Dec. 19

The annual Christmas Bird Count makes sense on a lot of different levels. The data collection started this week in places like Taber, Milk River and today in Waterton Lake National Park. It continues through the Lethbridge count Dec. 27 to Jan. 5 at 1,800 communities across North and Latin America.

From the first Audubon Society bird count in 1900, data has proven vital to conservationists, providing grist for “strategies to protect birds and their habitat. The three-week count helps “identify­ environmental issues with implications for people as well. For example, local trends in bird populations can indicate habitat fragmentation or signal an immediate environmental threat, such as groundwater contamination or poisoning from improper use of pesticides.”

According to the Alberta Federation of Naturalists,  “Local rivalries and the long history of the count have made it one of the biggest social and sporting events in the birding world.”

And, six of the 12 Days of Christmas are bird-focused.

This week, six birders braved blowing snow for the first Christmas event around Milk River, to count among other species 3,000 Horned Larks in flocks of 100 to 200.

“They were all over the place” in fields near the highway, said one counter.

As well, they spotted one Prairie Falcon, one Merlin and a Rough-legged Hawk.

And, 44 Eurasian Collared-Doves also caught the counters’ attention. The species is relatively new to the area, having “exploded in numbers in the last three years or so,” says Lloyd Bennett, who has been watching and counting birds in the Taber area and beyond for 30 years.

Lloyd organizes the count around Taber to Purple Springs, but he has always enjoyed watching birds on his farm northeast of Taber.

“You’ll find 110 species of birds in the winter here,” he says, and the list includes the odd robin. Even more species winter in the Rockies west of here.

Graeme Greenlee organizes the local event for the Lethbridge Naturalists Society based on a 15-mile diameter circle centre at 3^rd Avenue and Mayor Magrath Drive. S. The study size is standard, set by Bird Studies Canada and the Audubon.

And how are the birds counted?

“One, two, three . . .” Graeme explains with a chuckle. But, of course that’s smaller flocks around feeders. For large flocks, experienced counters get proficient at estimating.

Past Christmas events here have attracted from 20 to 40 counters.

“Most people just do it for their own interest and enjoyment,” says Graeme.

As a bonus, Southern Alberta birders can access at other times of year three globally significant areas for birds. St. Mary Reservoir near Cardston, Hays Reservoir near Hays and Pakowki Lake near Foremost, provide habitat for one per cent or more of the global population of birds such as California Gulls, Long-billed dowitchers, Stilted Sandpipers or American White Pelicans.

Six other areas in the South are of national significance. No word on whether they attract partridges in pear trees.