News and event information for Williams Lake, BC - as it happens.

Submitted by Phil Ranson

Many of the 35 participants in the 18 parties in the field agreed; ‘there were very few birds out there’, but everyone had a highlight and the combined highlights resulted in a respectable total of 55 species for the 42nd annual Williams Lake Christmas Bird Count held on December 20th. This was lower than the record setting 63 of last year but pretty close to average for the previous 5 years. We rely on some open water to get big numbers and this year, of the water dependant birds, we only managed to find Mallards, Green-winged Teal and a lone Great Blue Heron. The City sewage lagoons which are one of the few sanctuaries for ducks after Williams Lake freezes had only Mallards where normally 5 or 6 species can be expected.

A Northern Hawk Owl in Chimney Valley and a Great Gray Owl on Fox Mountain were good finds, but unlike last year, owls were not the story of the day; sparrows took that honour. 44 Song Sparrows easily beat the previous best of 34 with at least 12 at Scout Island and another 13 at a Juniper St. feeder. Whatever made conditions favourable for sparrows also provided 2 new bird species for the count, with a Swamp Sparrow found in the Scout Island marsh and a Chipping Sparrow visiting a Russet Bluffs feeder. The unfortunately named Swamp Sparrow is a bird of eastern North America and rarely found in these parts. The Chipping Sparrow is a common breeding bird in the Cariboo but generally long gone by the end of September. To add to the impressive sparrow list were a Harris's Sparrow for only its 3rd appearance in the last 20 years; a Fox Sparrow making its 4th appearance; 2 White-throated Sparrows, a single White-crowned Sparrow and an American Tree Sparrow.

 Most other numbers were either down or struggling to hold their own with some notable exceptions. Common Ravens had their highest ever tally with 474 counted, and perhaps answering the question as to what effect the closing of the Williams Lake dump might have on local Crow and Raven populations. American Crows with 441 also had their best year since the facility was converted to a transfer station. One other species showing a significant increase was the Northern Flicker, surpassing its previous best of 49 in 2006 by 6 birds. Interestingly, both Quesnel and Prince George also had record counts for this species. On the other end of the scale, only 38 Red-breasted Nuthatches were seen, up one from last year’s record low but nothing like the 237 birds that were seen at their peak in the mid 90's.

Caution should always be exercised when trying to evaluate the numbers on an individual count. There are many variables which should be considered, including weather, open water, available food source, counter participation and even the normal cyclic fluctuation of birds. Only long term trends from counts conducted under reasonably consistent standard procedures will tell the whole story.

Thanks to all who participated including those that took the time to count the birds at their feeders and send in their reports.

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