The 16th annual Linwood Christmas Bird Count was held yesterday, December 28th. The count circle is centred on the town of Linwood, northwest of Waterloo. Conditions on the count were near ideal: temperature ranged from 0 to -3 degrees, with no precipitation and no snow cover. Conestoga Lake was completely open, only the 2nd time in the counts history of it being 100% open. A total of 40 observers gave the count excellent coverage. A record total of 63 species were observed on count day (previous record was 61 species; ave. is 53 species). Two (2) new species were recorded bringing the cumulative species total to 102 species: Cackling Goose (2 observed at Conestoga Lake) Carolina Wren (3 observed near Paradise Lake) 15,364 individual birds were observed (ave. is 12,457) Highlights: Northern Pintail - 5 (previously only recorded during count-week) Hooded Merganser - 4 (4th record) Glaucous Gull - 1 (4th record) Short-eared Owl - 2 (4th record) White-winged Crossbill - 1 White-crowned Sparrow - 6 (2nd record) There were no big misses or record lows. Woodpeckers and sparrows were in high numbers, with five (5) species recorded in record high numbers. Ken Burrell kenneth.gd.burrell@gmail.com