PENDER HARBOUR CHRISTMAS BIRD COUNT - HOSTED BY PENDER HARBOUR WILDLIFE SOCIETY

The Pender Harbour version of the annual Bird Studies Canada / Audubon Christmas (Winter) bird count will be on Wednesday, December 16th, from dawn to dusk (or later, for those who want to include owls).  Although it is a Pender Harbour and District and Wildlife Society sponsored event, many members of the Sunshine Coast Natural History Society take part every year and in fact provide many of the group leaders.  There are also many participants from outside these organizations.

  The organizers would like to welcome those of you who have come in the past as well as those joining us for the first time!

Expertise at identification is not required for participation in the count. All that is needed is an interest in birds and a desire to learn more about the ones that are around at this time of year.  Bring binoculars or spotting scope if you have them.  Lunch and warm clothes are also assets as participants will be outdoors.

The Winter bird count is a one-day census of all birds within a 15-mile radius circle that extends from Middlepoint in the South to Captain's Island in the North, and from the Bjerre Shoals (Malaspina Strait) in the West to Storm Bay (Sechelt Inlet) in the East.  This area of land, sea and numerous lakes is broken up into smaller areas, each of which is allocated to a group of counters.

We hope to have at least six expert-led counting crews, three of which will spend at least part of the day on boats.  Details regarding the always-popular boat groups are as follows:
1. The northern crew (led by Tony Greenfield) will do the Egmont area in the morning, then will go out for the afternoon on Billy Griffith's "Tzoonie River" to do Agamemnon Channel;
2. The southern crew (TBA) will do the coastal waters from Middlepoint to the south side of Pender Harbour; and will do land areas south of Francis Peninsula in the afternoon;
3. The eastern crew (John Dafoe) will leave from Egmont in the morning on Andre Alarie's fishing boat to do northern Sechelt Inlet, including Storm Bay.

The three land routes we've had in previous years are as follows:
4. Oyster Bay and the Garden Bay area (Arnold Skei/Rand Rudland),
5. Highway 101 from Lillies Lake to Ruby Lake (Dan Bouman),
6. Francis Peninsula (Russ Tkachuk).

Tony Greenfield is organizing the experts and their routes, and John Field will be the contact person for other participants.  Please let John Field know:
A) whether you would like to join the count for the day or part of a day. Registration fee is $5 (except BSC members) and is collected by your group leader;
B) if you have a preference for a particular route (please be prepared to contribute $5-10 towards car or boat fuel);
C) whether you plan to come to the excellent dinner and countdown at the end of the day (dinner will start about 6 pm) - see details below.

Regarding the post-count get-together, this year the venue is Ruby Lake Restaurant (hosts Aldo Cogrossi and Brigit Garrett) where there will be dinner and a warm fire. Doors open at dusk. The gathering will also include tallying up the day's results by species and numbers, and swapping tall tales of the day's highlights!

The dinner will consist of vegetarian and meat pastas, organic salad and dessert.  Cost for the meal is $15 per person.  John Field needs to know numbers in advance so that he can inform the restaurant.

If you are, or know of, an expert birder who would consider taking on a new route, there are several areas within our count circle that are not currently covered.  Please contact Tony Greenfield at 604-885-5539.

All registrations and other enquiries should be directed to John Field at 604-883-2807.

Finally, if you want to take part in the count by monitoring your home bird feeder, please contact Joe Harrison (604-883-9958) to register and for more information on this aspect of the count.