Sparrows on the wane

Snow Geese Chen caerulescens

Hairy Woodpecker Picoides villosus

American Robin Turdus migratorius

  Popped through the cemeteries on a lovely brisk morning the other day. The headline story for me was a complete absence of sparrows except for two forlorn singletons seen right before leaving. Dark-eyed Junco numbers were also way down, while more woodpeckers were seen out and about.

Mount-Royal Cemetery, (Notre-Dame-des-Neiges Cemetery), November 4, 2017
Snow Goose-(123 in one skein quite high up, heading SSW in the early morning)
Canada Goose-133 lower down, also heading roughly SSW in smaller wedges, in late morning
Cooper’s Hawk-(1)
Red-tailed Hawk-1 vizzed south over Mount Royal
Ring-billed Gull-(2 near Decelles – They count! They count!)
Downy Woodpecker-6 (5)
Hairy Woodpecker-5 (4)
American Crow-25+ (11)
Common Raven-1 heard
Black-capped Chickadee-12+ (9)
Brown Creeper-1
White-breasted Nuthatch-2 (3)
Red-breasted Nuthatch-1
Winter Wren-1 in G4
Golden-crowned Kinglet-1 in A3
Ruby-Crowned Kinglet-1 just north of the cannons
Hermit Thrush-1 (1)
American Robin-12+ foraging on the ground and woods of Mountain View
Northern Cardinal-7 (2)
Chipping Sparrow-1 near the north entrance – first I’ve seen since a single bird on October 25
White-throated Sparrow-1 near the north entrance
Dark-eyed Junco-20+ (10)
American Goldfinch-6+ (4+)
Purple Finch-9 on Mountain View
+1 Red Fox