Christmas Bird Count for Kids
at rare Charitable Research Reserve on January 12, 2019
WRN Kids and WRN Teens had a special opportunity recently: rare Charitable Research Reserve hosted their third annual "Christmas Bird Count for Kids" on January 12 and we were all invited!
There was a large group this year, including a few of our WRN Kids families. First, we all learned about birdwatching basics from Adam in the Slit Barn then everyone headed out in small groups, each led by an expert birder (including Adam and WRN members David Gascoigne, Fraser Gibson and Josh Shea as well as rare staff Emily Leslie) to count all the birds they could find. The Kids were enthusiastic in spite of the cold, managed their binoculars like pros, understood why we walked to several different habitats, and saw an impressive number of birds! They enjoyed warming up afterwards with a hot chocolate in the ECO Centre next door.
As well, four of our dedicated WRN Teens volunteered to help out at the event, filling feeders, assisting group leaders, moving furniture, and washing dishes. While doing jobs that needed to be done, they were also super role models for the Kids.
Huge thanks to rare for hosting, the volunteer birders for continuing to inspire us all, the parents for getting their families outside, the Teens for volunteering early on a cold Saturday morning, and especially the Kids for wanting to learn about and protect nature!
Jenna Quinn, rare Program Scientist summarizes:
"Together, we identified 23 species and made over 900 individual observations, of (accounting for duplicate observations) approximately 275 birds. Canada Geese were the most abundant species we observed, and every group was able to spot a juvenile Bald Eagle perched in a tree. Two groups were lucky to see three Eastern Bluebirds, a rarity at this time of year."
See the full results below. We're all pretty proud to be contributing to Citizen Science with our Bird Count! Can't wait to do it again next year!
WRN Kids & Teens coordinator
Marg Paré
