Prince Edward Point Christmas Bird Count 2022 Twenty-four enthusiastic citizen scientists headed out early December 17th on the forty-sixth Prince Edward Point Christmas Bird Count. The count circle
is centered on Waupoos Island in Prince Edward Bay and stretches along the
water from Point Traverse of the Prince Edward National Wildlife Area to across
the Bay of Quinte near Adolphustown.For a count day, the weather was good. The high temperature was 2C with
only light NW winds. Snow cover ranged from none, to off and on whiteouts in
the PEPNWA.Even though the weather was good, the count of 65 species was below the
average of 67 and the total of only 6,449 birds counted was well below the
average of 31, 566. Counts of common water birds like Long-tailed Duck (957)
and Greater Scaup (0) contribute to this low tally and they were starkly lower
than their respective averages of 18,885 and 3,453. Large rafts of waterfowl
were seen off shore but were too far away to identify. Also, due to a late
cancellation, zone 3B along County Road 8, was not counted.  Except for House Finches and American Goldfinches, finches were
basically non-existent. One Great Horned Owl was found on count day.On a more positive note, the tally for American Robin at 382 was well
above the 45-year average of 147. Similarly, the 358 Cedar Waxwings was more
than twice the yearly average of 164. It was also nice to see that the count
for Bald Eagles (15) continues its upward trend from an average of only 4. Other
species that are not always seen on this count included Merlin, both Red-winged
(4) and Rusty Blackbirds (3), and Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (2). Highlights of
count week included an additional Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Hermit Thrush, and
Barred Owl.Thanks to all of the volunteers and especially to the team leaders, Paul
Mackenzie, Barry Pinsky, Amy Bodman, Greg Forbes, Cheryl Anderson, Tom Wheatley
and Tyler Hoar.Dale SmithDecember, 2022.