PHOTO COURTESY OF DAN SCHIEBELBEIN A pine grosbeak takes a break in the sunshine. A total of 61 were seen here during the bird count in December.
gslade@medicinehatnews.com@MHNGillianSlade
The Medicine Hat Interpretive Program says the Christmas bird count that took place in December revealed a new bird, but also that the number of Canada geese is down.
“There was one new bird on the count that we’d never seen before, a ruddy duck,” said Marty Drut, park interpreter. The ruddy duck is not unusual but for some reason has not been counted here before. They have a blue beak and are considered a “cute duck.”
In 2018 the number of Canada geese counted was a record but this time the numbers were down a little.
“We’ve been counting about 20,000 and this year we had about 17,000,” said Drut. “The mallard count was up a little bit. There were about 3,100 of them. We usually get about 2,500.”
The mallard may still decide to migrate, particularly with the anticipated cold snap we are about to experience, said Drut.
The official bird count took place Dec. 15, which was a little earlier than usual but conditions were considered ideal – not too cold and not too windy. Officially the bird count can take place between Dec. 14 and Jan. 5.
This time, the 38th annual count, there were 44 participants locally including four who were new plus 20 who monitored sightings at bird feeders.
In 2019 a total of 56 species were observed, which is two less than what was counted in 2018, said Drut. There were some pleasant surprises.
“The horned lark is a small Prairie song bird and their numbers have been down for quite a few years and this year we had a really good count for them, 200,” said Drut. “Between 2010 and 2018 there was only one year where more than four were seen in the count.”
There were a number of snow buntings, 321, and they’d last been seen in 2016, as well as 61 pine grosbeak that had last been seen in 2017, said Drut.
Other species that showed a significant increase compared to the numbers in 2018 include: the gray partridge with an increase of 263 per cent, the ring-necked pheasant, rock doves, Eurasian collared-dove, the downy woodpecker, blue jays and black-billed magpies. There was a 359 per cent increase in the number of bohemian waxwings counted.
The species where numbers were down include: common goldeneye, northern flicker and red-breasted nuthatch.
