Watching, by Matt Robinson

The 38th annual Oliver-Osoyoos Christmas Bird Count was held on Saturday, December 31st with 33 observers in 12 parties taking part plus 4 additional feeder watchers. Despite having better participation this year we had some areas that went uncovered due to the flu bug that’s going around and this greatly impacted the count. It was a decent day for doing the count, cold, but with little wind and some morning fog. This year there were 17,720 birds of 100 species found. Although the total birds is well above the 36 year average this is our lowest count since 1999 and 100 species is the lowest since 2000. Our 100 species recorded this year is the highest total in the BC interior with Kelowna being second with 98 species followed by Penticton with 96 species so our count again retained it’s title as the best count in the BC interior.

For the second straight year our most abundant species this year was Bohemian Waxwing with 3042 birds found this year The Bohemian Waxwings flocks often perch in the tops of cottonwoods or poplars before descending to feast on berries such as mountain-ash and juniper. European Starling was second with 2656 birds followed by Canada Goose with 2346. There were a few interesting highlights for the day. Four Snow Geese were seen flying over Osoyoos Lake for only our 6th count record. Two male Wood Ducks were seen on Osoyoos Lake. A Thayer’s Gull seen along the river south of Road 22 was only our 5th record and a Black-backed Woodpecker in the burn on Mount Kobau was our 6th count record. Our 7th record for Fox Sparrow and a flock of 6 Yellow-rumped Warblers rounds out the rarities. Although not seen on the count day a Lincoln’s Sparrow that was photgraphed along the river north of Road 22 on January 3rd falls within the count week period of 3 days before and after the count so will be submiited for the count week. This is only the 7th time the species has appeared in winter here. Record high numbers were recorded for Rough-legged Hawk (19) as this year’s cold weather pushed more of this arctic breeder south into our area. There were some low-lights to the count as well. Belted Kingflsher was missed on count day for only the 5th time in 38 years and Ring-billed Gull was missed for the first time since 1996. The 4 Northern Shrike seen is the lowest number since 1979, the first year of our count.
The data collected from our Christmas Bird count, along with the 2400 other counts done throughout the Americas, is part of the longest running wildlife survey in the world. The information collected is critical to the monitoring of the health of our bird populations and helping to guide conservation actions. Thanks to all those who took part and helped make the count a huge success.

by Doug Brown

LISP, Lincoln’s Sparrow, photo by Mark Gardiner