The 23rd Lanark Highlands Christmas Bird Count was held on Tuesday, December 30th. Unlike last year, it definitely felt like winter with the temperature hovering at around minus 14 deg under mostly cloudy skies. The winds held steady at about 22 km/hr making it feel even colder. Just to make things interesting, our existing snow cover was impacted by a bout of freezing rain the day before followed by a light dusting of snow. Snow depth ranged from 5 to 10 cm and was crunchy. Still water was frozen but running water had some open stretches. The Count is centered on Watsons Corners in Lanark County and includes the village of Lanark and the hamlets of McDonalds Corners, Hopetown and Middleville. There were 29 field observers and another 22 individuals watching 15 feeder locations. The 40 species reported was on par with the 10-yr avg of 38 but a drop from the record high of 51 recorded last year. The highlight was Black-backed Woodpecker (2), a first for this count, and a Golden Eagle (1), a species which has not been recorded in 7 years. There were no additional species reported during the count week. The grand total for the Count now stands at 84 species of which 18 have been recorded each year. While our species count was down compared to last year, the total of 3820 birds tabulated represented a 25% increase and was also greater than the 10-yr avg of 3506. The one other highlight was a record high number of Red-bellied Woodpeckers (4). This species was only reported once in the first twenty years of the Count, but has been recorded every year since. A single Belted Kingfisher was also a nice surprise, marking the third time the species has been reported in the history of the Count. For the first time in four years, House Sparrows were seen but there were only two of them. In terms of winter finches: - Evening Grosbeak – 222 compared to 10 last year and the 10-yr avg of 126 - Pine Grosbeak – 41 compared to zero last year and the 10-yr avg of 11 - Purple Finch – zero again this year compared to the 10-yr avg of 3 - Redpoll – 30 (last recorded in 2021 and a 10-yr avg of 105) - Red Crossbill – zero with a 10-yr avg of 2 - White-winged Crossbill – zero reported again for the fourth count in a row compared to the 10-yr avg of 3 - Pine Siskin – 3 compared to the 10-yr avg of 28 Thanks to all the volunteers who participated, and a special thank you to Mary Vandenhoff for again hosting a great post-count social. Hope to see you all next year on December 30th. Rémy Poulin