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By Jeremy Bensette

Thanks again to everyone who participated in the Lakeshore Christmas Bird Count on January 3, 2026.

We had a great birding day with relatively comfortable winter conditions, safe roads, and some nice socializing with some participants attending the group breakfast and/or late afternoon dinner. While we did not experience last year’s strong wind, or rain/snow, the cold temperature and ice on Lake St Clair presented a bit of a birding challenge. Despite these winter conditions, we had another very successful count! See below for some highlight finds, and a complete list of birds found. 

We counted a total of 71 species (plus one additional count week sp.) and 13130 individual birds this year. This year’s species count appears to be the third highest ever (74 remains the highest from two separate previous counts: 2025-01-04 and 2009-12-14), and it is significantly higher than the 22-year average count of approx 60 species since this CBC was first recorded in year 2000. The great participation by 18 birders was surely a major factor in this year’s success.

One particularly exciting highlight was new for the all-time Lakeshore CBC list: 

Two Black-crowned Night Herons were found in Area 1. This is typically only a warm season resident in the area, and relatively scarce at that. A great find for the first time in this Christmas Bird Count! 

Other notable finds include: 

• Snow Goose (3rd ever for count) 
  • American Wigeon (4th) 
  • Green-winged Teal (6th) 
  • Short-eared Owl (2nd)
  • Merlin (5th) 
  • Peregrine (5th) 
  • Tufted Titmouse (5th)
  • Ruby-crowned Kinglet (3rd)
  • Eastern Bluebird (2nd) 
  • Fox Sparrow (4th)

There were quite a few species with highest ever counts for this CBC. New highest counts include: 

• Canada Goose (5506, prev high 5500)
  • Hooded Merganser (92, prev high 83) 
  • Cooper’s Hawk (13, previous high 10) 
  • Northern Harrier (9, prev high 4) 
  • Bald Eagle (36, prev high 23) 
  • Great Horned Owl (5, prev high 2)  
  • Red-bellied Woodpecker (19, prev high 17)
  • Downy Woodpecker (73, prev high 70) 
  • Northern Flicker (9, prev high 6) 
  • Merlin (3, prev high 2) 
  • Blue Jay (156, prev high 130)
  • Red-breasted Nuthatch (15, prev high 10)  
  • Hermit Thrush (3, prev high 2)

Perhaps the most surprising miss of this year’s count was Lesser Scaup, which has been found on 16 of the previous 21 Lakeshore CBCs. 

Thank you all for working together on a superb Lakeshore CBC! I look forward to another great count next year. If anyone would like to volunteer a space within the count circle to have an end-of-day compilation for next year’s count, we would be most appreciative. There is much time between now and then to figure this out. 

By: Jeremy Hatt

The 20^th Holiday Beach CBC took place on December 27 with 29 volunteers counting a total of 82 species and 62,905 individual birds. This is the third highest species total since the Count was started in 2005. Previous high counts are 94 (set in 2024) and 88 (set in 2023). This is a testament to the volunteers who put an exceptional effort into covering their areas and inspecting large flocks of birds closely for that one special species mixed in.

Temperatures ranged from 0-2C and skies were cloudy all day but luckily there wasn’t any rain (the days before and after the Count were miserable!). There was a light east wind throughout the day.

Cooler temperatures leading up to the Count meant that all inland waters were mostly frozen. However, Lake Erie and the Detroit River were open and significant numbers of waterfowl were scattered across the lake off of Holiday Beach and at the river mouth. No snow cover was present on the day of the Count. Tundra Swans (4,188), Canada Geese (10,548), and Mallards (8,206) were present in particularly impressive numbers. Winter conditions following the count have pushed most of these birds even further south; as in January and February, most of the waters of Lake St. Clair, Erie, and the Detroit River were completely frozen.

One bit of fortune in 2025 is that Boblo Island finally allowed access to Kory Renaud and me to bird there during the Count. This was the first time since 2019 that we’ve been able to cover the island, and subsequently, all the areas of the CBC. From the Covid-19 pandemic to construction on the middle portion of the island, access had previously been restricted. Birding the island helps give a fuller, more accurate snapshot of the birds present during the Count. Highlights from Boblo Island included large numbers of waterfowl just south of White Sands Conservation Area including 1,160 Canada Geese, 900 Tundra Swans, 260 Mallards, 1,500 Canvasback, and 2,500 Redhead. Three separate Ruby-crowned Kinglets were tallied from the south end of the island and 45 Black-capped Chickadees!

