2007 Christmas Bird Counts near Vancouver
Hi all, it’s that time of year again. Skip your christmas shopping and come outside to experience nature. The Christmas Bird Count (CBC) is a tradition stretching back over 100 years. The goal is to take a census of local bird populations, to monitor long-term fluctuations. It also serves to teach many people about the range of biodiversity in the areas where we live.
In my home town of Ladner, there are usually around 140 species spotted during the CBC, but most people who live there would probably only be able to name 4 or 5 species of birds, maybe 10. “Seagulls, crows, robins, pigeons” is the response that most people give, with some going further to say “oh ya, and eagles, sparrows, and herons”, not knowing that they’ve mostly named families of birds and not individual species. I can think of at least 4 types of thrush, of which the robin is one. There are probably 10-15 types of sparrows, 2 types of eagles, maybe 5 types of herons, 20 types of gulls, etc.
The count is organized within a circle with a 10km radius (approximately), and is divided up into smaller areas, with a team of 3-5 going to each area. Usually, everyone meets early in the morning at some central point, and divides up. Experienced birders will be grouped with beginners so that the beginners can act as spotters and the experts can identify the difficult ones, passing the skills on to the beginners in the process. Each team will then scour their area for the entire morning, recording highcounts of bird species that they see. Usually people meet back for a lunch break and then go out again in the afternoon. Regrouping at about 5pm for dinner, we pool our notes and produce a count for the entire area.
Here are some pages with info about local area CBCs:
From what i’ve been able to find out so far, the Victoria count is on Dec 15 2007, Vancouver is Dec 16 2007, Ladner is Dec 23 2007, and White Rock is Dec 30 2007. This is a great opportunity for beginners because you can gain a lot of skills really fast. I highly recommend it :)
Ride hard, ride free