Results from the Christmas bird count are in, and organizer Gord Ruddy said this year they鈥檙e especially impressive.
According to Ruddy, the 10 people in the field and four watching bird feeders counted a total of 943 birds this year, including an 鈥渆xceptionally high鈥� 40 unique species.
A few of the rarer sightings this year were a robin, which is uncommon in Jasper, a hooded merganser at the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge and a house finch at one of the town feeders.
Ruddy said that while the 943 total birds is just an average total, it makes sense considering this year鈥檚 birders didn鈥檛 run into some of the species that usually bump up their numbers, like the small pine grosbeaks and redpolls.
鈥淥nce you encounter those birds you encounter them in flocks of 40 or 50, so they add up to three or four hundred birds. We would have been up to an exceptionally good Christmas count had we seen those birds, but we didn鈥檛,鈥� Ruddy explained.
Ruddy believes this is because this year there was an exceptionally good cone crop in the northern parts of Jasper that fall outside the official 24 kilometre bird count circle, so many birds were likely hiding there instead.
Ruddy believes this year鈥檚 success, despite a relatively low turnout from the town鈥檚 birders, is due largely to the people involved.
鈥淛asper has some very serious birders,鈥� he said, 鈥渨hen those people go out, they accomplish a lot.鈥�
Former park warden Wes Bradford takes part in the count most years. While he didn鈥檛 spend the whole day searching like some people, he did see some interesting birds, including a Townsend鈥檚 solitaire.
He said he enjoys the bird count because the long-term data collected during the count is impressive. This year was the 114th annual Christmas bird count, and although it hasn鈥檛 been going on that long in Jasper, Bradford said the data is still fascinating.
Of course, he added, what the event really does is give people an excuse to get outside.
鈥淭he bird count is always interesting because you never know what you鈥檙e going to find,鈥� he said.
Trevor Nichols
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