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YORKTON - It was a clear, cold and calm day for the 2024 Yorkton and area Christmas Bird Count but also a very successful one.
There were 19 individuals who participated including four who drove around the area with the remainder reporting on sightings seen at their bird feeders or in their yards.
The count included 1,246 individual birds from 22 species. There were the species commonly seen such as the ravens and sparrows and chickadees and a few uncommon ones including a hawk possibly a Northern Harrier and two Eurasian Collarded doves.
Mammals sighted were also included. This year there were eight species seen as well as numerous tracks.
“The Christmas Bird Count is North America’s longest-running Citizen Science project,” notes www.birdscanada.org
“People in more than 2,000 locations throughout the Western Hemisphere participate in the CBC each year.
“The program is driven largely by volunteer effort and supporter donations. The information collected by thousands of ‘citizen scientists’ forms one of the world’s largest sets of wildlife survey data.”
The results are used by conservation biologists, environmental planners, and naturalists to assess the population trends and distribution of birds.
Birds Canada oversees the CBC program nationally, in partnership with National Audubon Society.
