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Monique Keiran: Birds’ movement tells us a lot about how Earth is changing

A tiny bird checking out Panama Flats a couple of weekends ago drew birding enthusiasts from as far away as California.
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The sighting of a Yellow-browed Warbler in Saanich is the first time the bird has been seen in Canada.

A tiny bird checking out Panama Flats a couple of weekends ago drew birding enthusiasts from as far away as California. Yellow-browed warblers normally divide their time between eastern Siberia, Mongolia and China, and tropical places such as Thailand and India. Occasionally they can be found in western Europe.

It’s the first time the species has been seen in Canada.

The greeny-yellowy bird joins the region’s roster of rare birds. A brown shrike was banded at Rocky Point Bird Observatory in early October. It, too, was the first of its species seen in B.C., and only the second recorded in Canada. Just a few days earlier, a chestnut-sided warbler was also banded at the observatory, marking the species’ 76th recorded sighting in B.C. And, last week, a number of people reported a redhead — a mid-sized diving duck with a red head — at Swan Lake Nature Sanctuary.

Not mere migratory regulars that pass through twice yearly on their way elsewhere, most rare birds arrive here by accident. They take a wrong turn on their migration, their inner compass goes wonky, or they’re blown off course by a storm or the Pineapple Express. And, suddenly, they land in Metchosin or Oak Bay or Saanich, of all places.

However they get here, they draw lots of attention once they’re noticed. Some sightings are so unusual, they draw birders from afar. When a redwing showed up in late 2015 in the Panama Flats area — far from its native Asian and European lands — birders whose own native lands include Chicago, Massachusetts and Texas came to see it.

Two-legged come-from-afars flock to the area to view winged come-from-afars because they’re rare on the Island, in B.C., in Canada and even sometimes in North America.

Rarity confers its own value, but I can’t help thinking that, in this case, it may be over-rated. These species are so unusual here, they play little role in our local ecosystems. True, their occasional arrival may signal strange events afoot in big-picture weather or climate. However, if that’s the case, paying attention to what’s happening under our noses from day to day among the region’s usual bird suspects would surely provide more relevant information about the state of natural systems near and dear to us in these times of environmental change.

Not that the local bird life is being overlooked. Thanks to the region’s abundant naturalists, amateur birders, biologists, and ornithologists — and organizations such as Swan Lake Nature Sanctuary, the Rocky Point Bird Observatory, the Victoria Natural History Society and so on — many eyes look out for local and non-local birds. An annual winter bird count, regular bird walks, seasonal bird events and countless weekend wanders by binocular-laden individuals focus on year-round and seasonal residents and just-passing-through migrants.

The more formal of these pass on reports of their sightings to databases such as eBird, the B.C. Conservation Data Centre and the Provincial Bird Records Committee Sightings database.

Adding to the information mix, the CRD recently called for proposals for a two-year bird survey of Esquimalt and Victoria harbours, Gorge Waterway, Portage Inlet and the Esquimalt Lagoon. The goal is to determine seasonal changes in abundance and distribution of the area’s migratory birds and coastal waterfowl. Results will be compared with a similar survey conducted 22 years ago.

That 1997 study is key. It serves as a baseline against which we can measure changes in patterns among bird species in those habitats. Are some species doing better now compared to then? Which have abandoned some habitats and taken roost in others? Which are doing worse? Which are becoming rare? Which once-rarities are becoming common?

Humans love measuring things. We measure what we value, and we value what we measure.

It’s hard to say which comes first, the measuring or the valuing, but in the end, does it matter? It will be thanks to measuring efforts such as the Harbours Bird Survey, the Christmas Bird Count and so on, that we will know who is coming, who is staying and who is going as climate patterns shift in coming decades. That information will tell us if redwings and redheads ever become regular residents.