Clearwater's 2014 results in the second global Great Backyard Bird Count indicated a continued downward trend for the third straight year.
Even so, the community submitted more checklists than 126 countries of the 135 that participated. Though we beat more than last year, it is because more countries joined the count this year. Listed in order from the most to the least, only the United States, Canada (of course), India, Australia, Mexico, Chile, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, and the United Kingdom had more checklists than this community.
First, the positive aspects gleaned from Clearwater's 2014 data. Wilson's snipe and varied thrush had their highest individual bird sightings. Dark-eyed junco and red crossbill had their strongest showing since 2007 and 2008 respectively. Red-breasted nuthatch numbers continued their climb over the past few years. One lone white-winged crossbill showed up this year – the first sighting since 2010 when 10 were spotted. The eurasian collared-dove was reported for the first time, giving a total of 88 species that have been sighted during the 11 years Clearwater has participated.
The most individual birds were black-capped chickadee (696); pine siskin (363); common raven (294); dark-eyed junco (229); and red-breasted nuthatch (192). The black-capped chickadee appeared most often (104 checklists) followed by common raven tied with red-breasted nuthatch (78); pine siskin (47); and downy woodpecker (37).
Aspects of concern are the number of submitted checklists (161) and individual birds (2,600) declined to the lowest since 2007, while the number of species (39) was the lowest since 2006. There were zero sightings of european starling for the first time since 2006; chestnut-backed chickadee, brown creeper, white-breasted nuthatch, pine grosbeak, and common redpoll since 2007; and house finch since 2008.
The common redpoll irrupt (move south when food is scarce in the north) roughly every other year. Though they may have lulled us into expecting them after doing so in both 2012 and 2013, they will likely be back next year.
Red-winged blackbirds stayed away for the first time since 2010 (one appeared about a week later). Pine siskins continued to decline (358) from their record in 2010 (4,013). Only one checklist reported evening grosbeaks (40) compared to 24 checklists in 2013 with 224 birds. A total of 33 households participated this year, down slightly from last year.
Several years indicate a trend with more birds present a few weeks prior to the count and, for some reason, many have left. A lot of snow and the fact that it clung to the trees for many weeks possibly prevented the birds accessing nature's larder, so they went elsewhere.
The bout of really cold temperatures didn't seem to deter them as many didn't leave until after the cold weather, but numerous snow flurries may have urged them to depart. Maybe their internal clock suggested they should start heading home as breeding season is not far off.
The reduced number of birds may have discouraged people from participating as they didn't see the point in reporting so few birds, when they'd had many more to report previous years.
Ailments prevented a number of people from participating this year and several previous participants have moved or migrated with the birds. Few new or young people have replaced them, so Clearwater's effort hasn't been maintained.
Another factor could be the last two years the GBBC merged with eBird losing the ability for competitive comparison amongst communities, so residents of Clearwater now are unable to know if the community has maintained its position of submitting the most checklists in Canada, which it did for five years.
Appreciation for promoting the event goes to Forest House, Home Hardware, RONA, the Times, and especially Clearwater Library for providing blank, local checklists for those who wanted one.
Many thanks to everyone who managed to fit some counts into their busy schedule.
“Hope you enjoyed the second global GBBC and I'm sure the GBBC appreciates your effort as a citizen scientist,” said one organizer.
