Sightings for Thursday December 31

Beauharnois dam: 1 King Eider Observed for 1 hour. diving and feeding 100 meters from the rocky shore in front of the hydro dam, with gulls and others. Male first winter, no white visible on the wings. Black spotted white breast. White spot on the back, yellow bill and orange at the base at the end. No photo taken. Hoping that a photo will be taken!
Also 2 Canada Goose, 2 Mallard, 1 Common Merganser, 1 Double-crested Cormorant, 1 Ring-billed Gull, 25 Herring Gull, 8 Great Black-backed Gull, 120 Snow Bunting

Barrage, Beauharnois Eider à tête grise Observé pendant 1 hre. Plongeait et se nourrissait à 100 m de la berge rocheuse, en avant de la centrale, avec les goélands et autres. Mâle de 1er hiver. Aucun blanc apparent sur les ailes. Poitrine blanche tachetée noire. Spot blanc à l'arrière. Bec jaune à la base et orangé au bout. Aucune photo prise. En espérant qu'une photo sera prise! Lifer. 

Aussi 2 Bernache du Canada, 2 Canard colvert, 1 Grand Harle, 1 Cormoran à aigrettes, 1 Goéland à bec cerclé, Goéland argenté 25, 8 Goéland marin, 120 Bruant des neiges - Patrick Laniel
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Saint-Adolphe-d'Howard, intersection chemins Eagle Nest & Forest Hill: Varied Thrush / Grive à collier - Thierry Grandmont

Montreal Christmas Bird Count Report

Bird Protection Quebec conducted its annual Montreal Christmas Bird Count on December 19, 2015. These are the preliminary results of the total species and total birds seen in the Montreal count circle. One additional species, a Common Yellowthroat, was seen during the count week, on December 16. Thank you to everyone who participated.


2015 Montreal Christmas Bird Count - December 19, 2015
Summary – All Sectors

Canada Goose/Bernache du Canada 1,300
Snow Goose/Oie des neiges 16
American Black Duck/Canard noir 46
Mallard/Canard colvert 639
Gadwall/Canard chipeau 31
Northern Pintail/Canard pilet 1
Ring-necked Duck/Fuligule à collier 1
Greater Scaup/Fuligule milouinan 1,425
Lesser Scaup/Petit fuligule 100
White-winger Scoter/Macreuse brune 1
Common Goldeneye/Garrot à oeil d’or 287
Barrow's Goldeneye/Garrot d'Islande 3
Hooded Merganser/Harle couronné 92
Common Merganser/Grand Harle 154
Common Loon/Plongeon huard 1
Double-crested Cormorant/Cormoran à aigrettes 1
Cooper’s Hawk/Épervier de Cooper 9
Red-tailed Hawk/Buse à queue rousse 10
Rough-legged Hawk/Buse pattue 2
American Kestrel/Crécerelle d’Amérique 1
Merlin/Faucon émerillon 4
Peregrine Falcon/Faucon pèlerin 5
Ring-billed Gull/Goéland à bec cerclé 665
Herring Gull/Goéland argenté 112
Great Black-backed Gull/Goéland marin 85
Rock Pigeon/Pigeon biset 1,282
Mourning Dove/Tourterelle triste 53
Eastern Screech Owl/Petit-duc maculé 15
Snowy Owl/Harfang des neiges 5
Barred Owl/Chouette rayée 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker/Pic à ventre roux 1
Downy Woodpecker/Pic mineur 62
Hairy Woopecker /Pic chevelu 16
Northern Flicker/Pic flamboyant 8
Pileated Woodpecker/Grand Pic 13
Blue Jay/Geai bleu 22
American Crow/Corneille d’Amérique 453
Common Raven/Grand Corbeau 10
Black-capped Chickadee/Mésange à tête noire 534
Tufted Titmouse/Mésange bicolore 3
Red-breasted Nuthatch/Sittelle à poitrine rousse 3
White-breasted Nuthatch/Sittelle à poitrine blanche 106
Brown Creeper/Grimpereau brun 16
Carolina Wren/Troglodyte de Caroline 2
Golden-crowned Kinglet/Roitelet à couronne dorée 2
American Robin/Merle d’Amérique 268
Northern Mockingbird/Moquer polyglotte 1
European Starling/Étourneau sansonnet 1,556
Cedar Waxwing/Jaseur d’Amérique 11
Bohemian Waxwing/Jaseur boréal 4
American Tree Sparrow/Bruant hudsonien 13
Song Sparrow/Bruant chanteur 5
White-throated Sparrow/Bruant à gorge blanche 7
Dark-eyed Junco/Junco ardoisé 57
Snow Bunting/Bruant des neiges 2
Northern Cardinal/Cardinal rouge 118
Purple Finch/Roselin pourpré 3
House Finch/Roselin familier 119
American Goldfinch/Chardonneret jaune 185
House Sparrow/Moineau domestique 932
Great Blue Heron/Grand heron 2
Hermit Thrush/Grive solitaire 2
Yellow-rumped Warbler/Paruline à croupion jaune 1
Redhead/Fuligule à tete rouge 4
Canvasback/Fuligule à dos blanc 1
Bufflehead/Petit Garrot 2
Lesser Black-backed Gull/Goéland brun 1
Northern Harrier/Busard Saint-Martin 1
Red-shouldered Hawk/Buse à epaulettes 1

Total Birds 10,894
Total Species 69

Sheldon Harvey

Sightings for Saturday December 26

Terrebonne, rue St-Denis: Harris's sparrow / Bruant à gorge noire - Raymond Piché
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Longueuil:  female Hooded Warbler along the bike path at the intersection of rue Adoncourt & rue Pluviers.

