QUEBEC
Marcel Darveau

The 101st Christmas Bird Count is likely to be engraved in the memory of Quebec participants for two opposite reasons: the excitement resulting from working with Bird Studies Canada and becoming a region and the disappointment resulting from very bad weather conditions before and during the count period.

Twenty-six counts were done in Quebec this year, plus the Ottawa-Hull count that is done half in Quebec and half in Ontario (assigned to Ontario region). Three counts were new: Havre-St-Pierre, Matapédia, and St-Jean-sur-Richelieu. From a national point of view, Quebec has a low per capita performance of one count per 270,000 inhabitants, compared the Canadian average of one count per 11,000 inhabitants.

All 26 Quebec counts were done between 14-30 December. The most popular census period was the weekend of 16-17 December (12 & 5 counts, respectively). The counts done on December 17 all reported lower bird numbers and sampling effort due to a heavy rainstorm.

In total, 468 observers grouped in 222 teams in the field, along with 124 observers at feeders, participated to the counts. Quebec city remained the count with highest number of field observers (54), but that number was less the half of their last year’s performance of 112 observers in the field. This resulted from postponing the count to 23 December because of the rainstorm on 17 December.

As to the birds, 134,986 individuals of 121 species were reported. Montreal had the highest numbers of birds (15,224) and species (63). No species were reported in all counts, but Snow Bunting was observed on 25/26 counts whereas Rock Dove, Mourning Dove, Hairy Woodpecker, Black-capped Chickadee, European Starling, and American Goldfinch were reported on 24 counts.

Number of individuals was over 10,000 in four species: European Starling (23,000), American Crow (16,000), Rock Dove (12,536), and House Sparrow (11,550). Among ducks, Mallard (4057 individuals) and Long-tailed Duck (3605) had the highest numbers, whereas Herring Gull (4332) and Great Black-backed Gull (4058) had the highest among gulls. In forest birds, Black-capped Chickadee (6826) and Blue Jay (2954) won the contest. Among irruptive species, Bohemian Waxwing was the most abundant, with 2536 individuals, of which 2055 were seen in Tadoussac. Finally, if we look at threatened species, it is encouraging to see that Tadoussac reported 393 Barrow’s Goldeneyes, eclipsing the 12-year-old mark of 235 individuals.

Provincial highlights in Quebec were: one Harris’s Sparrow in Granby, two Chipping Sparrows and one Meadowlark in Cap-Saint-Ignace, and one American Coot in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu. Locally, the presence of two Mourning Doves at Havre-Saint-Pierre deserves attention, as well as the American Green-winged Teal in Chicoutimi-Jonquière and Horned Lark in Percé. The presence of a Carolina Wren in Longueuil, a Red-shouldered Hawk in Otterburn Park, White-crowned Sparrows in Quebec and Cap-Saint-Ignace are noteworthy. A Black-crowned Night Heron was seen nearly each day in Quebec city from early December tothe day before Quebec’s count.

From one year to another, some counts have developed local specialties that they invariably report, such as Tadoussac with Bufflehead and Quebec with Common Snipe. Both were at the rendezvous this year again. Other specialties, but that do not show up each year, such as Harlequin Duck in Percé and Wild Turkey in Saint-Timothée, were seen this year again.

The spectacular irruption of Great Gray Owl, Northern Hawk Owl, and Boreal Owl that was observed in southern Quebec in winter 2000-2001 was more or less detectable at the time of the 101st CBC. Boreal Owl was not observed in any of the 26 counts. Three and two Great Gray Owls were seen in Parc Aiguebelle and Tadoussac, respectively, giving a weak evidence of the upcoming irruption. On the other hand, 12 Northern Hawk Owls shared among eight counts were a good predictor of the irruption.