49th Annual Cypress River/Holland Christmas Bird Count
In 1977 a birding buddy and I did the Cypress River CBC (Christmas Bird Count) for the first time. At that time, the 15-mile diameter CBC circle included the villages of Bruxelles and St Alphonse, but a couple years later these were dropped when we moved the circle north to include Holland and a much larger portion of the Spruce Woods. Next year will mark the 50th consecutive year this count has been done, a mark that few counts in Manitoba have ever achieved. The first few years, we had just a handful of observers participating and we averaged 23 bird species per count. But as the number of participants and our knowledge of the area improved, averages increased to 34 species per count from 1985-2004 and to 40 species per count in the most recent 20 years. Our highest totals were 53 species in 2014, and nearly 7000 total birds counted in 1989.
Common species like Rock Pigeon, Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers, Blue Jay, Black-billed Magpie, Black-capped Chickadee, White-breasted Nuthatch, European Starling and House Sparrow have never or seldom been missed. Others like Gray Partridge, Sharp-tailed Grouse, Common Redpoll, Snow Bunting, Evening Grosbeak and more recently Wild Turkey, Common Raven and Eurasian-collared Dove have very rarely been missed. Other common to reasonably common winter birds that can be hard to find on any given day and often missed include Bald Eagle, Ruffed Grouse, Great Horned Owl and Snowy Owl.
Of the 83 species recorded on this count over the years, many are not expected here at all or very rare in winter. These include Snow Goose, Screech Owl, Northern Hawk-Owl, Canada Jay, Brown Thrasher, Eastern Towhee, Fox Sparrow, Song Sparrow, Chipping Sparrow, Northern Cardinal and Western Meadowlark – all have been recorded only once over 49 years. Other very rare winter birds that have only been seen 2-3 times over the years include Mallard, American Kestrel, Prairie Falcon, Short-eared Owl, Northern Flicker, American Tree Sparrow, White-crowned Sparrow and Lapland Longspur. Species that are also rare and have only been seen on 4-5 counts are Red-headed, Red-bellied, Black-backed and American Three-toed Woodpeckers, Cooper’s Hawk, Boreal Chickadee, Horned Lark, and Varied Thrush. Like the Varied Thrush, the Townsend’s Solitaire is a species that is seldom seen in Manitoba, but this species has been found on this count a total of seven times, all in the Spruce Woods sand hills.
This year, eleven participants went out and counted birds on December 22, 2025. Ken and Donald De Smet did the west part of the circle, Frank Foidart, Elaine Gaudet, Duane Diehl and Megan Hamill did the center, Glen Walleyn, Clint and Cindy Cannon did the east, and Devon Baete and Kristopher Myers did the north. It is always nice to get some new participants and this year we had three: Duane, Megan and Kristopher. Feeder watchers included Jeannie Fraser, Will and Sandra Rex.
Our final tally for the day was 35 species and 3204 total birds. One other species (White-winged Crossbill) was observed during count week (3 days before and after) but none were found on count day. All of the common to reasonably common winter birds except Snowy Owl and Ruffed Grouse were found. The two best species for the day were a Red-headed Woodpecker north of Holland and a Short-eared Owl south of Holland. We were also pleased to find 1 Northern Shrike, 1 Robin, a Common Grackle, 7 Red-winged Blackbirds and 4 Purple Finches.
Other noteworthy birds or totals included 37 Sharp-tailed Grouse, 108 Wild Turkeys, 23 Eurasian Collared-Doves, 79 American Crows, 3 Red-breasted Nuthatches, 151 Snow Buntings, 10 Pine and 45 Evening Grosbeaks, 54 Pine Siskins and 12 American Goldfinches. When we compiled numbers after the count we were surprised to discover that we had set new high totals for Gray Partridge (145) and Dark-eyed Juncos (81). Totals for others like Bald Eagles (5), Pileated Woodpeckers (4), Hairy Woodpeckers (33), Blue Jays (266), Bohemian Waxwings (332) and Cedar Waxwings (52) were among the highest in the past 10 years.
I must emphasize again that next year’s count will mark the 50th consecutive year for this CBC and we plan on doing it a few days before Christmas. If you’d like to be involved in this historic count, don’t hesitate to get a hold of one of Glen, Frank, Devon, Donald or myself (kdesmet55@gmail.com) as we always are happy to welcome new observers. Over 2500 CBCs are done throughout North and South America each year. The collective data is used to monitor species trends and CBCs are a great way to mingle with like-minded nature enthusiasts. It’s also a great way to see or learn our winter birds; you don’t even need to know how to ID them as new observers are always put with someone experienced. Lastly, a big thanks to everyone that participated and for those bird-friendly folks that help to look after the birds by keeping their feeders well stocked.
PHOTO CAPTION: The 49th annual Christmas Bird Count held in the Cypress River area on December 22, 2025 had a final tally of 3204 birds in 35 species, including 5 Bald Eagles which are considered “Common to Reasonably Common” in this area at this time of year. See page 3 for the full report. PHOTO BY SUZANNE PADDOCK
