Over 900 birds observed during four-day Great Backyard Bird Count

Over 900 birds observed during four-day Great Backyard Bird Count pic 2
The organizer of the Great Backyard Bird Count, Don Cassidy, was surprised that 400 Canada Geese were spotted during the Great Backyard Bird Count on Feb. 14. Canada Geese will often go into fields for lunch after floating down the river, Cassidy said. Photo submitted by Elaine Cassidy

The Great Backyard Bird Count gives bird counters a chance to see what’s flying through Chestermere

Over 900 birds observed during four-day Great Backyard Bird Count pic 1
Don Cassidy was extremely excited when he heard a White-Throated Sparrow in the trees during the Great Backyard Bird Count, as he does not see the species often. Unfortunately, the White-Throated Sparrow, disappeared before Cassidy could get a good look at it. Photo submitted by Elaine Cassidy

Over 10 bird species were spotted during the Great Backyard Bird Count from Feb. 14 until Feb. 17.

Throughout four days, 320 House Sparrows, 23 Chickadee’s, eight Ravens, seven Magpies, four Red-Breasted Nuthatches, seven White-Breasted Nuthatches, 34 Rock Pigeons, five Downy Woodpeckers, 475 Canada Geese, eight House Finches, 12 Northern Flickers, and one White-Throated Sparrow were spotted in Chestermere.

“We get an idea of what’s kicking around,” said Great Backyard Bird Count Organizer, Don Cassidy.

“It’s a global count. There’s a stretch of time where you tack birds for essentially four days,” Cassidy said. 

The results of the Great Backyard Bird Count can be found on the eBird Website, at https://ebird.org/home, where all of the data is collected from bird counters around the world.

“You can go any place and see how many bird species were counted on the particular days,” Cassidy said.

Although the species spotted was not surprising for Cassidy, he was shocked that 400 Canada Geese were spotted on Feb. 14.

“The biggest surprise was the number of geese spotted, 400 is a rather massive number,” Cassidy said.

“They were probably floating on the river, but they do fly to the fields in the day time to have lunch and then fly back to the river,” he said.

“One surprise we had here at the house, was that there was a White-Throated Sparrow outside,” he added. 

Having a White-Throated Sparrow in the trees was very exciting as Cassidy does not see the species very often.

“When we heard one, we were looking in all of the trees, but they might as well be ghosts,” Cassidy said.

Adding, “For us, that was nice, but we didn’t spot it anywhere. We looked in the trees, but nothing.”

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In response to Canada's Online News Act and Meta (Facebook and Instagram) removing access to local news from their platforms, Anchor Media Inc encourages you to get your news directly from your trusted source by bookmarking this site and downloading the Rogue Radio App. Send your news tips, story ideas, pictures, and videos to info@anchormedia.ca


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