Chickadees, pigeons, and other common birds were in short supply during this year’s Christmas bird count, results suggest — probably because it was too cold for people to spot them.
Count co-ordinator Dave Cleary released the results of the 31st annual St. Albert Christmas Bird count late last week.
The count, which happened Dec. 26, saw 80 people scout forests, fields, and feeders to enumerate every bird they could find in a 24-kilometre zone centred on the old St. Albert Airport.
This year’s count was particularly challenging — in addition to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, counters had to contend with ridiculously cold temperatures, which dipped as low as -42 C with wind chill at the St. Albert Research Station north of St. Albert.
Count veteran Alan Hingston said it was -30 C when he started his count and hardly budged from there.
“The temperature just didn’t improve all day,” he said, which likely drove down the count’s turnout (the average turnout is about 123) and the amount of time people spent looking for birds.
This year's count featured record low numbers of magpies, rock pigeons, and black-capped chickadees, with just 331 chickadees, 174 magpies, and 125 pigeons spotted — far below the 31-year averages of 827, 504, and 550. Hingston said these low numbers could reflect the fact that there were fewer people out counting birds this year. Cold conditions may also have made birds less active and more difficult to spot.
Analysis of past count records suggests that St. Albert’s magpie population has been on a very slight decline since it peaked in 1999, with chickadees also on the decline since the 2015 peak. Rock pigeons show no obvious trend.
Edmonton also saw its magpie, chickadee, and pigeon numbers drop during its Dec. 19 count despite seeing a better turnout than last year and occurring under comparatively balmy -11 C conditions. Edmontonians spotted 2,243 magpies, 3,082 black-capped chickadees, and 1,470 rock pigeons, compared to 3,447 magpies, 3,691 chickadees, and 4,805 pigeons in 2020.
Other highlights
While there were hopes that the Townshend’s solitaire would return to the count for the first time in a decade, none were spotted on count day. (Hingston said several of these birds were spotted in St. Albert a few days after the count.) Also absent were the crossbills — twisty-beaked irruptive species which typically show up in massive waves whenever there is a good pine-cone crop (which St. Albert did not have this year).
Counters spotted a purple finch for the first time since 2014, although Hingston noted this may have been a case of mistaken identity. Purple finches are often mistaken for house finches, as they are both small red-fronted birds with conical beaks. (The purple finch has a raspberry-red head, breast, and back, while the house finch is just red on its face and breast.)
Cleary noted that two goshawks had been spotted during the count. A very charismatic bird historically used for hunting, the northern goshawk is slate grey above with pale grey barred underparts. Counters did not spot any snowy owls on count day, but did notice one during count week.
Cleary said this year's count was sponsored by Wild Birds Unlimited in Edmonton. Bird count results will be forwarded to Birds Canada for use in scientific research. Visit tabsoft.co/2rE75h4 to explore the results.
