The Christmas Bird Count season on Vancouver Island is pretty much wrapped up and it’s nearly time to put away the heavy duty rain gear and focus on better weather birding when one isn’t “required” to go out and count birds. This weekend I joined the crew out at Port Alberni for their annual Christmas Bird Count. Those of you …
Christmas Bird Count
Campbell River Christmas Bird Count – January 2, 2012
Another early morning and I was on my way north to Campbell River to do my second (and last) Christmas Bird Count of the 2011/12 count period. I didn’t do the Campbell River count last year (substituting it with the Nanaimo CBC) and, since I was able to do the Comox count this year, I thought it would be good …
Nanaimo Christmas Bird Count 2011
I was up at around 5:30 this morning and, after a quick breakfast, was on the road and heading south to Nanaimo for the city’s 2011 Christmas Bird Count. I have to admit that I wasn’t too optimistic about the weather but I was pleasantly surprised to see clear skies and stars when I loaded my gear into the car. …
A Shortage of Short-eared Owls on the Nanaimo Christmas Bird Count
I was up at around 6 am yesterday to make the drive down to meet a group of birders doing the 2010 Nanaimo Christmas Bird Count. As I scraped the frost of the windows of the car I was hopeful – the sky was clear and it actually felt fairly mild. Weather on Vancouver Island is know to be changeable …
A Touch of Gold – the Golden-crowned Sparrow
One of the more common “bramble” sparrows that turns up on winter Christmas Bird Counts is the golden-crowned sparrow (Zonotrichia atricapilla) – it’s often much easier to find than the white-crowned sparrow (Z. leucophrys), although ironically, the latter actually showed up at our feeder today. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get any pictures of the white-crowned sparrow for comparison purposes …
Christmas Birding
The Christmas raspberry-red of the Purple Finch (Carpodacus purpureus) makes it a perfect bird for the season. If you’ve never done a Christmas Bird Count (CBC) you still have time to experience the “fun” of a full day of birding in the middle of winter. On Vancouver Island in British Columbia this usually means a cold wet day spent in …
Finding Fox Sparrows
Fox Sparrow (Passerella iliaca), a winter sparrow common in blackberry tangles and thick shrubs along roadsides and field edges. I’ve been gearing up for this year’s Christmas Bird Counts and doing a little birding along the hedgerows and shrubs growing beside the rural roads near my workplace in rural Comox Valley, British Columbia. This week I was out during my …
Hello Hermit!
Hermit Thrush (Catharus guttatus) is a good bird to look for during this year’s Christmas Bird Counts. One of the uncommon birds that often makes the Christmas Bird Counts here on Vancouver Island is the Hermit Thrush (Catharus guttatus) – I usually get at least one in my count area. Other members of the thrush family like American Robin, and …
Christmas Bird Counts 2010/11 – Vancouver Island, BC
Bird Watchers participating in the Deep Bay Christmas Bird Count. It’s that time of year again. As the days get shorter and the weather gets colder and wetter it’s time to start thinking about this year’s Christmas Bird Count (CBC). Started over 100 years ago as an alternative to the “side hunt” (which had an objective of shooting as many …
Campbell River Christmas Bird Count 2009/10
A full day of birding today on the Campbell River Christmas Bird Count. Fortunately the weather cooperated and while it was cool, the rain held off. My team did fairly well considering that our access to the ocean was only at the mouth of the Oyster River on Vancouver Island, and even at that included only birds south of the …