Selkirk held their Audubon Christmas Bird Count (CBC) on Dec. 17, 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.
Gerald Machnee was the lead compiler for Selkirk’s CBC and reported below-average bird count numbers for 2024.
“This year our total number of birds was several hundred below our long-term average,” he said.
Only 1,570 birds were counted, while an average of 2,000 birds had been recorded in previous years.
Twenty-nine different species of birds were included in Selkirk’s CBC. Machnee mentioned some notable species that he marked as exciting views.
“[We saw] a Eurasian Collared Dove, two American Robins, three Northern Shrikes, two Bald Eagles, 27 White-winged Crossbills, four Dark-eyed Juncos, two Pine Siskins, tenPine Grosbeaks, one Mallard, one Red-winged Blackbird and two Wild Turkeys.”
No one spotted Starlings, Owls, or Purple Finches, which surprised the counters.
Machnee thanks everyone who spent the day travelling around the community counting birds and to those who collected data at their homes by being feeder watchers.
