The numbers of upland game birds were up significantly in this year’s Christmas bird count carried out in the Weyburn area.
The members of the Weyburn Nature Society carried out the count on Dec. 17, with the temperature reaching about -29 degrees, said Val Thomas, with 15 people helping out either by going out to do a count or by watching their bird feeders.
The count, which includes a mammal count, is done within a 15-mile radius of Weyburn, an area which is divided into four sectors.
A total of 21 bird species were seen, including 72 grey partridges, 32 ring-necked pheasants, and 104 sharp-tailed grouse, which are higher numbers than normal for this area.
There were three kinds of owls spotted, including a great horned owl, two snowy owls and a short-eared owl, plus one prairie falcon was spotted and six dark-eyed juncos.
“We don’t usually get falcons in our bird count,” said Thomas.
Some species were missing from the count this year, such as chickadees and snow buntings, but overall the members felt this was a good count considering how cold it was.
“There are a lot more bird counts being done around the province, which is very exciting,” said Thomas.
In the mammal count, there were 12 whitetail deer and two mule deer spotted, along with three red foxes, one coyote and one American porcupine, and six fox squirrels.
These numbers were all sent to the provincial coordinator, and they were in turn sent in to the national bird count. Christmas bird counts have to be carried out between Dec. 15 and Jan. 5 to be included in this year’s totals.
