The 17th Collingwood Christmas Bird Count (ONCO) was held on Dec. 28th. Weather was good for predawn owling and through the morning until midday, when the freezing rain started. The rain didn't relent and most of the field teams suspended their count shortly after noon resulting in a much shorter count period than would be typical. A total of 20 field counters and 12 feeder watchers tallied a total of 51 species this year, below the long-term average of 58 and well below the high count of 67 species, achieved in 2022. The total number of individual birds this year, at 4,805, is also well below the long-term average of 6,412. However, these results are surprisingly close to what we achieved in 2024 (51 species, 4706 individual birds). The lower species count can largely be attributed to not finding many of the species that often linger in low numbers in the area into late December. As per last year, the overall low number of individuals can be partially attributed to very low counts of a few common and typically abundant species (geese, gulls, pigeons and starlings) with below average counts for some waterfowl species, doves, crows and House sparrows also contributing. Notable misses included Long-tailed Duck, Ring-necked Duck, Great Black-backed Gull, Glaucous Gull, and Cedar Waxwing. On the other hand, we had record high counts for a number of winter residents: Hairy and Pileated woodpeckers; Bald Eagle; Red-breasted Nuthatch; Dark-eyed Junco and American Goldfinch, as well as two waterfowl species: Mallard and Bufflehead. The species count across all years remains at 107, as we didn't add any new species in 2025. We did have three 'Unusual Species' which have only been recorded infrequently: Double-crested Cormorant (2nd occurrence), Pine Grosbeak (4th occurrence) and Evening Grosbeak (2nd occurrence). Thanks to all the volunteer counters for their enthusiastic efforts once again this year. Ted Down Collingwood ON