ATHABASCA — Despite the bitter cold Dec. 27, 2021, there were a few brave souls who ventured out into the field to count birds for the annual Athabasca Christmas Bird Count, and it was well worth their while as they encountered a rare specimens along the way.
Forty-nine, a record high, of feeder counters remained indoors during the coldest spell of winter thus far, but six others walked, drove, skied, and snowshoed their way around the location which is a 15-kilometre radius starting at 50th Avenue and 50th Street in the Town of Athabasca.
“We had sent out notices that we weren't expecting anybody to go out walking,” said bird count coordinator Ursula Brant. “We shut the field count down and it was just feeders, but we had some people that went out anyways if you can imagine.”
But braving the cold during count week, which captures the days leading up to the official day and after, allowed the counters to see a Ring-necked pheasant and two different owls – a Northern Saw-whet and a Snowy owl.
“One lady sent me a picture of her walking out there totally frosted right up,” Brant said. “We also had the most bird feeder counters that we've ever had, and I was able to get some more contacts for more people next year. So, I was really happy about all of it.”
One thing of note was the lack of Snow buntings, small, ground-dwelling birds with a short cone-shaped bill. Both males and females have a white underbelly, but males have a white head and black on their back and wings while females have brown streaks on their back and a dusky head.
“That’s something to note that we didn’t see very many of,” she said adding a flock of 50 were seen but they were outside the radius so could not be counted.
“Because we don't have as many cattle farmers anymore our Snow bunting count has gone down because there isn't the open range for them because they eat in the cow pastures.”
In total, between field counters and feeder counters, 2,132 individual birds comprising 25 species were counted, keeping the average seen in previous years with the most counted the Black-capped chickadee at 484 and the least, a tie, at one each for the Spruce grouse, Hawk owl, Northern goshawk, and American Three-toed woodpecker.
The other news to come out of the count is the retirement of longtime coordinators Harvey Scott with the Crooked Creek Conservancy Society of Athabasca, who reiterated he is retiring after announcing it last year, and Science Outreach – Athabasca coordinator Wayne Brehaut who compiled and sorted the count each year and will be posting the final results to the Science Outreach website before he officially steps back.
“I would like to thank Harvey and Wayne for all the work they’ve done over the years and helping guide me as I take over,” said Brant. “Their help and wealth of knowledge will be sorely missed.”
Anyone interested in signing up to take part in the next bird count in December can e-mail [email protected].