Paruline à capuchon type femelle à Longueuil,  l'oiseau se tient le long de la piste cyclable à l'intersection de la rue Adoncourt et la rue Pluviers.- Louise Ladouceur
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Valleyfield, exit loop 132 & 530 MAP: Snowy owl

boucle route 132 & 530 CARTE: Harfangs des neiges - Jasmine Cantara

Sighting for Wednesday December 24

Longueuil:  female Hooded Warbler along the bike path at the intersection of rue Adoncourt & rue Pluviers.

Paruline à capuchon type femelle à Longueuil,  l'oiseau se tient le long de la piste cyclable à l'intersection de la rue Adoncourt et la rue Pluviers.- Chantal Trudel

Sighting for Wednesday December 23

Longueuil:  female Hooded Warbler along the bike path at the intersection of rue Adoncourt & rue Pluviers.

Paruline à capuchon type femelle à Longueuil,  l'oiseau se tient le long de la piste cyclable à l'intersection de la rue Adoncourt et la rue Pluviers. - Raymond Belhumeur, Lucien Lemay

Sightings for Tuesday December 2

Longueuil:  female Hooded Warbler The bird was along the bike path in the partially flooded, wooded area of Pratt and Whitney.  map

Paruline à capuchon type femelle à Longueuil,  l'oiseau se tient le long de la piste cyclable dans le boisé partiellement inondé de la Pratt and Whitney. CARTE

Sightings for Friday December 18

Longueuil:  Daniel Daignault at noon found a female Hooded Warbler on rue Lacombe at the corner of rue Lacoste. The bird was along the bike path in the partially flooded, wooded area of Pratt and Whitney. Yves Gauthier and I have seen it about 2:30 p.m.. Good luck and please respect the code of ethics. This is an incredible first, in December. Samuel Denault

Daniel Daigneault a trouvé ce midi une Paruline à capuchon type femelle à Longueuil sur la rue Lacombe au coin de la rue Lacoste. L'oiseau se tient le long de la piste cyclable dans le boisé partiellement inondé de la Pratt and Whitney. Yves Gauthier et moi l'avons revu vers 14:30. Bonne chance à tous et prière de respecter le code d'éthique. Il s'agit d'une incroyable première en décembre. - Samuel Denault

Montreal Christmas Bird Count - Dec. 19, 2015

A few more people needed

We are in need of a few extra bodies for the field teams for the Montreal Christmas Bird Count on December 19, 2015.

We are particularly looking for people to place on field teams covering the following areas:

South Shore - Sector 4 - Ste-Catherine Locks/Recre-o-parc/& points west along the Seaway dyke to Land's End on Kahnawake Territory

Montreal Downtown - Sector 2 - Westmount/Westmount Summit/Villa-Maria/Town of Mount Royal

It's not necessary to have participated in previous Christmas Counts. You will be placed with team leaders who are experienced and will help you along the way. It is a fun day of birding and you are playing an important role in one of the largest citizen science events of the year.

If you would like to participate, please contact me by e-mail at or on the BPQ phone line at 514-637-2141 as soon as possible and we'll get you set up.

Thanks

Sheldon Harvey

Bird Protection Quebec "Monthly Lecture, Meeting"

The Role of Intelligence and Personality in Avian Responses to Environmental Challenges 

Studies on Innovation and Learning in Wild Paridae (Chickadees and Tits)
A Presentation by Dr Julie Morand-Ferron

Monday, December 7, 7:30 p.m. 

Kensington Presbyterian Church 

6225 Godfrey Ave, NDG

Animal populations can respond to environmental changes by changing their morphology, physiology or behaviour. Behavioural changes are especially important when responding to modern challenges resulting from human impact on the environment, such as climate change or urbanization, because behaviours can be adjusted quickly and fine-tuned to the current context with great precision. I will present different forms of behavioural plasticity exhibited by birds, with an accent on learning, memory and innovation, as well as associated personality traits. I will summarize some of our research on fitness consequences of the ability to solve novel problems in European tits of Oxford, UK, and on the effect of urbanization on the behaviour of Black-capped Chickadees in Ottawa. I will explain why behaviourally flexible birds such as members of the Paridae family are useful models to study the evolution of intelligence, and how this research can help understand why some species seem to thrive rather than decline in perturbed, rapidly changing environments.

Dr Julie Morand-Ferron is an assistant professor of Biology at the University of Ottawa, with an expertise in animal behaviour and ecology. The major goal of her research is to understand how cognitive processes, such as learning and decision-making, are shaped by natural selection. Her research is focused on avian foraging and social behaviour, using experiments in the field and in aviaries, as well as comparative methods. She uses an integrated approach, drawing from behavioural ecology, evolutionary ecology and experimental psychology.