The Christmas Bird Count is the longest-standing birding tradition in North America, and this year it was held for the 123rd time. 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 more than twenty of those years. This year the count was held on December 31. The weather was ideal, mostly clear and windless, and not too cold.
Nine people participated: Brandon Broderick, Kirsty Casey, Trevor Corsi, Jenn Graham, Charles Helm, Linda Helm, Claire Lenouvel, Crys White and Larry White. Productive hours were spent at bird feeders and on the trails, creeks and highways in search of birds.
The commonest bird, not surprisingly, was the Common Raven.
All in all 23 species were identified (which we think is a record) and a total of 350 birds.
These results get entered into the North American database.
A total of 235 bird species have been identified in the Tumbler Ridge area. These are summarized in a Tumbler Ridge bird checklist, which is available at the Visitor Centre.
This year‘s sightings
- Northern Goshawk: 1
- Ruffed Grouse: 8
- Spruce Grouse: 1
- Hairy Woodpecker: 5
- Downy Woodpecker: 2
- American Three-toed Woodpecker: 1
- Common Raven: 94
- Blue Jay: 17
- Canada Jay: 17
- Steller’s Jay: 2
- American Magpie: 2
- Northern Shrike: 1
- White-breasted Nuthatch: 4
- Red-breasted Nuthatch: 7
- Bohemian Waxwing: 8
- American Dipper: 1
- Black-capped Chickadee: 38
- Boreal Chickadee: 3
- Dark-eyed Junco: 10
- Snow Bunting: 7
- Pine Grosbeak: 49
- White-winger crossbill: 66
- House Sparrow: 6
