Every year, bird watching enthusiasts take part in an annual Christmas Bird Count. The event, which has participants throughout the Western Hemisphere, was held in Yorkton on December 29, 2010.
Fifteen participants took part, spotting a total of 1,188 birds from 19 different species. The most common birds in the count were house sparrows, rock pigeons and the common raven.
Geoff Rushowick, who compiles the annual count, says the happening is held each year throughout North and South America. The events, held during a three week span, are designed to track bird populations, in order to see where the bird populations are living and the health of their populations. The birds can give clues to the health of the environment, and how environmental changes are affecting the animals in the area and in the world.
"Year to year, you might not notice a lot, but if you go back ten years, you can plot the changes," Rushowick says.
This year, some species' that are normally easy to find were scarce, Rushowick says. The common redpoll, for example, was not spotted by anyone, and there are usually examples in the area. He suspects that this winter being especially cold is the reason there are none in the area, as they may have gone south earlier than usual.
One species of bird that Rushowick didn't expect to see was the junco, which he spotted near a large flock of house sparrows. The bird was almost confused with those sparrows, but since it wasn't in the middle of the flock, the differences were more apparent.
"I would never have seen him if he wasn't at the edge," Rushowick recalls.
He explains that the group tries to hit the same areas of the city every year. This helps keep the count consistent. Records of the annual count are kept each year by Nature Saskatchewan, and the international results are compiled by the Audobon Society.
One of the benefits of the annual bird count is that it has enough people to reliably keep track of the populations. Rushowick notes there are simply not enough ornithologists to do a bird count like this reliably. As a result, he hopes more people get interested so the count can keep being successful year after year.
While the next count will not be until next Christmas, he encourages people who are interested to get in touch at 783-5898, and he'll get in touch next December when the count starts again.
