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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
There are more raptors and fewer non-migratory birds in and around Yellowknife, according to Ecology North's Annual Christmas bird count.

The Christmas bird count, conducted Dec. 27, indicates that the boreal chickadee, above, and the whiskey jack, or gray jay, are in decline. - photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons 2011 bird-count numbers Numbers in brackets indicate 2010 figures Common raven 2,221 (2,613) Black-billed magpie 39 (46) Gray jay 8 (17) Willow ptarmigan 252 (255) Boreal chickadee 1 (8) Downy woodpecker 0 (2) Hawk Owl 0 (1) Northern Goshawk 1 (0) Gyrfalcon 2 (0) Common redpoll 39 (5) Hoary redpoll 116 (0) Redpoll unidentified species 132 (108) European house sparrow 121 (4) Source: Bob Bromley

Just before sunrise on Dec. 27, bird enthusiasts gathered to search an area 15 km in diameter to tally Yellowknife's bird population.

"We had a very good turnout of people," said bird-specialist and Weledeh MLA Bob Bromley, a co-founder of Ecology North.

The one species of bird sighted this year that didn't make it onto last year's list was the hoary redpoll. This year 116 of the diminutive birds were seen during the count.

While raven numbers were down from 2010, they were still healthy at 2,221.

"The reason that the number of birds was down was because we had a lower count on ravens. Now, it was still a pretty good count on ravens, but we had a North American record last year of 2,613, so that will be tough to beat," said Bromley.

He said the big news for him were the number of birds of prey, or raptors.

"We had quite a showing of birds of prey, which typically is an indicator that we have good local populations of prey: ptarmigan and snowshoe hares," said Bromley.

"Reflecting this birds of prey trend, we saw two gyrfalcons, had four independent sightings and we're assuming that was two birds, and one Northern goshawk - that's a bird that specializes on grouse and ptarmigan. That was seen in the Tin Can Hill area."

While no snowy owls were seen on count day, one was spotted during count week. Three days before and after the Christmas bird count a great grey owl was also spotted just beyond the count zone.

"Unfortunately, it was seen on the other side of the official count area. So we can't count it, but we can still be excited about it. It's extremely rare to see them, and even more rare to see one on bird count day," said Bromley.

Suzanne Carriere, a wildlife biologist who participated in the count, said she is concerned about the numbers of whiskey jacks, also known as grey jays, and Boreal chickadees, whose numbers are lower than even last year.

"There's something going on with them. They're in decline. Nobody knows why," said Carriere.

She said she is concerned because unlike some birds, they are here all the time, not migrating to other areas.

"Those aren't going down south, so we can't always blame the southern habitat," Carriere said. "Many of those birds, they like cold weather. They use cold to store food and keep their food good and they don't compete with animals that spend their winter in the same area. So that's one of the reasons I can think of."

One quirk this year was that while ptarmigan are supposed to be at the low point of a 10-year cycle, their numbers in the Yellowknife area at Christmas are roughly the same as when they are at their peak.

"The Christmas bird count is just an index. So, it could be still the numbers are low for the ptarmigan but for some reason they moved into Yellowknife," said Carriere. "Even in a low year you can get high numbers in very specific areas."

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