The Chronicle Herald (Provincial)
Christmas is for the birds
And the annual count of their population
Hundreds of Nova Scotians are keeping their eyes on the skies this week as part of an age-old holiday tradition enjoyed by young and old.
They're not looking for a jolly old man in a sleigh, or a flock of flying reindeer. Instead, it's time for the annual Christmas Bird Count, which takes place all across North America and beyond, with members of the Nova Scotia Bird Society covering the region from Yarmouth to the Cape Breton Highlands, keeping tabs on its avian population.
At the Shubenacadie Wildlife Park on a crisp Saturday morning, 10 eager participants have gathered to take part in a bird count boot camp led by Ducks Unlimited Canada education specialist Katie Scott, a familiar face at the park's wetlands interpretive centre.
Inside the centre, surrounded by taxidermy specimens of local species like blue jays and bald eagles, Scott is animated as she gives newcomers and experienced birders a rundown of the annual practice, begun by the Audubon Society in 1900 and picked up by Nova Scotia naturalists in 1917.
“Anyone can do it,” exhorts Scott before taking the group around the frozen wetland trail. “You can participate on a walk around your neighbourhood, or by looking out the window at a backyard feeder.”
She goes on to describe the types of birds one might expect to see at this time of year, and encourages participants to list their findings on the ebird.org website, or use the ebird app for easy in-the-field chronicling.
“And of course, what you're doing is contributing to a major citizen science project,” Scott says. “The return on investment is really high, and it's really fun to get out and challenge yourself.”
This is only the second year for the Christmas Bird Count at the wildlife park, although it's part of the larger Shubenacadie-area count that's among 11 communities that took part this past weekend.
The Sydney-area count happens Monday, with more to follow between Dec. 26 and Jan. 5.
The bird search is rewarded within minutes of hitting the snow-covered trail by the cry of a blue jay, a swooping flock of starlings, and a croaking raven on a nearby power line tower overlooking the park's former reindeer enclosure.
Some movement atop a nearby cellphone tower leads Nova Scotia Bird Society past president David Currie to turn his trusty Swarovski scope upward, just in time to catch a peregrine falcon chowing down on its unlucky prey.
“It's amazing how many birds you can see in the winter." notes Currie, who says birding is the perfect pandemic activity due to the outdoor setting and the ability of participants to spread out and stay masked while they compile their lists..
"We easily could have passed by so many of them without seeing them, but because we have so many eyes and ears, we have lots of help today,”
The bird count's importance grows every year, as the local population shifts with the changing climate. Species that were once rarer become more common, and unusual birds from warmer climates wind up here by chance when their migration collides with the fall storm season.
“Over the years, we've seen ups and downs in certain species — mourning doves, northern cardinals and several others that we've seen make a eastern and northern movement coming into Nova Scotia,” Currie says.
“I know the first cardinal I ever saw in the province was in 1984, and today you practically can't go anywhere in Halifax or Dartmouth urban areas where there's good cover and not see them. They're quite plentiful at times.”
Further along the trail, there's some excitement when Julie Towers, a wildlife biologist who also happens to be deputy minister of the provincial Lands and Forestry Department, spots a large bird of prey circling overhead.
Immediately, the binoculars go up, and the consensus is that it's a red-tailed hawk, one of the most common raptors you can see around the province. But it's still a treat to see, as it gets added to the list, which eventually totals 14 species, including two rarities: the aforementioned falcon and a white-winged crossbill.
For Towers, who has been doing the bird count since she was in university in 1985, spotting any kind of bird never gets old, whether it's a rarer specimen like the peregrine falcon or the familiar blackcapped chickadee and swamp sparrow later seen darting past the frozen wetland's cattails.
“The best thing about the Christmas bird count is involving people who get hooked, and (it increases) their appreciation for nature,” Towers says. “It's easy to get people involved because birds are vibrant and colourful and interesting, and they move.
“People expand from there and they go on to look at wildflowers and butterflies and all kinds of other great things.”
For more on the Christmas Bird Count, its upcoming dates and locations and information on how to get involved, visit www.nsbirdsociety.ca/calendar/upcomingevents or the Nova Scotia Bird Society's Facebook page.