Volunteers who participated in the Christmas Bird Count on Dec. 19, 2005 set a new record. They counted 24 species of birds, the local group's best ever result, higher than the previous record of 21 species.

Volunteers were out at 7AM counting birds as part of an effort to gather statistics on bird populations. Every year for the past 105 years, volunteers across North America have spent one day during the Christmas holiday bird watching. In total, 19 local volunteers contributed a combined 34 hours of observation time and spoiled 586 birds.

Despite the record counted, the actual number of birds is down this year from last year, when 1414 birds were spotted.

"It was quiet day as far as birds go," says Jeff Manchak; a naturalist with Alberta Parks who coordinated the bird count.

This might have had something to do with the weather. Although the day began relatively warm and clear, things took a turn for the worse at midday.

"That was the day we had 100 km/h winds," says Manchak "It was a cold windy day by the end of it."

The most common bird spotted this year was the black-capped chickadee. Some 174 were seen. Other birds sighted in high numbers were the common raven at 138, the bohemian waxwing at 100, the common redpoll at 83, and the black-billed magpie at 28.
A few volunteers were lucky enough to sight some unusual species. The sharp-tailed grouse, the northern shrike, and the snow bunting are not often spotted around here, but they were this year. The snow bunting was spotted for the first time in the six years the
ducted locally.

In addition, an unusually high number of owls were spotted during the count.
Manchak started his day earlier than the rest. He was out at 5 a.m. hoping to spot an owl before Sunrise. Usually, night is the best time for owl spotting, hut fortune did not favour Manchak. He did not see a single owl. Instead all the glory went to a group of birders walking near the Marten Hills

Road who spotted seven Great Grey Owls and three Northern Hawk Owls, an unusually high number of sightings for
each bird.

"The first owl was spot-led by 8:30 a.m.," says Manchak. "I don't know if the conditions were right or the owls needed to get out hunting before the snow, but it's a bit of luck to track down that many owls."

The full list of results is now available on the internet at http://www.audubon.org/bird/cbc/, the website for Audubon.

Bird baths important - even in winter
M.Partinglon-Ritiier
Lakeside Leader

Amy Wotton demonstrates a tube feeder

The whole session wasn't entirely for the birds - well, maybe it was. But then again, it wasn't. It was also for the people who like to feed, and watch the feathered friends that frequent their bird feeders -and it was about the squirrels too!

Lesser Slave Lake Bird Observatory rep Amy Wotton and Provincial Parks Naturalist Jeff Manchak led the troops thru their paces at a Feeding Winter Birds session last week. For most of the audience (Junior Forest Warden types) it was a refresher on identifying the birds that hangout in the Slave Lake area over winter - birds like the black capped chickadee, the blue jay, the gray jay, the white-breasted nuthatch, the redpolls, the grosbeaks (pine and evening), the pine siskins, and even the lowly sparrow.

There are a variety of feeders, Wotton told the crowd, although some — like the platform feeder — are better to attracting larger and more diverse 'crowds', and others — like the tube feeder— are intended to cater to just the smaller birds.

It's best to position the feeders within a metre or two of some sort of cover, she said, so the smaller ones have somewhere to sit lo avoid lurking cats, or other intruders.
Sunflowers — the black, oily variety - are the 'champion of all feeds," she said.

"Birds like them all year round, not just at baseball games."
Niger seeds, are much like thistle seeds, but they've been washed sorted and 'sanitized'

"..you can even use an electric fry pan, just keep (the temperature setting) really, really low!" ~ Naturalist Jeff Manchak

They're a little on the expensive side, she added, but spending the extra dollars is almost guaranteed to attract far more 'visitors' to the feeders.

Not as expensive is suet lard, or animal fat she added.

"It's the chocolate bar for birds, an excellent source of energy." It's also a great way to attract woodpeckers. She said even old onion bags filled with fat and seeds are a winner when it comes to attracting birds.

She said setting our clocks back In the fall should be a reminder that it's time to start feeding the feathered friends. But that's not to say that starting to feed birds is setting them up for starvation if you happen to go away for a week, or a month in the winter.

'They won't become reliant on your feeders," Manchak told the crowd. "Birds have a daily route that they travel to secure food," and if the feeder is empty, they'll carry on.

It is, however, important to wash out the feeders regularly with a soap or diluted bleach/water mixture, they added, lo avoid making the birds sick from mould or droppings contamination.

Keeping a ready source of water on hand for birds to drink, and more importantly bathe, is also a good idea, he added.

There are several ingenious ideas, "but you can even use an electric fry pan, just keep (the temperature setting) really, really low!"

Watching birds is fun and inexpensive, he added, "but you've got to embrace the squirrels too!" she added.