A 2025 Christmas Bird Count Full of Surprises
The Christmas Bird Counts have always been a fascination for me, in that every year, in terms of number of species and total numbers of birds, there is such variability. Despite your expectations based on weather, temperature, and what you have observed leading up the count date, there are always surprises. After the gruesome weather of the 2024 count, the 2025 count day, December 14, 2025, was calm, cool, and dry, boding well for good birding. This year 31 people collectively logged just under 60 hours and 92 kilometers to record the birds of Mayne Island for that date.
What were the results of all that effort you might ask?
This year we observed 68 species of birds representing 2,848 individuals. This result is on par with the multi year average of 67 species, but is only 62% of the multiyear average of 4,621 for numbers of birds. The last three years of counts have been below this average, but it is too soon to say if this could be a downward trend in abundance. Even at that, there were some good numbers of specific species and some surprises.
Our high counts were for American robin (369), Dark-eyed junco (261), chestnut-backed chickadee (254), and golden-crowned kinglet (195). We were also excited to have some sightings of rare species for Mayne Island, including ring-necked duck (five, which is a historical high), Eurasian widgeon (nine, another historical high), golden eagle (one) and glaucous gull (one, a first for Mayne Island).
The surprises were also notable in that we had no sightings of raptors other than the eagles, only two pine siskin observed (a usually very abundant feeder and flocking bird), and only 16 surf scoter observed (the usual large rafts of this sea duck were not present). For the nocturnal species, we detected a great horned owl, and as expected, a barred owl. The at-risk Western screech owl was heard calling well before the count date and was unfortunately not detected during the count period.
The official Audubon count area that contains the Mayne Island count includes Saturna, North Pender, and South Pender islands. The official list submitted for our count area is a compilation of counts from each of these islands. For this year’s count the four islands tallied 91 species and 9,838 individual birds. Collectively we had 118 birders out on count day who logged just over 187 hours (this includes feeder counters) and 229 kilometers on foot, by car, or by boat to observe birds.
If you wish to see the full Mayne count results, please contact Mchael Dunn (michael@mayneconservancy.ca).
Thanks to all of you who enthusiastically participated in the count. Hope to see you next year.
Another Chance to Count Birds: The Great Backyard Bird Count on Family Day Weekend
During the Family Day long weekend, there is a wonderful birding event happening across the world. It is the Great Backyard Bird Count February 13 to 16. It is open to everyone.
No need to register, just choose a place to do some birding (your property or another) and commit to birding for at least 15 minutes in one day at that place, or many days during these dates, and recording species and numbers of birds that you saw.
You can set up a free account on eBird and submit your list, or you can provide your list to Michael and he will submit the list for Mayne Island. For those of you with the Merlin Bird ID application, just use the Merlin Bird ID function during your visit to the chosen place between February 13 and 16. Once completed, save your list with the app at any time during the count dates.
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