Highlights of the rest of the Count Circle included 2 Cackling Geese, 1 Long-tailed Duck, 1 Green-winged Teal (difficult on this Count), a Turkey Vulture soaring over Amherstburg (very few have attempted overwintering in Essex County this year), 5 Red-shouldered Hawks, 1 American Coot, 1 Iceland Gull, 1 Eastern Phoebe, 1 Gray Catbird, 3 Yellow-rumped Warblers (often missed on this Count), and 3 Field Sparrows. Once again, as we entered January and February and much harsher winter conditions, many of these species have not been reported since!

Several high counts were broken this year:

Trumpeter Swan – 7 (previous high of 4)

Tundra Swan – 4,188 (previous high of 1,505 set last year)

Mallard – 8,206 (previous high of 4,544)

American Wigeon – 42 (tied record set last year)

Redhead – 2,676 (previous high of 1,730)

Common Goldeneye – 1,301 (previous high of 318)

Blue Jay – 239 (previous high of 227)

Winter Wren – 8 (previous high of 6)

European Starling – 3,285 (previous high of 3,086)

Brown-headed Cowbird – 1,072 (previous high of 954)

Notable misses on the Count included Snow Goose, Hooded Merganser, Ruddy Duck, Double-crested Cormorant, Sandhill Crane, Great Black-backed Gull, Long-eared Owl, Peregrine Falcon, Horned Lark, Marsh Wren, Fox Sparrow, Rusty Blackbird, and Pine Siskin.

Many thanks to all the dedicated Area Leaders and volunteers for another great count and to Kory and Sarah Renaud for graciously hosting another excellent roundup. Special thanks to those who helped w/ the tally at the roundup.

Jeremy Hatt

By: Jeremy Hatt

The second Comber CBC took place on December 21, 2025. 22 keen participants volunteered for the Count this year, up from the 16 intrepid birders who covered the CBC in its inaugural year in 2024. Almost everyone who participated joined for a casual roundup at A&W in Comber to go over the results and discuss the highs (best birds, camaraderie) and lows (agonizing misses, the cold) of the Count. It was great to see many new faces on the Count along with the dedicated returning Area Leaders.  

The Comber CBC circle spans across Essex and Chatham-Kent Counties and includes several birding hotspots including Ruscom Shores Conservation Area, The Trans Canada Trail from Staples to Comber, Big ‘O’ Conservation Area, Comber Sewage Lagoons, Rowsom’s Tilbury West Conservation Area, Tremblay Beach Conservation Area, Stoney Point Sewage Lagoons, Tilbury Sewage Lagoons, Northside Park, and several parkettes along the Lake St. Clair shoreline.

The day saw a mix of partially cloudy and sunny skies with temperatures between -7C and -3C and moderate 20k/h west winds. Most inland waters and most of the edge of Lake St. Clair were completely frozen, which was very similar to the lake conditions during the 2024 Count. Very little snow was present on the ground.

A total of 65 species and 16,658 individuals were counted. This was several species down from the 2024 total of 76, which will likely be forever difficult to beat. It will be hard to recapture the magic of that first year!

The best birds of the count were Snow Goose and Glaucous Gull. Other highlights included 2,175 Canada Geese, 3,124 Tundra Swans, 402 Mallards, a Peregrine Falcon eating a Common Goldeneye, 384 Common Mergansers, 626 Mourning Doves, 36 Great Blue Herons, 1 Rough-legged Hawk, 8 Short-eared Owls, 1 Belted Kingfisher, 2,489 American Crows, 1 Northern Shrike, 1,710 House Sparrows, 802 Dark-eyed Juncos, and 5 Fox Sparrows.

Seven new species were added to the Count: Snow Goose, White-winged Scoter, Bufflehead, Peregrine Falcon, Pine Siskin, Rusty Blackbird, and Yellow-rumped Warbler.

Winter finch numbers were low again during the 2025 Count. Without snow, Horned Lark and Snow Bunting numbers were much lower than during the 2024 Count (Snow Buntings were almost absent!). The frozen waters of Lake St. Clair made it difficult to get a higher diversity of waterfowl and gull numbers were much lower than in 2024. Raptors were once again found in good numbers throughout the Circle, though, including Northern Harrier, Red-tailed Hawk, Cooper’s Hawk, and Bald Eagle.

Notable misses included Cackling Goose, Mute Swan, Redhead, Lesser Scaup, Hooded Merganser, Ruddy Duck, Sandhill Crane, Great Black-backed Gull, Double-crested Cormorant, Red-shouldered Hawk, Eastern Phoebe (CW), Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Eastern Bluebird, Hermit Thrush, Cedar Waxwing, Purple Finch, Field Sparrow, and Common Grackle.

In just its second year, volunteers are already beginning to notice certain trends and becoming better acquainted with the unique spots to bird in their areas. Even though we haven’t even gotten out of this winter, I’m already excited for next year’s Count!