The 106th Ottawa-Gatineau CBC was held December 15, 2024. Temperatures ranged from -14.9 to -6.4 degrees Celsius, skies were most cloudy, with only a few centimetres of snow on the ground; waterways were partly frozen.

171 field observers plus 25 feeder watchers found 77 species and a 42,855 individual birds. The most abundant bird was, again, American Crow. We produced a roost count of 25,000 birds, down several thousand from the previous year, but the effort was hampered by more birds than usual coming into the roost well after dusk.

Highlights included Northern Pintail, 2 Green-winged Teal (ties record high), 5 Greater Scaup, Common Loon, 2 Lesser Black-backed Gulls, Northern Saw-whet Owl, an amazing 4 Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers, an equally amazing 7 Eastern Bluebirds (third record), White-crowned Sparrow, Baltimore Oriole (third record), and Pine Warbler (second record).

There were record highs for Eastern Screech Owl (6), Common Raven (181), and White-throated Sparrow (62). Hooded Merganser (40), Winter Wren (3), and Carolina wren (7) tied record highs. Red-winged Blackbird (3) and Common Grackle put in their first appearances in a while.

Winter finches were near non-existent (10 Pine Siskin and 1 Evening Grosbeak); and numbers were low, too, for Bohemian Waxwing (6). Cedar Waxwing (13), and Purple Finch (18). On the other hand, birds such as Winter Wren, Hermit Thrush (6), Northern Flicker (3), and Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, once very rare in the winter, are becoming regular winter birds for us. Dark-eyed Junco (950) and Northern Cardinal (790) were very close to record highs. Winter birding in Ottawa sure has changed!

Red-necked Grebe, Double-crested Cormorant, Snowy Owl, and Red-bellied Woodpecker were observed during the count week but not on the count day itself.

The Ottawa-Gatineau Christmas Bird Count is a joint effort of the Ottawa Field-Naturalists’ Club (OFNC) and the Club des ornithologues de l’Outaouais (COO). My thanks to the participants, the sector leaders, and especially my co-compiler, Daniel Toussaint of the C.O.O.

Bernie Ladouceur

Full Details of the Results are available at CBC 2024