Fingers are crossed across the birdwatching community that 2012 will be the year of the snowy owl - and who knows what else.
Sunday is when the annual Christmas Bird Count happens, when teams of spotters flit across the city with binoculars and notepads, accounting for every feather-wearer they can find. It has been happening since 1968, and nationally sanctioned since 1989. This event is part of a continent-wide scientific exercise to assess the overall condition of the environment.
"It is one of those citizen science projects that's more than just fun. It creates a database of meaningful information," said Cathy Antoniazzi, one of the volunteer organizers from the Prince George Naturalist Club. "You see all kinds of trends, the effects of climate change, you see a snapshot of the local environment but also the widespread trends from across Canada and down as far as South America. It feeds into a massive data pool."
The Prince George Christmas Bird Count finds, on average, 45 different species and 8,000 individual birds. The most ever found was 15,889 in 2003, and the highest number of species was in 1999 when 51 kinds were recorded.
The area of reference is always the same. The event's footprint is 24 kilometres in diameter, centred at the University Hospital of Northern B.C. It roughly extends to Hartman Road in the west, Shelley Road to the east, North Kelly Road at the top end, and the Old Cariboo Highway going south. The area is divided up into sections and each section has a team to cover it off.
Usually about 30 people sign up to take part but Antoniazzi said 45 have already confirmed their attendance.
The social aspect of the bird count is one of the reasons so many participants are faithful regulars every year.
"The bird counting movement goes back to the early 1900s and American ornithologist Frank Chapman," she explained. "He had the idea to hold 'side hunts' because there were popular hunting events where people would go out and compete for how many birds they could shoot. Chapman's idea was to do the same thing only counting the birds instead of shooting them."
Chapman was an early organizer of the fledgling National Audubon Society, and that group is still the parent organization for the Christmas Bird Count, in partnership with Bird Studies Canada and the many local organizations that do the ground work.
"I'm really proud of Prince George," said Antoniazzi, who has been involved since 1997. "I like this town anyway, but this is one of those special events we do really well. People here faithfully take their day to go out in all kinds of weather and put in effort to understand and be out in nature. I think it's a fun way to spend the day, and it produces a lot of useful data."
Anyone who wishes to take part can contact Antoniazzi at [email protected] or simply fill your bird feeders this week so the birdwatchers have the best chance of spotting what you draw in. It is also helpful to have local people document the birds they see out on their own walks or looking out their windows, email in the details (species, time, location, how many) to Antoniazzi, and this can be used to verify what the official spotters notice.
