Blue Jays are one of the many species of birds which can be seen in Medicine Hat and surrounding area.--SUBMITTED PHOTO
kking@medicinehatnews.com
Medicine Hat and area’s annual Christmas Bird Count will be taking place Sunday.
“The Christmas Bird Count is a wildlife survey that has been going on for what will be the 122nd year. In Medicine Hat this will be our 40th Christmas Bird Count,” Mary Drut, park interpreter at Medicine Hat Interpretative Program, told the News.
“Back in the day, before (the Christmas Bird Count) was started, people would go out and hunt local birds,” said Drut. The hunt was largely for sport, as the birds were too small to be used as a food source, he explained. A conservation group began the count as a sustainable alternative event.
“It gives people an activity to do and it also … gives an excellent data set for biologists and other people to use to track long-term trends on what birds are doing during the winter.” Drut said. “Scientists can’t be in all these places to collect information, so it’s really important citizens who have expertise … participate.
“You can do it with your family, you can do it with your friends. You can follow the (COVID-19) protocols and do it outdoors.”
All participants need to do is correctly identify the type of bird which visits their feeder and record the number of birds they see throughout the day, only counting the greatest number they see at one time.
“You don’t know if it’s the same bird coming back and forth to the bird feeder over the course of the day so you only count the largest number you see at any given time. So if you have a chickadee that comes at 10 a.m. and two chickadees that come at 10:30 a.m., you don’t total them up to get three, you report two, which is the most you saw (at once),” he said.
Anyone interested in or planning on participating is encouraged to contact the Nature Centre prior to Sunday. The Nature Centre can be reached at 403-529-6225, open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday to Sunday.
