Glenboro Spruce Woods Christmas Bird Count has lowest total in twenty years

The Glenboro – Sprucewoods Christmas Bird Count took place on December 20th. A winter storm that rolled in late in the week brought a blanket of fresh snow, and the day began with howling winds with speeds of over 50 kilometers per hour. The sky would clear and become mostly sunny as the day progressed, but the bitter wind remained throughout the daylight hours. Still water was completely frozen over, and the Assiniboine River remained frozen except for some very small openings near creek fed portions. Early Winter had been very mild, and this provided the opportunity for some species that should have migrated much earlier to linger past their departure date. The weather leading up to and on count day was miserable, and this certainly led field parties seeing fewer birds overall. Total individual birds counted for the day was 2,021, which is our lowest total in the last twenty years.

Sigried Johnson and Nora Ediger covered the count area within town. Their flock of Cedar Waxwings were the only ones of the day, and the two Common Grackle they spotted represent only the twelfth time that species has appeared on count day. Lorelie Mitchell and Myrtle Nichols covered the southeast corner of the circle, finding 7 species, a low total most likely due to the severe wind encountered throughout the day. Laurie Johnson and Frank Foidart covered the southwest section which produced 15 species. They found the only Snowy Owl of the day and an impressive flock of Snow Bunting, a striking bird that breeds on the far northern tundra but Winters here by feeding in cultivated farmland. The circle north of Glenboro was covered by three separate parties. Peter Sawatzky and Rod Noel covered the northeast portion and found 12 species. They had the count’s only Evening Grosbeaks and had a large flock of Dark-eyed Junco, which pushed us into our highest total for that species in our count’s history. Carson Rogers, Marisa Smit, and Adrielle Parlee covered the area surrounding Highway 5 from Spruce Woods Provincial Park to Glenboro. They had a count of 18 species, including Pine Grosbeaks and a Golden Eagle. The highlight of their count was finding an Eastern Bluebird, a first for the Glenboro -Spruce Woods count. Bob and Ellen Blain had 16 species covering the Northwest portion of the count area. They had an incredible count of 206 Wild Turkeys. They also managed to find a Red-winged Blackbird during count week, which is a very sporadic bird for the count and only recorded on nine previous counts.

Feeder Counts were submitted by Wendy Davidson, Joyce Wilton, Art and Wanda Richmond, and Lorelie Mitchell. The feeder counts bolstered our numbers of Eurasian-collared Doves, American Crow, and American Goldfinch, all of which were sparsely reported by the field teams. Eurasian-collared Dove is an introduced species that is superficially similar to our Mourning Doves. This species began appearing on our counts in 2008, and has steadily increased its population, appearing on every count since then with growing numbers.

Our count produced 32 species of birds, including an additional two species during count week (Great Horned Owl and Red-winged Blackbird, seen within three days before or after the official count date). This puts us right around the average total species for our count, if not slightly on the lower side. Noticeable missing species include a lack of birds of prey. Our count has not produced a hawk or falcon species for two years in a row, which is counter to the previous 13 consecutive years of producing at least one on count day. Pileated Woodpecker is a surprising absence and has not been missed on many previous counts. Purple Finch remains absent for the third year in a row, and House Finch went unreported as well despite being a fairly common bird at winter feeders. Both Crossbill species were absent, which is not entirely surprising as they have been scarce south of the boreal forest this Winter, meaning there must be a productive conifer cone crop they can subsist on up north.

The full species list and totals are as follows: 44 Gray Partridge, 1 Ruffed Grouse, 29 Sharp-tailed Grouse, 209 Wild Turkey, 1 Golden Eagle, 5 Bald Eagle, 258 Rock Pigeon, 26 Eurasian-collared Dove, 1 Snowy Owl, 11 Downy Woodpecker, 11 Hairy Woodpecker, 1 Northern Flicker, 106 Blue Jay, 23 Black-billed Magpie, 7 American Crow, 47 Common Raven, 100 Black-capped Chickadee, 5 Red-breasted Nuthatch, 18 White-breasted Nuthatch, 1 Eastern Bluebird, 125 European Starling, 55 Bohemian Waxwing, 70 Cedar Waxwing, 651 Snow Bunting, 125 Dark-eyed Junco, 2 Common Grackle, 4 Pine Grosbeak, 51 Redpoll, 151 Pine Siskin, 17 American Goldfinch, 46 Evening Grosbeak, 471 House Sparrow. Two count week species reported are Great-Horned Owl and Red-winged Blackbird.

Thank you to everyone who helped count birds for this year’s Christmas Bird Count. If you are interested in helping join one of North America’s biggest citizen science projects, we are looking for people to join field parties or submit feeder counts for our next count scheduled on December 20th, 2026.