Columbia Valley Pioneer staff
The count is in, and it looks like good news for the bird kingdom in the Columbia Valley.
The Christmas Bird Count in December (from north of Radium to south of Invermere) netted some “impressive results,” according to organizer Gareth Thomson.
“The numbers speak for themselves: 35 participants spent over 80 hours travelling 225 kilometres to count a grand total of 48 species,” he said.
The annual count is valuable data to support bird conservation, contributing to an international database which is 125 years old – reportedly the world’s longest-running citizen science initiative.
Thomson said an unusually mild fall and early winter meant more open water and contributed to some higher-than-average numbers of water-loving birds. These include 213 Canada geese, 369 mallards, 59 trumpeter swans and 27 bald eagles.
He added that mild temperatures mean that birds that usually migrate – but choose not to – can survive better, which explains the 11 robins, 56 song sparrows, and 111 Townsend solitaires sighted.
Birders also had their share of interesting visitors from the north that migrate south to the area in winter. This includes winter finches such as 81 redpolls and 139 white-winged crossbills, a bird with a uniquely twisted bill designed to pry open the scales of a cone, allowing the bird to use its tongue to extract the seed.
Other interesting winter migrants include birds that spend their summers in the Arctic tundra, included 30 snow buntings.
“One birder offered to host our evening potluck, and the good karma she earned by doing so led her to view one of the day’s most exciting birds: a rough-legged hawk.”
Thomson noted the handsome tundra-loving black and white raptor soared in full sunlight above her Wilmer home, accompanied by a raucous chorus from some excitable ravens that were not used to sharing their airspace with such a rare creature.
