Kevin Slagboom has at all times been somebody who enjoys getting out in nature.
“I was out in the bush hiking, I would do active things like that,” stated Slagboom.
Twenty-five years in the past he discovered he was becoming bored with simply climbing from one place to a different.
“I became interested in what was between (point) A and (point) B, like sounds,” stated Slagboom.
During one hike he occurred upon a birder who informed him what feathered creature was making such a racket within the forest, that’s when he was hooked.
“I would call myself a birder,” stated the convert. “I now actively seek and discover birds and enjoy them.”
On Dec. 16, he took half within the annual Victoria Christmas Bird Count.
“We counted about 85,000 birds,” stated Ann Nightingale, coordinator of the rely, including that 143 species have been noticed. “Which is the best we’ve done in several years.”
Four hundred scoured trails, seashores and yard feeders counting the feathered inhabitants – every thing from geese, to crows, to sparrows.
“Anything we see, we count,” stated Nightingale.
This 12 months a brand new chicken was noticed in Victoria.
“A white-breasted nuthatch, which shows up here every once in a while but this is the first one we had one on our Christmas bird count,” Nightingale defined.
An attention-grabbing discover however not as unbelievable because the chicken that was found throughout one other rely occurring across the identical time in Sidney.
That’s the place a summer time tanger was noticed, a chicken that Nightingale says is often present in Texas or Mexico.
This picture exhibits a summer time tanger, noticed on Vancouver Island regardless that it is usually present in Texas and Mexico. Researchers who examine so-called “vagrancy” in birds say the rationale birds like this wind up removed from the place they need to be can basically be chalked as much as confusion.
“Sometimes they just go the opposite direction than they are supposed to,” Nightingale defined.
The discover has created a buzz all through the North American birding neighborhood, drawing chicken lovers to Vancouver Island.
“This is a bird that is attracting people from all over the place, even as far away as Montreal,” stated Nightingale.
The objective of the annual rely is to trace chicken inhabitants costs. As effectively as to trace vary expansions of some birds just like the summer time tanager and white-breasted nuthatch.
“You get an adrenaline rush,” stated Slagboom. “You get a little hit when you discover something that’s not supposed to be here.”
These finds maintain folks like Slagboom and Nightingale coming again for extra, searching for these uncommon birds that will have taken a mistaken flip someplace alongside their common migration path.
