Break out those binoculars and bird books.
The annual Christmas Bird Count starts Saturday in Greater Victoria and on Pender, Mayne and Saturna Islands.
The Sidney and Salt Spring Island groups will be out documenting their feathered friends on Sunday, while Sooke and Duncan groups hold their counts post-Christmas, on Dec. 27 and Dec. 31, respectively.
Bird count co-ordinator Ann Nightingale is hoping keen-eyed bird watchers can top previous impressive counts.
Last year, the region’s watchers documented 249 types of birds, finishing among the top locations in the world.
“We’ve always had a really strong contingent of field counters for the Victoria count, often having the highest of more than 2,500 count circles,” said Nightingale. “This year a lot of our regulars are travelling, so I’m really hoping for an influx of new counters.”
Nightingale said bird-watching boomed during the pandemic as people working from home became more aware of the birds in their yards and neighbourhoods.
The bird count will look for all the usual suspects when it comes to birds this time of year, but rare and blown-off-course birds are always a treat to spot.
Last year, three new species were added to the list — a short-billed dowitcher and two species considered rare any time of year — a king eider, an impressive arctic duck, and a Tennessee warbler, usually seen in eastern North America.
“The counts are really more about the common birds, but it creates extra joy when a rarity is found,” Nightingale said.
Nightingale is hosting two Zoom talks this week — a general question-and-answer session on tonight and a focus on feeder-watching and backyard counting on Thursday. For details on both, visit rpbo.org and click online presentations.
Nightingale said that some in Victoria contribute their observations to the Great Backyard Bird Count and Project Feederwatch, but it’s been an uphill battle getting better feederwatch participation.
“Cities like Edmonton always have about 10 times as many feederwatch reports than we do,” she said. “Given the number of people who feed birds in this city, it’s always a surprise how few send in their results. Maybe 2022 will see a change.”
Rocky Point Bird Observatory is hosting a special Christmas Bird Count for kids at Beckwith Park in Saanich on Saturday from 1 to 3 p.m.
The family-friendly bird counting event is new this year and designed to help engage a new generation in one of the continent’s longest-running citizen-science projects.
In 1900, ornithologist Frank Chapman, an officer in the Audubon Society, proposed a new holiday tradition — a Christmas bird census that would count birds over the holidays rather than hunt them.
More than 2,500 communities in North America and other parts of the world are assigned 24-kilometre circles to count all the birds they can in a single day.
For information on the count or how to register or find a counting team in your area, go to christmasbirdcount.ca.
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