What could be more fun than Christmas? The first annual Cortes Island Christmas bird count ­ that’s what! As the fog rolled in on the evening of December 28th our hopes for a clear day for the bird count seemed faint. But a clear dawn broke to find eager participants listening for the “BZZZZT” call of a Bewick’s wren, our first species of the day in the yard of our fearless leader George Sirk. The Christmas bird count identifies both individual species observed and a rough estimate of bird numbers. Although this has been a tradition in many areas this was the first time the count took place officially on Cortes. Our goal for the day was to try to observe at least 68 species of birds.

Our next stop was Smelt Bay, and the near perfect day made it possible to identify birds over 2 miles away with the help of a spotting scope. The group’s excitement grew as we scanned the large flocks of scoters and began to realize that mixed in with them were many harlequin ducks. Harlequin duck populations are declining in some areas, and it was encouraging to count a total of 156 harlequins, 100 of which were observed off Sutil Point and the waters surrounding Marina Island.

The group spilt into a land-based crew, who focused on the foreshore and inland bird populations of the southern 1/3 of the island, while a water-based crew surveyed from Manson’s Lagoon, around the reef of Marina Island, Shark Spit, finishing up in Gorge Harbour. Together these folks spotted 66 species including 5 species of sandpipers (killdeer, oystercatcher, black turnstone, dunlin, and rock sandpiper), 5 raptors (sharp-shinned. Cooper’s and red-tailed hawks, eagles and a great horned owl) and 13 of the 14 species of diving duck. The surf scoters made the biggest splash with over 1500 individuals observed. The cutest bird award goes to the Anna’s hummingbird believed to be one of a small number who have made Cortes their year round home. The biggest bird was the one trumpeter swan spotted in the pond along Bartholomew Road. Unusual sightings were found swimming in Gunflint Lake - the freshwater pied-billed grebe, with a lesser scaup and a ringed neck duck. Surprisingly low numbers of marbled murrelets and pine siskens were observed, perhaps another bird count census along the coast will have found them wintering in their area .

In addition, about a dozen people participated in the count by watching their backyard feeders. They identified 7 more species, including rare sightings for this time of year of a yellow-rumped warbler, a red-winged blackbird and a hermit thrush.

Frustratingly illusive to all were the following ­ a pileated woodpecker, a barred owl, a red-breasted sapsucker, and the 2 black bellied-plovers that were spotted the week previous in Smelt Bay. But then that gives us something to look forward to next year, when we hope to add additional crews to cover the other parts of the island we were unable to census this year. Although, this first bird count sets a high standard to beat with “picture perfect” weather assisting those conducting the field observations.

The day ended with the participants tallying numbers, enjoying refreshments and discussing our success, a grand total of 73 species!. It was clear everyone had a lot of fun, and the less experienced participants learned exciting new tricks of bird identification from the “experts”. Plan to join us next year!

The Christmas Bird Count began over a century ago when 27 conservationists in 25 localities, led by ornithologist Frank Chapman, changed the course of ornithological history. On Christmas Day 1900, the small group of conservationists initiated an alternative activity to the side hunt, a holiday practice typical of the time period. This side hunt was an activity in which teams competed to see who could shoot the most birds and small mammals. Instead of this hunt, Chapman proposed to identify, count, and record the birds they saw, thus founding one of the most significant citizen-based conservation efforts that has now become a century-old institution.

Apart from its attraction as a social, sporting, and competitive event, the Christmas Bird Count reveals scientific information about the winter distributions of various bird species. The Christmas Bird Count is one of the most important databases used to monitor the status of resident and migratory birds across the Western Hemisphere. In addition, count results from 1900 to the present are available through the National Audubon Society's website www.audubon.org http://www.audubon.org /bird/cbc.

In its 103rd year, the Christmas Bird Count is now larger than ever, expanding its geographical range and accumulating valuable scientific data. Two years ago, Bird Studies Canada became the Canadian partner in this huge project, organized since its inception by the National Audubon Society. Backed with over a century of participation and collected data, the Christmas Bird Count is the longest running volunteer-based bird census, spanning three human generations, said Dick Cannings, coordinator of the Christmas Bird Count in Canada. The Christmas Bird Count has evolved into a powerful and important tool, one probably inconceivable to any of the 27 participants on the first Christmas Bird Count. Accumulating data from the CBC become increasingly important by providing the raw material for studies monitoring the status of early winter bird populations as well as the overall health of the environment. With continually growing environmental pressures, its seems likely that todays participants cannot fathom the value of their efforts in the next century.

Today, over 55,000 volunteers from every Canadian province and territory, all 50 states, parts of Central and South America, Bermuda, the West Indies, and Pacific islands count and record every individual bird and bird species seen in a specified area. During the 102nd CBC, about 52 million individual birds were counted, and last year saw a new record high of 1,936 individual counts, over 300 of them in Canada. Each individual count group completes a census of the birds found during one 24 hour period between December 14 and January 5 in a designated circle 24 kilometres in diameter-about 458 square kilometres.