Birders 'ecstatic' with new count

By Dan Hilborn
Published Dec. 24, 2003


Local birding enthusiasts are ecstatic after spotting several unusual and rarely seen species of birds around Burnaby and Deer lakes last weekend during the annual Christmas bird count.

George Clulow, local organizer of the bird count and a member of the Vancouver Natural History Society (VNHS), said a total of 62 bird species were spotted during the day-long event, which began under less than optimal rainy conditions.

"It wasn't great weather, but what we found in the Burnaby zones was quite good," said Clulow. "Whenever we get over 60 species, we're doing well."

Highlights from this year's bird count include a huge increase in the number of pine siskin in the city, plus sightings of one young snow goose, three greater white-fronted geese, and four northern harriers - a hawk-like raptor that may indicate an improved ecosystem in the city.

But there were declines in several species, including the total disappearance of both the ruddy duck and the evening grosbeak, both of which once flocked around Burnaby Lake in substantial numbers.

Clulow said it is difficult to know the significance of a single year's count, because the important thing is to look at long-term trends.

"We have to be careful because it's not safe to draw conclusions based on one year's results," Clulow said. "You can get a lot of variations from year to year so what you have to do is look for trends over a period of time."

While there were declines in some species, that bad news was more than offset by increases in several species - most notably the northern harrier, which appears to have successfully bred this year near Deer Lake.

"Previously, the northern harrier was a very uncommon species and this year we counted four," Clulow said. "The adults and some of the young are still hunting, using Burnaby Lake and Deer Lake as their territory, so that's a really good news story. These guys are way up up in the food chain."

Another remarkable find was the presence of 40 gadwall ducks, which raises them from the uncommon to the common category.

Although the numbers of Canada geese were down slightly from previous years, they were joined by the first-ever sighting of a snow goose in Burnaby.

"It's certainly the first snow goose we've counted here in 15 years," Clulow said, noting the lone juvenile bird was likely orphaned during the hunting season in the Fraser Valley, became disoriented and then settled down with the Canada geese at Burnaby Lake.

The other remarkable increase was in the pine siskin, which rose from its usual numbers of 40 or 50 birds to 300 counted this year.

"Lots of birds go in cycles of abundance, and this year we noticed a large number of these small birds," Clulow said. "Their numbers are way up. In other areas, on the North Shore, for example, they were counting them in the thousands so you can see how a local area can reflect trends that are happening on a much larger geographical scale."

When asked why the pine siskin was doing so well, Clulow chalked it up to the unusually warm summer.

Of course, the annual bird count is never finished until dusk, when the volunteers gather near Willingdon Avenue and the freeway to estimate the size of the largest flock of northwestern crows in the province. This year, Clulow and the 14 other counters estimated the flock had about 10,000 birds.

Clulow said a concerted effort to move the birds away from their former home on the west side of Willingdon has resulted in the birds relocating to a site on the east side of the road, near the Burnaby Keg restaurant. Clulow said he was assisted on the count by six other members of the VNHS, plus Bob Gunn, a faculty member from the B.C. Institute of Technology fish, wildlife and recreation program, and seven of his students.

The numbers will be combined with the results of simultaneous bird counts from across North America under a program started by the Audubon Society almost 100 years ago.

To get involved in next year's count, check out the websites of either the Vancouver Natural History Society, www.naturalhistory.bc.ca/VNHS/ or Bird Studies Canada at www.bsc- eoc.org/