LIIDLII KUE/FORT SIMPSON
If you saw someone looking at the trees in Fort Simpson just before the holidays, perhaps with a pair of binoculars, you were seeing volunteers undertaking an annual bird census.

Two Bohemian waxwings, similar to the two pictured here, were spotted during the Fort Simpson count. - photo courtesy of Doug Tate

Across the country, volunteers head out and count how many birds of various species they see in a given area, recording the results for the Christmas Bird Court.

It was the 115th year for the count in North America, the 15th year in the village. It is administered by the National Audubon Society, which uses the data to assess the health of bird populations and guide conservation action.

In Fort Simpson, there were 13 who spent time outside counting on Dec. 21, while another watched a bird feeder.

The count takes place within a 24-kilometre circle, which in the case of Fort Simpson runs from the Liard River to the Martin River bridge.

They spotted 569 birds in total spanning 20 species according to the summary of the count provided by Doug Tate, who works for Parks Canada.

Tate said he's often asked what the counts may indicate in a given year, but it's a tough question to answer.

"Being part of a big international effort is perhaps the most important aspect, as these counts help to give a continental-scale view of winter bird distribution and populations," he said.

Away from feeders and landfill sites, birds were rather scarce,

especially finches, he said.

The most sighted, and reaching a new high count, was the common raven at 301.

He said they continue to do well due to the availability of food at the landfill site and in town because of people feeding them dog food scraps and roadkill.

For the same reason, black-billed magpies have established themselves recently in several communities.

"There appear to be low to average number of willow ptarmigan around, and other grouse species are probably at average population levels as well," Tate stated in an e-mail before the count began.

Only one willow ptarmigan was spotted during the count, down from a high of 16 in 2011.

He noted that the biggest surprise was finding a group of four snow buntings feeding in a weedy vacant lot.

"These birds were not known to be in the area this winter, and have previously been recorded only once on count day and once on count week," Tate wrote.

There were two evening grosbeaks counted. The species, which used to be more common, is now more rare and has been declining across the country.

There were 439 birds across 10 species counted in Nahanni Butte on Jan. 3, Tate said.

It was the first time the Christmas count had been carried out there.

The most common was the hoary redpoll, with 367 counted mostly as part of large flocks seen on roads picking grit and feeding on roadside birch and alder catkins.