The Ladner Christmas Bird Count is looking for more volunteers to take part in the annual tradition later this month.
The count was started in Ladner in the mid-1950s and has always been one of the top three for bird species in Canada. In 2010, the Ladner Christmas Bird Count was once again the top in B.C., as well as Canada, with 144 species seen on count day.
This year's count is scheduled for Tuesday, Dec. 27.
Noting more volunteers are invited to take part, spokesperson Jude Grass says organizers intend to be tops again this year.
The count is open to birders of all skill levels and each of the area teams are led by experienced birders who help identify the birds spotted.
It's part of a larger tally, involving many communities over a two-week period, by Bird Studies Canada, a non-profit conservation organization. The counts are tabulated in a large-scale western hemisphere count organized by the Audubon Society.
The Christmas Bird Count began over a century ago and now has more than 2,000 individual counts, hundreds of which are in Canada.
The count is named for where the centre of a count circle is located and circles often include other communities, such as south Richmond, which is in the Ladner count.
The Ladner count also includes Point Roberts, making it one of the few cross-border counts.
Grass says the generally mild winters and availability of food make Boundary Bay and the Fraser River estuary a major wintering area for many species that spend their summers in Siberia, Alaska and northern Canada.
For many birds this is south, she says, adding the Ladner count area has the highest numbers of wintering species in Canada for raptors (hawks, eagles, owls and falcons), shorebirds and waterfowl.
Each area team needs drivers, recorders and spotters.
If you would prefer to stay at home, feeder watchers can record species and numbers at their feeders on the count day and phone or email the results the following day to the count coordinator.
Because the Ladner count does not take in all of Richmond and Delta, feeder watchers must call the count co-ordinator in advance to see if they are in the count area. The count area is a designated circle that is 24 kilometres (15 miles) in diameter and covers about 450 square kilometres.
Following the count, the spotter teams will gather at the Reifel Bird Sanctuary on Westham Island for a hot supper, to share details of rare or unusual birds seen and to participate in the tally of species.
Last year, about 61 million birds were tallied in 2,215 locations by over 62,000 volunteers, a record number of locations and observers. In Canada, almost 12,000 participants in 394 counts found 3.3 million birds.
If you are interested in participating in the Ladner count, contact Grass at 604538-8774, 604-219-2043 or [email protected].
