The annual Christmas Bird Count (CBC) will take place on Cortes on Sunday, Jan. 2, 2022, and will once again be an individual or family activity due to pandemic-related precautions.

The Cortes Island Museum co-sponsors the count with Bird Studies Canada and the Audubon Society, an American non-profit conservation group. 

The official count day is a 24-hour period when interested folk around the globe can observe and record the species and approximate number of individual birds they spot in their local area or even at their own bird feeder.

The museum’s webpage explains that for the 2021 "CBC, count week will start on December 30 and will last until January 5.” The three-day shoulder periods on either side are especially for observing rare birds, which on Cortes include great-horned owl, pygmy owl, trumpeter swan, and osprey.

Bluejays (pictured above) are rare on Cortes, which is the habitat of its close relative, Steller's jay. Photo by George Sirk.

The Cortes Island Museum has been facilitating the Christmas Bird Count since 2001, and all the collected data is available online.

If the count has to be rescheduled due to adverse conditions, a post on Tideline will announce the new date.

The checklists, forms and a map of the island are available on the museum’s website. The observations need to be submitted by Jan. 6, which can be done by calling, mailing or emailing the museum.

The very first CBC was on Christmas Day in 1900, thanks to writer and scientist Frank Chapman, and has evolved into North America’s longest-running wintertime birding tradition.

Baby barred owl. Photo by George Sirk.

Tune into the interview with local naturalist and guide George Sirk, who has been personally involved with the Christmas Bird Count for nearly four decades, by clicking below.