ATHABASCA – Twenty-five Athabascans braved the -15 C weather to take part in the annual Christmas Bird Count (CBC) Dec. 14, driving and walking across town and beyond as part of the international effort to track bird populations.
While the numbers were down this year — only 1,369 birds were counted, down from 1,558 last year — organizer Danna Schock said the number will act as a new baseline for the count, due to a shift in boundaries and a loss of some long-time feeder count homes.
The most popular bird species was the snow bunting, with 495 sightings. One hundred and thirty-seven pine grosbeaks were seen, and the house sparrow rounded out the top three with 100 sightings.
Other notable sightings included a northern flicker — a type of woodpecker — near Colinton, and two impressive birds of prey, the bald eagle and the great grey owl. Notably absent from this year’s count was the Canadian Goose; despite 408 being counted in 2023, birders didn’t see a single one this year.
While it wasn’t warm outside, it wasn’t cold enough that Schock felt the count was impacted, and it certainly didn’t dissuade Athabasca’s birdwatching community.
The 25 volunteers combined for 1,120 minutes of driving, good for 289 kilometres, and 527 minutes of walking, where birders covered 24 kilometres. A further 735 minutes were spent watching home-based birdfeeders, bringing the total time to almost 40 hours of birding.
“Thank you to each and every participant. Plainly and literally, the Christmas Bird Count would not be possible without your energy and effort,” said Schock. “This includes all of you participants who went out there and birded your hearts out only to encounter a handful of black-capped chickadees and some ravens.”
