Drenching rain may have limited the species out – both feathered and human – for the annual Christmas Bird Count in Greater Victoria.
Held on a notoriously wet and stormy day (Dec. 14), high winds and gusts prevented any boats from getting out for the count and chased many shoreline counters inland, at least for the first two hours of daylight.
“Much to my surprise, we still had a very respectable 300 people out counting including about 30 at the Christmas Bird Count for Kids hosted by Rocky Point Bird Observatory at Beckwith Park in the afternoon,” co-organizer Ann Nightingale told the Victoria News.
“When the winds slowed down, the rain picked up, but this is better than the reverse. There’s not much worse than getting soaking wet and then blasted with wind. The shorelines got counted and many people stayed out for the rest of the day.”
Another 49 people counted the birds at their feeders from the comfort of home.
The tally of species counted marked the lowest number in a decade at 135 species with more than 75,000 individual birds – slightly below average.
“Any rare birds in the area took shelter on the count day, a big change from the last couple of years. Our most prized birds of the day were Townsend’s solitaire and rock Sandpiper, species that are not seen every year on our counts,” Nightingale said.
Weather is also likely to blame for Anna’s hummingbird numbers being down from recent years at 1,045.
The biggest surprises were the high number of Yellow-rumped warblers at 172 – rapidly increasing in winter population over the last several years – and the very low number of American coots at 46.
“The coots are normally seen in the hundreds on Elk Lake in the winter, forming a black blob on the lake often visible while driving down the highway. This year, there were exactly zero. It can’t be blamed on Saturday’s weather, though, as scouting trips earlier in the week also failed to turn up a single coot.”
The most commonly found species were mallard (8,174), dark-eyed junco (6,611), pine siskin (5,552), American robin (4,276) and glaucous-winged gull (4,233).
The Sidney/South Salt Spring Count was held Dec. 15 under much better conditions. They tallied 121 species and more than 33,000 individual birds. Counts continue in Sooke Dec. 27 and Duncan on Dec. 29.
