Audubon bird count Victoria
Audubon bird count on the lookout for species in trouble
BY LOUISE DICKSON Times Colonist staff
December 08, 2007
The common tern may not be so common anymore.
But local birders will do their best to find out if this species and others are declining in the Greater Victoria area during an annual bird count next Saturday.
Organized by the Victoria Natural History Society, the count — known as the Audubon Christmas bird count — will see between 170 and 190 volunteers traipse through 20 areas and sail through two ocean zones.
Following scientific protocol, the birders will count all the birds they can in one day within a 24-kilometre-diametre circle. More than 1,800 communities across North America will participate.
“Our data will go into the Audubon Society to be put with all the other data from the other Christmas bird counts, so it’s available for researchers to use,” said Ann Nightingale, co-ordinator of this year’s count.
The data is also used by the Canadian Wildlife Service to assess bird distribution, habitat use and population changes.
In June, the New York-based National Audubon Society released a report indicating that 20 common North American birds are in serious decline.
They include several from our area — the evening grosbeak, northern pintail, greater scaup, common tern, American bittern, rufous hummingbird and horned lark.
The common tern’s population has declined by about 70 per cent since 1967, according to the report.
“It’s not just the rare birds, the spotted owls or things we don’t see very often, it’s a lot of the really common birds,” said Nightingale, who has received calls since September from people wondering where local birds such as chestnut-backed chickadees and red-breasted nuthatches are.
Habitat loss is probably the primary reason for declining bird populations, but climate change also mean changes in birds’ normal ranges, she said.
The count is an important tool in raising consciousness that some species are in trouble, said Nightingale.
“Just because you’re seeing a lot of birds in your yard or around the city now, isn’t to say that they aren’t in trouble,” she warned.
“For example, blue herons are considered a threatened species. But you wouldn’t know that if you lived in Victoria. We see them all the time.”
Rufous hummingbirds that typically mob local feeders are also in decline, said Nightingale. Their numbers have dropped 58 per cent in the last 40 years.
Sadly, the decline of some bird species is all too apparent. In the 1991 bird count, volunteers found 23 western screech owls, which used to be the dominant owl in Greater Victoria.
“Now if we get one, we consider it a good year,” said Nightingale.
The natural history society is on the lookout for as many volunteers as possible to participate in this year’s count, she said.
“We have one of the biggest field counts in North America. We could use a lot more people.”
Local residents are being encouraged to report birds at their feeders by filling out online forms on the society’s website at www.vicnhs.bc.ca The society has produced a brochure to help novices identify birds.
Those interested in signing up for the count can check the website, contact one of the 20 zone leaders and join a team. They can also contact Nightingale directly to be placed on a team.
Birders searching for owls go out early in the morning, while others can expect to start the count about 8 a.m.
What is now known as the Audubon Christmas bird count began in the U.S. in 1900 when conservationists decided to count birds — instead of shooting them.
In Victoria, birders began participating in a casual bird count in the 1940s. But by 1958, local birders decided they wanted to be part of the scientific Christmas bird count.
