Justin Fujimoto will be on the look out for a tiny woodland bird called a Brown Creeper next Saturday, Jan.5 when he joins dozens of other bird enthusiasts across the country who will be participating in the annual Christmas Bird Count.
The 14-year-old member of the Burke Mountain Naturalists is looking forward to the camaraderie of the annual event where dozens of volunteers will pair off into teams to identify up to 12,000 birds and 108 species over an eight-hour period in the Pitt Meadows region, which includes Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam and Port Moody.
In 2017 for the entire Pitt River region, 94 species were identified and 23,090 birds counted.
Fujimoto, who started birding two years ago, wants to see as many birds as possible — but especially the brown creeper, known for its jerky, circular movements as it feeds on insects in tree trunks.
“I don’t know why I like doing this, I just like birds, they’re cool,” the middle schooler says.
Hearing the excitement in Fujimoto’s voice about the upcoming bird count is music to the ears of Colin Clasen, who has studied birds for 58 years, spending his hard-earned paper boy earnings on his first bird book when he was 10.
“That’s why we encourage people to start birding at a young age. Get involved and get out there. Then their observation skills — both hearing and seeing — just naturally improve.”
Birders will use their ears to detect bird calls, binoculars and spotting scopes to see them and reference books and apps to identify them in a friendly competition to see who can see the most birds and the most interesting species.
Clasen will lead a team of about 12 people who will count birds in Colony Farm Regional Park. In the last count, the number of birds spotted dropped by about 60%, raising concerns about the health of the habitat, but Clasen is hoping to see the numbers bounce back this year.
“There’s natural cycles up and down but that’s why we have to look at the long term trend, individual ups and downs — you can’t really make any conclusions year to year. But the overall trend is downward for the number of species and individual numbers of species as well.”
He hopes authorities will take note of the data, compiled for the National Audubon Society, and stored on the website and make smart decisions to preserve the environment so birds can flourish.
