Winter wings

PALMER — Since 1979, birders in the Mat-Su Valley have kept tabs on the bird populations in the area. This is because of the Christmas Bird Count (CBC), an annual birdwatching/data collection/citizen science event that’s become a tradition almost as old as Christmas itself. People from around the world keep tallies on the number of bird species they see within a timeframe in December and share their results. All of the efforts are done by volunteers and the data is blanketed under the National Audubon Society.

The Mat-Su Birders collect the data for the Valley’s bird count every year. According to the Matanuska Valley CBC Compiler, Bob Winckler, this tradition is an effective way to keep tabs on the area’s bird populations, getting an idea of what species’ numbers are going up or down. The data is often cross-referenced by various scientists, like those at the Alaska Fish and Game.

“It’s the single-biggest citizen science effort, ever,” Winckler said.

According to the Valley’s CBC report, 34 Field Counters and 26 Feeder Counters (4 of whom field counted as well) participated this year. There were also two species reports from local residents who weren’t directly involved with the count.

On December 17, the counters recorded all of their bird sightings throughout the day. Winckler said that each participating CBC community has a designated 15-mile radii called a Count Circle to adhere to when counting the birds. For the Valley, the Count Circle is at the Four Corners intersection, near Three Bears and Trunk Road.

In the Valley, counts for almost all of the populations were down, save five species — the Short-eared owl, Red-breasted nuthatches, European Starlings, Gray-crowned Rosy-Finches, and White-winged Crossbills, which all reached record high numbers. The highest counted species for 2017 was the Chickadee. The most surprising find this season was the discovery of one species never before seen in the Valley, the Brambling, a Eurasian visitor who may have been blown in by a storm. The Brambling is a small, sparrow-type bird that has made for one of the most surprising results in the history of the Mat-Su count.

“Nobody ever expected to see one of those here,” Winckler said.

According to Winckler, the CBC is a reflection of native bird species, the ones seen year-round, as opposed to the migrants. All of the birds in the 2017 count were Alaskan birds, except for the Brambling.

Winckler has done the count every year since he took over the position. He said that the CBC was essentially the reason behind the Mat-Su Birders forming into a group. Prior to that, there was no wild bird club in the Valley. They do the count earlier in December when there is still water on lakes so they can see more water fowl. This year, nearly all of the lakes in the Count Circle were frozen, but sections of several streams were open. He said that some years, some birds will leave the state in an event called an “eruption.” This happens when their food supply runs too short and they feather on to new place. Birds like the common redpoll and the pine siskin will just “up and leave Alaska” when there isn’t enough to eat. Both aforementioned species were absent from the count this year. Bald Eagle counts were down this year and Winckler suspected that may have something to do with the recent series of changes done at the Palmer Landfill, which has historically been where the Mat-Su Birders got their highest counts.

“They’ve done something there so it appears to have affected the count,” Winckler said.

Winckler said that the number of participants grows each year in the Valley and around the world. He said about 72,000 people actively participate in the annual event. It started back in the 1900’s in the United States and has since expanded to over 2,500 locations across the western hemisphere. The CBC derived from a North American Christmas tradition called the “Side Hunt.” During the Side Hunt, people would try to kill as many birds as possible. They typically were unconcerned about any rare species or whether they used any of the carcasses. Populations were devastated and in December 1900, the U.S. ornithologist Frank Chapman, proposed to count the birds on Christmas instead of killing them. Chapman was the founder of Bird-Lore which eventually became Audubon magazine. 2017 is the 118th year of the count.

“One of the benefits of birding is that it’s a 365 day a year hobby,” Winckler said. “You can do it all year long and get involved as much as you want to.”

For more information about the Christmas Bird Count, visit www.audubon.org, where you can see counts at various locations across the Western Hemisphere. The Mat-Su Birders has about 60 members and is always looking for more company. To learn more about the Mat-Su Birders and their CBC data, visit matsubirders.org.