After the presents and Boxing Day shopping were done with for another year, avian enthusiasts quickly turned their attention to some good-old-fashioned bird counting on Tuesday.
About 90 volunteers - made up of birding club amateurs, biologists and professional consultants - formed 12 teams to count all the different species in the 111th annual Ladner Christmas Bird Count (LCBC) that includes south Richmond (south of Steveston Highway, roughly Garry Point to No. 2 Rd.), Delta and Point Roberts.
"The Christmas Bird Count is basically a one-day survey of birds in a 15-kilometre diameter circle," said co-ordinator Jude Grass, who has been involved with the event for more than 30 years.
"It's to give us an idea of how they're doing every year. You get a snapshot of what's here - less of this bird, more of that bird."
Providing data for the wildlife society Audubon, counts happen all over North America in the winter when the winged animals fly south from the Arctic in search of warmer climates. Last year, the LCBC, with its sizable farmland areas and watery habitats, beat out all the other participating cities in the Lower Mainland and Canada (including the count in Vancouver that covers the other parts of Richmond) with 144 species sighted. The LCBC also holds the national record of 152 species during a count held about a decade ago.
With the mild winter this year, Grass was hopeful to reach a similar number. At press time, teams were still out in the field with binoculars and telescopes in hand working until 4: 30 p.m. when everyone meets at the George C. Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary in Delta to tally all the results.
"The weather's been good. I've been out and it's not been too bad, spitting a little," she said in the morning. "I've managed to get 22 species on a two-kilometre stretch of road."
Ideal conditions are above freezing, and not overly windy or rainy, which describes yesterday fairly well. The tide was high before noon, however, pushing waterfowl like ducks and geese further out and a little harder to spot, said Grass.
A retired park naturalist with BC Parks and Metro Vancouver Parks, she has worked with birds almost her entire career. Grass first got interested while involved with the Vancouver National History Society, now known as Nature Vancouver, in the 1970s that had a "very active bird section." She also joined the British Columbia Waterfowl Society, who hastily promoted her to co-ordinator of the LCBC after the previous organizers left.
The origin of Christmas bird counts dates back to the 1800s in Massachusetts, she said. Prior to that, it was an annual bird hunt.
