News Room

Bird populations vanishing, local naturalists warn

Populations of birds are disappearing from Greater Victoria as their habitat vanishes, according to groups preparing for the 50th anniversary of Victoria's Christmas bird count.

"We are definitely seeing declines," said Ann Nightingale of the Victoria Natural History Society, an organizer of the Dec. 20 count, when about 200 volunteers will fan out in a 24-kilometre diameter circle around the capital region.

The peak was in the mid-1970s when 125,000 birds were counted by fewer volunteers, Nightingale said.

In recent years the count has been between 80,000 and 100,000 and some species have disappeared or have become extremely rare, she said.

"A lot of it is the offshore birds are not around in the same numbers. We suspect a shortage of food due to climate change, pollution and possibly over-fishing," she said.

It is not just the unusual birds which are disappearing, Nightingale said.

"Lots of the common birds are decreasing dramatically."

Examples are the greater scaup, northern pintail and horned lark, she said, adding species such as the northern screech owl and western bluebird are almost never seen any more.

The good news is that the resurgence of the trumpeter swan, which was almost extinct in the 1900s, shows trends can be reversed, Nightingale said.

Awareness is the first step, followed by habitat protection, she said, adding that the province is overdue in introducing effective species-at-risk legislation.

With half a century of records, the bird count is a valuable snapshot of what is happening to birds in the area, said Sean Nixon, a lawyer with the environmental group Ecojustice.

Echoing the urgent need for a provincial species at risk law, Nixon said vital habitat such as Garry oak meadows and old growth forests need to be protected.

"The volunteers who scour Victoria to count these birds are marking a milestone this year. Unfortunately, they will likely find record low numbers of many bird species as B.C.'s natural spaces continue to be lost or fragmented," Nixon said.

Michelle Connolly, a science technician with the David Suzuki Foundation, will also be crunching the bird-count numbers.

"We've reached a point where 43 per cent of B.C.'s species are at risk," she said.

"Birds we thought we could take for granted, like the great blue heron and band-tailed pigeon are now species of special concern in B.C.," she said.

Ecojustice and the Suzuki Foundation are among groups which last month accused the province of breaking federal laws by refusing to protect critical habitat, and asked B.C.'s auditor general to conduct an audit.

At that time, Environment Minister Barry Penner said more than 14 per cent of the provincial land base is protected by parks and protected areas and more work has to be done with First Nations and communities before further habitat protection can be considered.

For more information on the bird count, go to www.vichns.bc.ca/cbc.

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