Bird watchers who scoured Langley, White Rock, and Surrey to help gather data on how the region’s feathered friends are faring weathered less-than-ideal elements during the latest effort, but returned with important statistics nonetheless.
“We came to a final count of 120 different species, which is a nice up from last year; the last years, actually,” said Kristina Breit, of results from the 2023 Christmas Bird Count.
“In 2022, we had just 114, and then in 2021, even less, with 112. So there was a little up this year, which is really great.
“It was definitely a good year.”
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The Christmas Bird Count – launched in 1900 – is held annually across B.C., Canada, the U.S. and sundry other countries in the Western Hemisphere. The early-winter bird census by the National Audubon Society forms one of the world’s largest sets of wildlife survey data, with the results used by conservation biologists, environmental planners and naturalists to assess bird distribution and population trends.
“There’s nothing that compares in the bigger picture,” said Breit, the new regional count co-ordinator.
Conducted with the help of volunteers, the count has been an annual tradition locally since 1971.
For the most recent survey, 73 volunteer counters took to White Rock, Surrey and Langley streets, shorelines and parks to identify and log bird numbers, while another 19 enthusiasts kept a close eye from the warmth of their homes, noting instead the number and species of birds that visited their backyard feeders.
Breit said the day’s weather always influences the count, and this year – with a “very, very” high tide in the morning and a steady drizzle throughout the day – was no different.
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While highlights were few as far as exotic winged visitors goes, Breit said one still-to-be-confirmed sighting stands out; that of a brown booby. The large seabird – native to tropical oceans, but seen previously in this area, described as the “most northern tip” of its range – was spotted on an ocean buoy off the most southern part of Peace Arch Park.
“The people who saw it were very confident about it,” said Breit.
She identified another sighting the team was “very happy” about as that of a black-crowned night heron. With only “a handful” of the species known to be in the Lower Mainland, “it’s always nice to have one on our count and in our count area,” she said.
Two whimbrels were also a highlight. The shorebird with a long, slender beak is not super rare, “but you don’t get to see them very often.”
“To have two of them was a really nice find,” Breit said.
Ducks always “kind of run the show,” Breit said, as they gather to take advantage of the region’s typically mild winter before heading north to the Interior or to the mountain lakes to breed. This year, 6,795 mallards were counted, as well as 6,123 American wigeons and 3,954 Canada geese.
Topping the count list locally were European starlings, at 7,841. Breit said the invasive species is problematic to the area, as they are aggressive and take up “a lot” of nesting habitat.
Concerning statistics are those around songbirds such as the bushtit, which have been on the decline. Where up to 700 were typically logged in the Christmas Bird Count’s early days, “we scrambled this year to get 300,” said Breit. She cited declining insect populations and increased pesticide as among factors contributing to the change.
Another dip this time around was in trumpeter swan numbers. Just one was spotted, compared to 127 that were logged in the 2022 count.
The count circle for the region’s Christmas Bird Count is centred in White Rock, and has a radius of 24 kilometres. Its boundaries never change, which makes the data collected “so valuable” statistically, Breit noted.