NorthernCanada

at, NunavutC.B.C. 1 Jan(fide MS). WOODPECKERSTHROUGH RankinInlet, Nunavut reported the WEAVERFINCHES onlyRock Ptarmigan, with 4 on 27 A PileatedWoodpecker seen during count Dec (fideBZ), and the onlySharp- weekin Yellowknife,NWT (fideVJ) provided tailed Grouse recorded were at Nor- a rare winter record. A Northern Shrike, mal Wells, NWT, with 4 on 27 Dec scarcein winter,was noted at ShallowBay, s. (fideRP). Yukon2 Dec(CM). A Steller'sJay at Tagish,s. A lateBald Eagle was seen during Yukon14 Feb+ (CA, CR) may be the same an aerial moosesurvey near the onethat has been seen in thearea for thepast Northwest Territories/Alberta bor- fewyears. lt• a lonelylife for the single Black- der w. of Ft. Smith, NWT 12 Dec billedMagpie in NormanWells, NWT, which (LG). The Yukon'sever-reliable win- hasbeen counted on the C.B.C.for thepast teringpair of BaldEagles was right five years(RP). Yellowknifecontinues its on cueat McintyreCr. for the 26 reignas the Region's"Raven Capital," with a Dec Whitehorse C.B.C. (CE) countof 1218on the2 JanC.B.C. (fide VJ); Northern Goshawks seen in the Whitehorsewas a closerunner-up, with 1075 Sahturegion, NWT includedone on 9 Decat on 26 Dec(fide WN); andNunavut• highest ProhibitionCr., one eatinga freshlykilled totalwas turned in by CambridgeBay, 300 km SnowshoeHare 7 Jan at VermillionCr., and n. of the Arctic Circle, with 54 on 14 Dec oneon 6 Febat NormanWells airport (RP). (BZ).Nunavut participants in theGreat Back- love the snow. The same is true for Unusualin winterwas a dark-morphGyrhl- yardBird Count (17-20 Feb)from Artic Bay, northernortherners birdsput thatup withuse snow the cold to theirbut con at Norman Wells 7 Jan (DF). Southern lqualuit, and Kugluktukreported Common advantageto surviveintensely cold condi- Yukonseemed poised for a strongshowing of Ravenas the lone speciesseen (fide GBBC tions. The delight that greetedsouthern NorthernHawk Owls until the rapidmelt in website).Mountain Chickadee is highlylocal- Yukon'scopious late-fall snow turned to dis- beliefwhen an earlyDecember melt setin. The remainderof the winter sawvery little snow,with one nastycold snaptoward the end of the season. Northwest Territories ex- periencedthe warmest winter on record:tem- peraturesfor the periodwere about 6ø C aboveaverage, with theSlave River valley in the southeastexperiencing the greatestin- crease over seasonal norms. A few unusual birdrecords may be attributableto thesetem- peratures.Our appredation,as always,goes to the diligent contributorswho seek out signsof birdlife duringthe long dark season. WATERFOWLTHROUGH OWLS The traditionalwintering flock of Mallardsat Mcintyre Cr. wetlandsin Whitehorse,s. Yukon numbered 22 on 26 Dec (CE). A male LesserScaup at Carcross,s. Yukon9-17 Dec (CE;HG, RH; DK; PS)provided a rarewinter record. A count of 9 Common Eiders was madeon the Rankin Inlet, Nunavut C.B.C. 27 TheYukon's first Northern Mockingbtrd, discovered inWhitehorse inNovember 2005, proved elusive until 19 December, when Dec (BZ). The waters below the Whitehorse it finallyposed for this photograph. Apparently, it survived until mid-January. Photograph byCameron O.Eckert. dam,s. Yukonhave proven to be the Region's winterhotspot for Barrow's Goldeneye; an ad. earlyDec severely reduced the snow cover; as ized in the Region, occurringonly in s. maleseen there 29 Dec-31Jan (BB; ph. HG) snowconditions slowly improved, a fewwere Yukon;C.B.C. totals this yearincluded 5 in providedthe only reportof the season.Yel- seen in the Whitehorse area, and 3 were Carcross17 Dec(fide DK), oneat MarshLake 1owknife'ssurprise C.B.C. bird was a loneBuf- recordedon the HainesJunction C.B.C. 27 18 Dec (fideHG), 3 in Whitehorse26 Dec fieheadon theYellowknife R. 2 Jan(fide VJ). Dec (fideDH). In NorthwestTerritories, sin- (fideWN), andone in HainesJunction on 27 The countof 58 Willow Ptarmiganon the gle NorthernHawk Owls were reportedat Dec (fideDH). A Red-breastedNuthatch, a NormanWells C.B.C. 27 Dec (RP) wasup Norman Wells the last week of Dec (RP), at winterrarity in NorthwestTerritories, was at slightlyfrom previous years and furnished th.e HayRiver for much of thewinter (BL), and at Ft. Smiththrough the season (SS, WS). high total for the NorthwestTerritories Ft. Simpson25 & 27 Feb (PK, RK;JT). A It hasbeen just over 10 years since the last counts.The Willow Ptarmigan count (7) nar- SnowyOwl, first seenin Nov,lingered long winter reportof Golden-crownedKinglet; rowlyedged out CommonRaven (4) as the enoughto providea C.B.C.record at Norman thisyear, a countof 5 wasmade on the Car- morecommon of thetwo species on the Arvi- Wells, NWT 27 Dec (RP). crossC.B.C. 17 Dec (fideDK), and 5 were

246 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS NORTHERNCANADA I

(fideDT); however,both Hoary and Common Redpollsbecame much less common as win- terprogressed. A flock of a dozenHoary Red- pollson 11 Dec wasthe onlynon-raven re- portfrom lqaluit, Nunavut during this period (MM). It is not dear if 2 Pine Siskinsseen 26 Feb in Teslin,s. Yukon(BeS) were wintering birdsor earlyspring migrants. House Spar- rowsare found in just a fewsettlements in the Region,as evidenced by C.B.C.totals of 48 in Ft. Simpson,NWT 17 Dec (fideDT), 201 in Yellowknife,NWT 1 Jan (fideVJ), and 13 in Arviat, Nunavut 1Jan (MS).

