Bird count seeing increase in numbers of some species
By Justin Seward - Lethbridge Herald on December 17, 2024.
Herald photo by Justin Seward
Ken Orich, coordinator of the local Christmas Bird Count, uses binoculars to look over Henderson Lake on Saturday.The 125th installment of the Christmas Bird Count is being celebrated in North America this year, and records show Lethbridge has participated since 1983.
CBCs are conducted between Dec. 14 and Jan. 5 within the same 24-kilometre wide diameter circle every year.
“There’s certainly (an) upward trend of a lot of birds like mallards, Canada geese, magpies,” said Ken Orich, CBC Lethbridge coordinator.
Goose and mallards have been a popular bird, according to Orich, because of the amount of open water.
“Just I guess (they) feel they don’t need to migrate,” said Orich.
“Historically, everybody thinks it’s global warming or climate change and it’s partly responsible for it. But geese used to not migrate, some stayed around here, but what happened was back in the day when there was limited control on hunting and all that, they were pretty well shut out. Like people were subsistence hunting for geese year- round and stuff like that, so the population really dwindled.”
Orich said now nobody seems to hunt.
“They don’t have much in the way of predators, so their numbers are increasing,” said Orich.
The local CBC seems to get American robins every year.
“To most people, they’re migrants but there’s enough berries and sources in Lethbridge (to) sustain a small number of robins,” said Orich.
CBC Lethbridge had many firsts last year with the sighting of the first ever wood duck and had a record amount of snow geese with 463 and bald eagles with 55.
The 78 participants keep track of the number of species and how many are in that group of species. They have counted 38 areas in the city and seven country areas. One Lethbridge area wasn’t counted because of a last-minute illness. So far, 52 species have been recorded with the mean average being 43.5.
“Last year, we almost had a record-breaking 55 species, where our average per year is 43.”
Another count is set for the Milk River area on Jan. 4. and those interested in participating can find more information at naturelethbridge.org
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