A Blue Jay, left, and a male Pine Grosbeak, right, at the Turtleford group's 2021 Christmas Bird Count event. (Submitted photos/Brent Keen)

By Angela Brown

NATURE STUDY

Turtleford area annual Christmas Bird Count coming up

Dec 11, 2022 | 4:18 PM

The Turtleford area group of birding enthusiasts is getting geared up to take part in their annual Christmas Bird Count event again this year.

Coordinator Brent Keen hopes to see a good turnout for the gathering, tentatively set for Dec. 28.

“Turtleford is our centre point. We go out about 12 kilometres in every direction,” he said. “Some of us start before sunrise, and we go until after sundown.”

The event typically lasts as long as people are willing to venture out – drive around or walk about, and runs all day.

Keen said a few people in the group will focus on trying to find owls, as well as whatever else they can see to add to the count.

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Last year about a dozen hardy enthusiasts took part when the weather was particularly frigid.

Keen has already been getting in touch with those who participated the last time around.

“I’m contacting my usual suspects,” he said.

People can sign up to take part through the group’s Facebook Page at Turtleford Christmas Bird Count.

“A lot of people are doing a feeder watch, so they are watching their bird feeders,” Keen said. “The idea is that we all kind of coordinate by phone and by email about what we’ve seen. And, a few of us try to get together and coordinate where we are going, so we can cover more ground.”

If anyone wants to take part they can speak with Keen directly, to arrange for some good places to join the group for the watch.

The event is also a fun way for bird lovers to get together.

For the upcoming event, Keen is hoping to include a bald eagle in the bird count, which has already been spotted hanging around the area.

Redpolls are also on the anticipated sightings list.

“This is a year when we are hoping to see lots of Redpolls, but who knows,” Keen said. “They are birds that come every second year. It would be nice to see more this year.”

He said sometimes the bird count group sees flocks of hundreds of Redpolls during the watch.

Known as one of the winter finches, according to the National Audubon Society, these birds are characterized by their brown and white feathers, with crimson markings on their heads.

When the numbers for everyone’s sightings are all in, they will be sent to
Nature Saskatchewan, which will add the tally to the North American database.

Keen said the Christmas Bird Count is important in many ways.

“It helps us keep track of climate change, and numbers of birds,” he said. “If you’ve been reading in the news, numbers across the board, [for] animals [wildlife] are down 70 per cent in the last 30 years. We can track numbers and see year-over-year how animals are faring, and if some are coming further north or if some have disappeared.”

Keen said, for example, the bird count group hasn’t seen Evening Grosbeaks in years.

“They are just gone,” he said. “So, [the Christmas Bird Count] lets us keep track, and monitor change.”

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Angela.Brown@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @battlefordsnow