Northern Canada

ortherners put up with the cold but love the snow.The same is true for northern birds that use snow to their advantage to survive intensely cold conditions.The delight that greeted southern Yukon's copious late-fall snow turned to disbelief when an early December melt set in.The remainder of the winter saw very little snow, with one nasty cold snap toward the end of the season.Northwest Territories experienced the warmest winter on record: temperatures for the period were about 6 ø C above average, with the Slave River valley in the southeast experiencing the greatest increase over seasonal norms.A few unusual bird records may be attributable to these temperatures.Our appredation, as always, goes to the diligent contributors who seek out signs of bird life during the long dark season.WATERFOWL THROUGH OWLS The traditional wintering flock of Mallards at Mcintyre Cr. wetlands in Whitehorse, s.Yukon numbered 22 on 26 Dec (CE).A male Lesser Scaup at Carcross, s.Yukon 9-17 Dec (CE; HG, RH; DK; PS) provided a rare winter record.A count of 9 Common Eiders was made on the Rankin Inlet, Nunavut C.B.C. 27 Dec (BZ).The waters below the Whitehorse dam, s.Yukon have proven to be the Region's winter hotspot for Barrow's Goldeneye; an ad.male seen there 29 Dec-31 Jan (BB; ph.HG) provided the only report of the season.Yel-1owknife's surprise C.B.C. bird was a lone Buffiehead on the Yellowknife R. 2 Jan (fide VJ).The count of 58 Willow Ptarmigan on the Norman Wells C.B.C. 27 Dec (RP) was up slightly from previous years and furnished th.e high total for the Northwest Territories counts.The Willow Ptarmigan count (7) narrowly edged out Common Raven (4) as the more common of the two species on the Arvi-at, Nunavut C.B.C. 1 Jan (fide MS).Rankin Inlet, Nunavut reported the only Rock Ptarmigan, with 4 on 27 Dec (fide BZ), and the only Sharp-tailed Grouse recorded were at Normal Wells, NWT, with 4 on 27 Dec (fide RP).A late Bald Eagle was seen during an aerial moose survey near the Northwest Territories/Alberta border w. of Ft. Smith, NWT 12 Dec (LG).The Yukon's ever-reliable wintering pair of Bald Eagles was right on cue at Mcintyre Cr. for the 26 Dec Whitehorse C.B.C. (CE) Northern Goshawks seen in the Sahtu region, NWT included one on 9 Dec at Prohibition Cr., one eating a freshly killed Snowshoe Hare 7 Jan at Vermillion Cr., and one on 6 Feb at Norman Wells airport (RP).Unusual in winter was a dark-morph Gyrhlcon at Norman Wells 7 Jan (DF).Southern Yukon seemed poised for a strong showing of Northern Hawk Owls until the rapid melt in WOODPECKERS THROUGH WEAVER FINCHES A Pileated Woodpecker seen during count week in Yellowknife, NWT (fide VJ) provided a rare winter record.A Northern Shrike, scarce in winter, was noted at Shallow Bay, s.Yukon 2 Dec (CM).A Steller's Jay at Tagish, s.Yukon 14 Feb+ (CA, CR) may be the same one that has been seen in the area for the past few years.lt• a lonely life for the single Blackbilled Magpie in Norman Wells, NWT, which has been counted on the C.B.C. for the past five years (RP).Yellowknife continues its reign as the Region's "Raven Capital," with a count of 1218 on the 2 Jan C.B.C. (fide VJ); Whitehorse was a close runner-up, with 1075 on 26 Dec (fide WN); and Nunavut• highest total was turned in by Cambridge Bay, 300 km n. of the Arctic Circle, with 54 on 14 Dec (BZ).Nunavut participants in the Great Backyard Bird Count (17-20 Feb) from Artic Bay, lqualuit, and Kugluktuk reported Common Raven as the lone species seen (fide GBBC website).Mountain Chickadee is highly local-The Yukon's first Northern Mockingbtrd, discovered in Whitehorse in November 2005, proved elusive until 19 December, when it finally posed for this photograph.Apparently, it survived until mid-January.Photograph by Cameron O. Eckert.early Dec severely reduced the snow cover; as snow conditions slowly improved, a few were seen in the Whitehorse area, and 3 were recorded on the Haines Junction C.B.C. 27 Dec (fide DH).In Northwest Territories, single Northern Hawk Owls were reported at Norman Wells the last week of Dec (RP), at Hay River for much of the winter (BL), and at Ft. Simpson 25 & 27 Feb (PK, RK; JT).A Snowy Owl, first seen in Nov, lingered long enough to provide a C.B.C. record at Norman Wells, NWT 27 Dec (RP).ized in the Region, occurring only in s.Yukon; C.B.C. totals this year included 5 in Carcross 17 Dec (fide DK), one at Marsh Lake 18 Dec (fide HG), 3 in Whitehorse 26 Dec (fide WN), and one in Haines Junction on 27 Dec (fide DH).A Red-breasted Nuthatch, a winter rarity in Northwest Territories, was at Ft. Smith through the season (SS, WS).It has been just over 10 years since the last winter report of Golden-crowned Kinglet; this year, a count of 5 was made on the Carcross C.B.C. 17 Dec (fide DK), and 5 were 246 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS Northern Canada ortherners put up with the cold but love the snow.The same is true for northern birds that use snow to their advantage to survive intensely cold conditions.The delight that greeted southern Yukon's copious late-fall snow turned to disbelief when an early December melt set in.The remainder of the winter saw very little snow, with one nasty cold snap toward the end of the season.Northwest Territories experienced the warmest winter on record: temperatures for the period were about 6 ø C above average, with the Slave River valley in the southeast experiencing the greatest increase over seasonal norms.A few unusual bird records may be attributable to these temperatures.Our appredation, as always, goes to the diligent contributors who seek out signs of bird life during the long dark season.WATERFOWL THROUGH OWLS The traditional wintering flock of Mallards at Mcintyre Cr. wetlands in Whitehorse, s.Yukon numbered 22 on 26 Dec (CE).A male Lesser Scaup at Carcross, s.Yukon 9-17 Dec (CE; HG, RH; DK; PS) provided a rare winter record.A count of 9 Common Eiders was made on the Rankin Inlet, Nunavut C.B.C. 27 Dec (BZ).The waters below the Whitehorse dam, s.Yukon have proven to be the Region's winter hotspot for Barrow's Goldeneye; an ad.male seen there 29 Dec-31 Jan (BB; ph.HG) provided the only report of the season.Yel-1owknife's surprise C.B.C. bird was a lone Buffiehead on the Yellowknife R. 2 Jan (fide VJ).The count of 58 Willow Ptarmigan on the Norman Wells C.B.C. 27 Dec (RP) was up slightly from previous years and furnished th.e high total for the Northwest Territories counts.The Willow Ptarmigan count (7) narrowly edged out Common Raven (4) as the more common of the two species on the Arvi-at, Nunavut C.B.C. 1 Jan (fide MS).Rankin Inlet, Nunavut reported the only Rock Ptarmigan, with 4 on 27 Dec (fide BZ), and the only Sharptailed Grouse recorded were at Normal Wells, NWT, with 4 on 27 Dec (fide RP).A late Bald Eagle was seen during an aerial moose survey near the Northwest Territories/Alberta border w. of Ft. Smith, NWT 12 Dec (LG).The Yukon's ever-reliable wintering pair of Bald Eagles was right on cue at Mcintyre Cr. for the 26 Dec Whitehorse C.B.C. (CE) Northern Goshawks seen in the Sahtu region, NWT included one on 9 Dec at Prohibition Cr., one eating a freshly killed Snowshoe Hare 7 Jan at Vermillion Cr., and one on 6 Feb at Norman Wells airport (RP).Unusual in winter was a dark-morph Gyrhlcon at Norman Wells 7 Jan (DF).Southern Yukon seemed poised for a strong showing of Northern Hawk Owls until the rapid melt in WOODPECKERS THROUGH WEAVER FINCHES A Pileated Woodpecker seen during count week in Yellowknife, NWT (fide VJ) provided a rare winter record.A Northern Shrike, scarce in winter, was noted at Shallow Bay, s.Yukon 2 Dec (CM).A Steller's Jay at Tagish, s.Yukon 14 Feb+ (CA, CR) may be the same one that has been seen in the area for the past few years.lt• a lonely life for the single Blackbilled Magpie in Norman Wells, NWT, which (MM).It is not dear if 2 Pine Siskins seen 26 Feb in Teslin, s.Yukon (BeS) were wintering birds or early spring migrants.House Sparrows are found in just a few settlements in the Region, as evidenced by C.B.C. totals of 48 in Ft.Simpson, NWT 17 Dec (fide DT), 201 in Yellowknife, NWT 1 Jan (fide VJ), and 13 in Arviat, Nunavut 1 Jan (MS).

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