Contributors(subregional editors in bold- face):Clay Anderson, Brian Bell, George Bet- saka,Justin Carte, SteveCatto, CameronEck- err, Dave Fowler,Helmut GrOnberg,Libby Gunn, Rick Halladay,David Henry,Vicky Johnston, Dan Kemble, Paul Kraft, Robin Kraft,Maria Ledergerber,Bea Lepine, Mark Mallory, Clay Martin, John McKinnon, ThisSong Sparrow, first seen in Whitehorse inautumn 2005 (here 16 December), provided the Yukon's first winter record and wasa hardybird, surviving a cold spell with t•mperatures down to -40 degrees C PhotographbyCameron D.Eckert. WendyNixon, Mark O'Donoghue,Jen Olsen, CllveOsbourne, Katie Ostrom, Gerry Perrier, notedon the lowerslopes of MontanaMt. at (ph. CE; HG) and a White-throatedSparrow RichardPopko, Claudia Rector, Arla Repka, Carcross28 Feb(ph. CE). TheYukon's winter 26 Dec-18 Jan (MW; ph. HG; AR; HS). BenSchonewille (BeS), Michael Setterington, prize,a NorthernMockingbird, first spotted White-crownedSparrow reports, all from s. Alex Simmons,Carolyn Simmons, Pam Sin- 13 Nov, finally stayedin one place long Yukon, included an imm. in Whitehorse 8 enoughfor a photograph19 Dec(ph. CE,PH, Dec+(BAS, BoS; HG), anad. near Shallow Bay HG); it wasseen infrequently through 14Jan 1 Dec+ (CM, KO), and an ad. in Whitehorse (CE; GP; AS, CS) but not thereaftenThe Re- 26 Dec(CO, HG). Dark-eyedJuncoswere re- ginn'sonly reported American Robin lingered portedin smallnumbers in the Whitehorse longenough to berecorded on the Ft. Smith, area and Teslin,s. Yukon;elsewhere in the Re- NWT C.B.C. 19 Dec (JM). Bohemian gion,'• wererecorded on the NormanWells Waxwingswintered in Ft. Simpson,NWT, C.B.C.27 Dec (fideRP); 3 wereat Nahanni where16 wereon the C.B.C.17 Dec(JC, JO). Butte,iNWT throughthe winter (GB, MV); Largeflocks of manyhundreds of Bohemian onewas recorded on the Mayo,cen. Yukon Waxwingsseen in Whitehorse,s. Yukon from C.B.C.29 Dec(fide MOD); andmost impres- late fall throughearly winter had all but dis- sive was one that survived all winter in Daw- appearedby the 26 DecC.B.C4 a latewinter son, cen. Yukon, where temperaturesgot down to -46 ø C (ML). Small numbersof Snow Buntingswere reported acrosss. Yukon throughthe season. A PineGrosbeak was picked from the top of a sprucetree and eatenby a Common Ravenin Whitehorse,s. Yukon 16 Feb (MW). Thebumper crop of WhiteSpruce cones like- ly contributedto higher-than-averagenum- Adramatic early December melt likely made life difficult bers of Pine Grosbeaksaround Hay River, forthe numerous Northern Hawk Owls that turned up in southernYukon in latefall 2005.A few,suda as this o•e NWT (BL) and Ft. Simpson,NWT (DT, photographed7 January 2006 at Whitehorse, toughed m.ob.). Red Crossbillswere seenin higher- it out and remainedin the area for the winter. than-normalnumbers through the seasonin PhotographbyCarneron D.Eckert. Extremelyrare in winter, a few6olden-crewned Kinglets Whitehorsee. to Teslin,s. Yukon.The abun- were noted aroundCarcross in southernYukon in winter dantWhite Spruce cone crop in s. Yukonand dair, SusanStarling, Wayne Starling, Helen 2005-2006(here 28 February 2006). sw.Northwest Territories attracted high num- Stuart, Barbara Studds (BAS), Bob Studds PhotographbyCameran D.Eckert. bers of White-wingedCrossbills. Redpoll (BoS),Douglas Tare (Northwest Territories), flockof 30 in Dawson28 Feb(ML) mayhave numberswere very low throughoutmuch of JonathanTsetso, Morris Vital Mary Whitley, beena vanguardof spring. the Yukon,and the typicallate-winter build- BrianZawadski. • Rare sparrowsin Whitehorse,s. Yukon up nevermaterialized. Hoary Redpollswere werea SongSparrow first reported in latefall commonin Ft. Simpson,NWT in earlywin- CameronD. Eckert, 1402 Elm Street, Whitehorse, Yukon, that apparentlysurvived through the winter ter, with 216 countedon the 17 Dec C.B.C. Y1A4B6, (cdeckert@northwestel.net)

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