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Bird counts in High River and in the high country near Diamond Valley found numbers were up for some species but down for others.
The Christmas Bird Count provides a picture of wintertime bird populations and takes place across North America every year between mid-December and early January.
The program is operated by Birds Canada in partnership with National Audubon Society and, at the local level, is organized by volunteers.
The Sheep River Christmas Bird Count near Diamond Valley was held on Dec. 27 and the tally was released on Jan. 8.
Twenty-three people counted 1,541 individual birds of 35 species, organizer Bruno Canadien said.
Compared to last year’s results, the same number of species were recorded, but there were 541 more individual birds thanks to over 500 snow buntings being seen, when none were counted last year.
Rarities on count day were a short-eared owl, black-capped x mountain chickadee, northern shrike and black-backed woodpecker, with one of each species recorded.
One American robin was counted, which was the first seen during the count since 2007.
The High River Christmas Bird Count took place on Dec. 17 in poor weather.
Counters dealt with ice fog and temperatures around –15 C, but 25 participants recorded 33 species and 2,994 individual birds.
Organizer Robin Alexander said there was a slight decline in birds compared to previous years.
Fewer ducks and geese were observed, thanks to open water at nearby Frank Lake, Alexander said.
High numbers of gray partridges (326) and bald eagles (98) were seen, and one golden eagle was spotted.
The Christmas Bird Count began 125 years ago, and volunteer counters follow assigned routes or watch feeders from stationary locations to provide biologists with reliable data.
