Shown are a Blue Jay, left, and a male Pine Grosbeak, right, as seen on the Turtleford group's Christmas Bird Count this year. (Submitted photos/Brent Keen)

By Angela Brown

Annual tradition

Dedicated Turtleford group takes part in Christmas Bird Count

Dec 30, 2021 | 5:32 PM

A group of about 15 enthusiasts committed to participate in the Turtleford area Christmas Bird Count this year.

Coordinator Brent Keen was pleased with the event held Dec. 28 but said he would have liked to see the bird species’ numbers a bit higher for the count.

“It was darn cold, so birds and people were not too anxious to venture out,” he told battlefordsNOW.

The tally showed 550 birds counted so far, although he is still waiting to hear from a few more participants’ results. That’s a little higher than 2020 when about 500 birds were counted in the event.

“The numbers are slightly up, but that’s because we had one species of Snow Buntings of which we saw a couple of large flocks this year,” Keen said.

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However, he noted there have been years in the past when many more birds were sighted.

About 17 different species of birds were seen in this year’s count, lower than expected. In comparison, on a good year the group might see between 21 and 25 species.

Keen likened the reduced species’ numbers this year in part to the minus 32 Celsius temperatures on the day of the count, and due to less available sustenance for the birds, such as berries, an impact from the drought on the prairies this year.

“I didn’t see any big flocks of Redpolls, which I would expect to,” Keen said. “The pickings are a little slimmer this year around here. The drought just didn’t leave as much food. Some years I would expect to see hundreds of Redpolls flocks around Turtleford.”

He noted that COVID-19 has made the event “a more solitary exercise than most years,” for the local participants conducting the watch.

Some of the highlights of this year’s count include seeing over 200 Snow Buntings and, as a special surprise, one Bald Eagle.

“That’s pretty exciting,” Keen said. “We never see them here this time of year.”

When he has any observations, Keen said he posts the information to iNaturalist, a website that records data on plant and animal life that’s used by researchers.

A few participants walked and/or drove their vehicles around the Turtleford area to conduct their count during the event. To take part, Keen both walked and drove for about seven hours in total, within the parameters of the count district. Most of those participating watched their bird feeders from inside their homes while doing their counts.

According to Birds Canada’s website, each Christmas Bird Count is conducted on a single day between Dec. 14, 2021 and Jan. 5, 2022. Counts are completed within a 24-kilometre diameter circle that remains the same each year.

Keen will submit the Turtleford group’s findings to Nature Saskatchewan, which collects the information for the province and forwards it to Audubon.

“We’ve been doing this a long time,” he said. “It’s a very casual thing. Anyone is welcome to do it. Wherever you are, there is likely a bird count in your area… And, if you are some place that doesn’t have one, it’s easy enough to start. It’s a great thing for everyone to get involved in.”

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Angela.Brown@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @battlefordsnow