, I couldn't commit to the full morning. I still wanted to get out there though in the early afternoon, even just to walk the area on my own and enjoy the nice weather. As I approached Holiday Beach, I noticed a several fields with Snow Buntings and Horned Larks, and got a quick glimpse of at least two Lapland Longspurs (see photo above).

Here are some of the birds I saw while informally birding HBMO-CBC*:

Amherstburg side roads leading to HBMO
75 Snow Buntings
50 Horned Larks
2 Lapland Longspurs

Holiday Beach Memorial Forest
1 Northern Harrier
2 Red tailed Hawks
10 Black capped Chickadees
4 Red breasted Nuthatches
3 Tundra Swans (flyover)

HBMO Main Forest Pathway
6 White throated Sparrows
2 Downy Woodpeckers
1 Red bellied Woodpecker
3 Red breasted Nuthatches
1 Hermit Thrush
3 Northern Cardinals
3 American Goldfinches
1 Carolina Wren

On the way home, I took a detour through Harrow and found the following:

4 American Kestrels
2 Northern Shrikes
1 Short eared Owl
1 Rough legged Hawk
4 Red tailed Hawks
120 Snow Buntings
30 Morning Doves

Northern Shrike !

And another Northern Shrike !

I was really excited about seeing a Northern Shrike again today, and then, another shortly after! I totally missed seeing one in 2011... They are so rare in my opinion but this is my third this month! Hermit Thrush and Fox Sparrow** were pretty nice to see, not mega-rarities, but still good birds to see in the last week of December.

I plan on doing a 2012 year in review as my first posting in 2013.  I will also try to join the Detroit River (Ojibway Park) CBC on Jan 1 2013.  Happy New Year!

Good birding!
Dwayne

*PS:I am going to officially start using Ebird in 2013.

**PSS: On boxing day, we had a really nice snowstorm, so I figured I would head over to Ojibway Park to see if I could get some nice photos in the snow. The usual feeder birds were present, (House Finch, Tufted Titmouse, Cardinals etc) but to my astonishment, a Fox Sparrow perched into a tree next to the feeders where I was standing!