Martin Parker, Grant Turcotte and Astrid Taim scope out the Burk’s Falls area in search of feathered friends. Approximately 20 people participated locally in the annual Christmas bird count on Dec. 14, one of about 1,800 counts conducted across North America at this time of year.
ALMAGUIN – Seven eagles and lots of snow were the highlights of this year’s avian inventorying.
About 20 people, mostly local, participated in the 31st annual Burk’s Falls Christmas bird count on Dec. 14, one of over 1,800 counts happening in North America from mid-December to early January.
“It’s the largest continuous survey of bird populations,” said Martin Parker, compiler for the Burk’s Falls count, noting that this is the 108th year that the counts have been held.
From sunup to sundown, teams traveled five areas by car and on foot, recording every bird they saw. The Burk’s Falls count covers Burk’s Falls, Ryerson, Magnetawan, Lake Bernard and Chapman North. Dec. 14 was a cold day in Almaguin, but it was a long way from being the coldest bird count in 31 years. Parker recalled a count in the late 1970s with daytime highs of around -30 degrees.
“This isn’t cold for me,” he said. “But it has been a few years since there was this much snow on a Burk’s Falls bird count.”
With this much snow, combined with a poor cone crop this year, birds have been moving farther south, which might account for this count having the fewest species since 1999, but when all of the teams combined their results at the end of the day, there were some surprises as always.
“I’d say the highlight of this count would have to be seven bald eagles,” said Parker.
Five of the eagles, including adults and sub-adults, were spotted in the Magnetawan area, and another two farther north. This is a new high for the count.
The hoary redpoll also set a new high. Three were spotted this year. This is only the fourth time this species has appeared on the count. Common redpolls also made their first appearance in three years, numbering over 200.
A cardinal was also recorded for the first time since 1999. White-breasted nuthatches are at their highest since 2002, while the number of red-breasted nuthatches is about a third what it was on last year’s count.
But for all the highlights, the value of the count is in the extremely common birds. Chickadees, for example. Over 850 were counted this year. That number, along with the number of hours spent counting, yield a ratio that can be compared to previous years in order to spot trends.
“It’s the regular stuff that’s important,” said Parker. “It’s nice to see a cardinal, but in the long-term picture of birds in the area, it doesn’t really mean anything.”
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