The results of Yorkton's annual Christmas Bird Count are in.
A total of 1,176 individual birds from 19 separate species were spotted on December 29.
The Yorkton Natural History Society organizes the count as part of an annual North American bird count held between December and early January.
"Each birding group picks a certain date to go out and do a count of all the birds in the area," explains society president Geoff Rushowick.
Several volunteers drove around the Yorkton area last Wednesday to visit sites known to have plenty of birds, while others stayed at home to record the visitors to their home feeders.
The annual results are published nationally and used to estimate changes in the North American bird populations from year to year.
The number of individuals and species spotted this year was similar to last year; however, the species distribution changed significantly. Many more of the region's two most common birds, the rock pigeon and the house sparrow, were seen this year (231 pigeons versus 124 in 2009; 539 sparrows versus 323 in 2009), while less common species became more rare. A drop of half was typical for these species, with two outliers being the pine siskin and the common redpoll. Twenty common redpolls and 141 pine siskins were spotted last year, but no sightings of either were made during the count this year.
The likely cause is 2010's colder winter, says Rushowick.
"I'm no scientist, but that's probably what's going on."
Snow depth on the day of the count ranged from 15 to 45 cm, compared to just 8 to 12 cm last year.Other uncommon sightings this year included a single dark-eyed junco and one sharp-shinned hawk. Neither bird has been seen in the area during recent counts.
The complete list of sightings is as follows. Mallard (17), Gray Partridge (18), Rock Pigeon (231), Downy Woodpecker (5), Hairy Woodpecker (5), Black-billed Magpie (13), Common Raven(161), Black-capped Chickadee (36), Red-breasted Nuthatch (1), White-breasted Nuthatch (4), American Robin (1), European Starling (21), Bohemian Waxwing (32), Dark-eyed Junco (1), Snow Bunting (76), House Finch (2), White-winged Crossbill (12), House Sparrow (539), Sharp-shinned Hawk (1).Fourteen volunteers took part in the count this year. They were Bill Anaka, Joyce Anaka, Cheryl Fraser, Bob Graham, Joyce Muir, Gloria Rathgeber, Dorothy Riesz, Ray Riesz, Dorothy Riffel, Bonnie Rushowick, Geoff Rushowick, Barry Sharpe, Dorothy Skene, and Stan Williams.
