The Christmas Bird Count is the longest-standing birding tradition in North America. From it, long-term trends can be identified.
Northerly communities like Tumbler Ridge don’t have many bird species in winter, due to migration, but counts across the north are still very valuable. The Tumbler Ridge Christmas Bird Count has been held sporadically for the past twenty years.
This year the count was held on December 27. A record-high number of twelve people participated: Jack Carrigan, Kirsty Casey, Trevor Corsi, Brent Daniel, Selenne Dorus, Jenn Graham, Carina Helm, Charles Helm, Linda Helm, Nigel Mathews, Crys White, and Larry White.
A record number of twenty species was identified by the group, some of whom watched their feeders while others went out driving the roads, skiing, hiking or snowshoeing. A further five species were seen during ‘count week’, for an impressive total of 25 species, and a total of 446 birds.
There were some notable highlights:
- Dr Nigel Mathews, coming off shift at 4 am, ‘fresh’ after being up all night working in the Tumbler Ridge Emergency Room, decided to go owling to Tumbler Point rather than catching a few hours of sleep. His 4 km hike in the dark at -40 Celsius netted a calling Barred Owl. By the time the rest of us were ready to start, it had warmed up to -37.
- Kirsty Casey, one of our ‘recently fledged’ birders, spotted a Northern Goshawk in the forest; this was possibly the ‘bird of the day’.
- For Jack Carrigan on a cold hike in the forest, hearing a woodpecker tapping away in the otherwise silent woods and following the sound to where bits of debris were falling on the snow, then looking up and seeing the distinctive back of a Three-toed Woodpecker, was a memorable moment.
- Determined to add ptarmigan to the count week tally, Dr Mathews decided to drive up to Mt Spieker on his day off work. Remarkably, he found a White-tailed Ptarmigan on the lower slopes of the mountain. Across all BC, Tumbler Ridge was the only Christmas Bird Count site where this elusive alpine species was recorded.
Altogether, a total of 236 bird species have been identified in the Tumbler Ridge area. These are summarized in the Tumbler Ridge bird checklist, which is available at the Tumbler Ridge Visitor Centre.
The list of species seen (with numbers in brackets) includes:
Northern Goshawk (1)
Barred Owl (1)
Ruffed Grouse (2)
Hairy Woodpecker (6)
Downy Woodpecker (12)
Three-toed Woodpecker (2)
Common Raven (145)
Black-billed Magpie (5)
Blue Jay (12)
Canada Jay (10)
Bohemian Waxwing (8)
White-breasted Nuthatch (3)
Red-breasted Nuthatch (1)
Black-capped Chickadee (51)
Boreal Chickadee (1)
Dark-eyed Junco (1)
Pine Grosbeak (85)
Snow Bunting (20)
Common Redpoll (77)
House Sparrow (4)
Additional birds in count week:
Bald Eagle, White-tailed Ptarmigan, American Dipper, Steller’s Jay, Northern Shrike.
Mammals:
Wolf, fox, coyote, otter, moose, mule deer, white-tailed deer, squirrel, mouse/vole
