This report has to open with sad news; our prime birder, Chris Dale, passed away on November 10 th .
Chris was the backbone of our Monthly Bird Counts and Christmas Bird Counts for several years.
Always very friendly, he shared his astute observations with everyone, and it follows that there is a lot
of Chris Dale’s input into this report.
It was basically an average year when looking at the number of species seen. However, abundances
of individual birds are probably below average except for Coots and American Wigeon which again
showed up in big numbers at “Rebagliati Bay” on Green Lake (the bay across the highway from the
Rainbow neighbourhood).
Over the year two species were added to our checklist which now stands at 274 and includes the
extirpated Spotted Owl (last seen in 1946) and Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (seen only in 1927!). The
new additions are a Sanderling Sandpiper, photographed by Ellen Ramsey and identified by Ken
Wright, and a Rock Wren seen by Melissa Hafting (the BC eBird reviewer for six regions including
ours) on the High Note Trail on Whistler Mountain.
Not to go unmentioned are the plethora of songbirds seen by Maeve and Nicole at Cheakamus
Crossing, which is developing into a hotspot to replace the lost hotspot at Tapley’s Farm (a property
where many feeders used to be). Ellen Ramsey with her telephoto lens continues to find the tough to
see species on her Monday to Friday daily walks at our valley bottom lakes. Look for her bird calendar
which is released yearly in December.
Bird walks are organized each month by Kristina Swerhun who, in addition to the monthly Alta Lake
Bird Walks (1 st Saturday of the month), added Green Lake to the mix from April to September (3 rd
Saturday of the month). Attendance is generally good on all, but November’s had astonishing
numbers of new recruits.
Shawn Mason continues as the Christmas Bird Count organizer and is doing an excellent job. Heather
Baines, who organized the monthly bird walks for 20 years, is now in retirement mode while one of
our best, Dea Lloyd, has moved away. For the stats I struggle to keep up, and it is time for a new
volunteer on the job. So, the following is hopefully my last hurrah.
Seasonal counts for 2024 (with averages over 19 years in brackets):
● Winter (Dec – Feb): 62 species (61.8)
● Spring (Mar – May): 134 species (135.4)
● Summer (June – Aug ): 123 species (120.6)
● Autumn (Sept – Nov): 110 species (106.3)
● Year (Dec 1, 2023 – Nov 30, 2024): 178 (174.2)
There was no record one day high count for individual species, but we came close. Some exceptional
records are: American Wigeon (350) on October 31, 2002; Coots (455) on October 27, 2022; and
Canvasback ducks (20) on November 12, 1912!
Join us at our monthly bird walks, Alta Lake, on first Saturday of the month, year round, or at Green
Lake (third Saturday) in the spring and summer. Who knows, it might be a record day for something.
Written by: Karl Ricker
Comments