THUNDER BAY -- Nicholas Escott saw a huge murder at Mission Marsh but little more on Boxing Day -- and he's at a loss to explain why.
Other than the hundreds of crows taking flight through the whipping wind and snow, the Christmas Bird Count compiler had little to report after spending the morning behind binoculars, scanning the waterfront.
"Today, we've seen very little because the weather's not very good. I think most of the birds have left our area," he said.
"You'd think some of the birds would stick around later into the season but they've mostly disappeared. We don't have a lot of birds hanging around, despite the mild weather."
Escott has spent Boxing Day counting birds every year since 1984 and the lack of airborne life made the 2015 count a statistical anomaly.
He was hopeful the day would be more fruitful for the other 14 teams scattered across a 15-kilometre radius surrounding the juncture of the Thunder Bay and Harbour expressways.
"We're going to have to see what everyone else is seeing but certainly down here on the waterfront where there's very little snow cover, there aren't very many birds around. But we might find inland in the snowier areas that there might be more. We have a lot of different habitats that we cover."
