It's looking like Ladner won't be tops in Canada this year in the annual Christmas Bird Count.
The preliminary number for the latest count, which was held Sunday, Dec. 22, had Ladner at just 133 species. That total would make it about the same as Vancouver but less than Victoria, which had 143 species spotted in 2013.
The Ladner Christmas Bird Count, which is usually held after Christmas Day, was tops in the country with 146 species spotted in 2012.
Co-ordinator Jude Grass said the earlier count day resulted in fewer volunteers than normal, although about 30 people did show up to take part.
Combined with steady rain and plenty of leftover snow on the ground, the number of birds seen was down from the usual total, she said.
"I was saying to the birders we have this about once every five years. It's like we get a baseball bat across the head with the weather. Last year we beat Victoria but they had lousy weather, so the birds like to hunker down. It's still a fun challenge to see who can be the best," she said.
The Ladner count is part of a regional Christmas Bird Count, which is part of a much larger count coordinated by the National Audubon Society in the United States and co-ordinated in Canada by Bird Studies Canada.
This was the 114th year of the Christmas Bird Count, with the Ladner edition having joined in the 1950s. Volunteers checked areas throughout South Delta, the landfill, as well
as Point Roberts and parts of southern Richmond.
The count also included people keeping an eye on their backyard bird feeders.
Usually spotted in big numbers, shorebirds were down from normal, likely due to the weather.
However, a few rare sightings were recorded, including a Pacific-golden Plover and a Red-naped sapsucker, a bird similar to a woodpecker.
The Beach Grove area had the most species spotted at 76.
The final tabulation will likely see a couple more species added to the list.
Grass said one positive is that additional volunteers signed up from Richmond.
She said the 2014 count will likely be held prior to Christmas again, so that means people who may normally want to take part could still be busy doing their shopping.
Grass said they would try to get the word out even earlier looking for additional volunteers. It's a fun activity even for first time birders, she said.
