Sponsored by the Creston Field Naturalists, the annual Christmas Bird Count was held on Dec. 27.
“A big thank you to all of you, both fielders and feeder watchers,” said compiler Sharon Laughlin. “You might not have thought it as you slogged along pursuing this years ever so elusive birds, but together we did astonishingly well, the best count in the West Kootenays, so I’m told. Without each one of your sightings we would have not excelled as we did.”
Nearly 7,000 birds were sighted from a total of 66 species:
708 Canada goose
9 mallard
6 ring-necked duck
14 bufflehead
151 common goldeneye
16 hooded merganser
23 ring-necked pheasant
5 ruffed grouse
119 wild turkey
7 California quail
3 great blue heron
15 bald eagle
1 sharp-shinned hawk (CW)
16 red-tailed hawk
10 rough-legged hawk
2 golden eagle
19 American kestrel
3 merlin
2 Wilson’s snipe
316 rock pigeon
15 Eurasian collared dove
198 mourning dove
10 great horned owl
10 northern pygmy owl
1 long-eared owl (US)
2 short-eared owl
1 belted kingfisher
14 downy woodpecker
14 hairy woodpecker
135 northern flicker
6 pileated woodpecker
11 northern shrike
2 gray jay
34 Steller’s jay
4 blue jay
1 Clark’s nutcracker (US, CW)
25 black-billed magpie
191 American crow
229 common raven
493 black-capped chickadee
4 mountain chickadee
71 chestnut-backed chickadee
2 boreal chickadee
84 red-breasted nuthatch
5 brown creeper
2 winter/Pacific wren
1 American dipper
24 golden-crowned kinglet
5 Townsend’s solitaire
58 American robin
1 varied thrush
1015 European starling
994 Bohemian waxwing
50 cedar waxwing
74 song sparrow
125 dark-eyed (Oregon) junco
139 dark-eyed (slate-coloured) junco
42 red-winged blackbird
38 Brewer’s blackbird
6 Cassin’s finch
715 house finch
3 red crossbill
1 common redpoll (CW)
186 pine siskin
189 American goldfinch
223 evening grosbeak
47 house sparrow
6945 total individuals counted
66 total species reported
CW = count week (three days before and after count day)
US = unusual species (requires documentation and authorized consensus to remain as accepted)