The 47th Wiarton Christmas Bird Count was held on Sunday, December 19, 2021 (this was the 50th anniversary of the count, but the count was not run on three years). Temperatures ranged from between -8°C at 8:00 a.m. to and -5°C at 3:00 p.m. under bright sunny skies. A light (2-8 kph) north/northwesterly breeze made inland birding very pleasant, but the wind certainly felt stronger in exposed areas along the shore. The waters of Georgian Bay and Lake Huron were open, as were faster-flowing creeks and rivers, but most interior waterbodies had areas of thin ice cover, as did sheltered bays of Lake Huron. A few cm of snow covered the ground in most areas. Eighteen participants and three feeder watchers tallied 60 species, well above the long-term and 10-year averages of 50 and 53 species, respectively, but just shy of the record of 62 set in 2018. The total of 4,858 individual birds was also much higher than the overall (3,431) and 10-year (4,185) averages. One new species, Yellow-rumped Warbler, was recorded (although this species has been reported once before during count week). This raises the overall count-day total to 130 species (plus 6 additional count week species). Other good finds this year included Merlin (2nd-ever count), two Golden Eagles (5th count, record-high total), Northern Goshawk (15th count) and Red-winged Blackbird (5th count). Record high numbers were recorded for: Canada Goose (1,329, previous high 1,157 -- a species that was absent most years prior to 1997!); Mute Swan (23, previous high 16, another recent exploder); Black Scoter (3, ties previous high); Eastern Screech-Owl (7, ties previous, but more owling effort would undoubtedly yield much higher numbers); Pileated Woodpecker (13, previous high 12); and Dark-eyed Junco (102, crushing the previous high of 70). For the second year in a row, no grebes of any kind were observed, only the fourth time this has happened since the late 1980s. Aside from Common Merganser (only 2 compared to 47-year average of 44 and over 250 some years), there were no particularly notable low counts. Winter finches were limited to just five Pine Grosbeaks, one Pine Siskin, one Purple Finch and 58 Common Redpolls, but American Goldfinches were munching away at feeders in reasonable numbers. Thanks to all the volunteers for their efforts! Jarmo Jalava, compiler