Gimli held their Audubon Christmas Bird Count (CBC) on Dec. 19, 2024. The CBC is an international holiday birding tradition in which birders track and count the number of birds they see within a 24-kilometre radius of a geographical area.
Bonnie Chartier was the lead compiler for Gimli’s CBC, and she reported below-average bird count numbers for 2024.
“We drove for 557s km and each group was out (counting) for an average of four hours,” she said.
Gimli’s bird counters saw 1,155 birds on their trek, compared to an average of 1,500 birds in previous years.
Twenty-seven different species of birds were included in Gimli’s CBC. Chartier noted two unique species that thrilled the counters.
“A highlight for us was seeing a Great Gray Owl and two Northern Shrikes.”
Chartier thanks her 13 volunteers, who spent the day travelling around the community counting birds, and the two feeder watchers, who kept data on what birds visited their backyards.
