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!