The most notable species visible during the Christmas Bird Count on the weekend were those who were doing the counting.
They are members of one of the world鈥檚 oldest citizen-scientist movements, and the information they collect not only keeps track of birds, but it helps monitor the state of our environment.
Twenty-one teams, some of which had 16 or more members, spent their Saturday peering into trees, bushes, hillsides and shorelines in the 24-kilometre radius around the Marigold neighbourhood in Saanich.
They recorded 140 species and more than 75,000 individual birds.
That isn鈥檛 a definitive count of how many birds inhabit the region. The bird count isn鈥檛 so much a census of birds as it is a gauge of how birds and the environment are doing. Comparing one year鈥檚 count with other years gives an indication of trends in bird populations. A drastic drop in numbers of one species can be a warning that something is amiss, prompting further studies and action.
It isn鈥檛 just about the birds. The 鈥渃anary in the coal mine鈥� phrase refers to the practice of miners carrying caged birds into the mines to detect poisonous gases, which would kill the birds before killing the miners, giving them time to scramble for safety.
Many of those who involved in the Christmas count are enthusiastic birders, but their work is more than a hobby. As it goes with our feathered friends, so it goes with us. They are worth counting.
