I still don’t have the final numbers as some of the feeder watchers have not sent in their results.

Those will not likely add any species to our total so we ended up with 110 species, well above the average, and well above the 98 species that Kelowna and Penticton got.

Highlights for the day were Snow Goose-1 (5th record), Long-tailed Duck-1 (2nd record), Peregrine Falcon-1 (new to count), Rock Wren-1 (8th record), Ruby-crowned Kinglet-7 (10th record), Yellow-rumped Warbler-13 (8th record)m Fox Sparrow-1 (6th record) and Swamp Sparrow-1 (7th record).

Record high numbers were recorded for Bufflehead (293), Common Goldeneye (117), Long-eared Owl (7), Yellow-rumped Warbler (13) and Spotted Towhee (5).

Overall this year the fairly mild fall kept some of the less hardy species around in bigger numbers. The mild fall also meant more open water resulting in larger numbers of diving ducks but smaller numbers for the dabbling ducks like Mallard. Many of the local breeding species such as House Finch and chickadees are in low numbers probably indicating a poor breeding season this year.