It's a Boxing Day tradition: holiday bird count underway in Regina

It's a different kind of Christmas tradition, but it's been around since the 1950s in Regina. Every year, bird enthusiasts take to the outdoors, using their eyes and ears to count birds.

The Christmas bird counts have been taking place since 1900 in North Americaaccording toBrett Quiring, who compiles the data for the Regina count.

In Canada, the counts are added to a database byBirdStudies Canada. In the U.S., the data is collected bythe Audubon Society.

Quiring explained that the Audubon Society in the U.S. sought to replace a Christmas tradition of going around and killing birds. Soinstead, the group created a tradition of counting birds and the Christmas bird count eventually made its way to Saskatchewan.

In Regina, the count traditionally happens on Boxing Day.

The count attracts about 30 to 40 volunteer birders who cover a24-kilometre-wide circle around Regina and area, including all habitats birds frequent.

Tracking changes

The count's purpose is to compile data to understand changes in bird populations over time, and to understand migration patterns.

"All the information we gather goes into a great data bank and researchers can then determine which bird species are at risk, which ones are really endangered, and which ones might be profiting from urbanization, from climate change" said Lionel Bonneville, a bird counter since the '70s.

"Usually, if you have problems with a species declining, it's usually some problem in their breeding grounds or their wintering grounds," said Quiring.

In winter, Quiring said Regina sees some of the highest counts of snowy owls in North America. There are also many partridges around at this time of year.

"We have seen a couple hawks, which are unusual for Regina," Quiring said. He added this has been the case over the past two years.

Quiring said the changing landscape of the city has brought different birds to the area.

"These trees that are all around us are all planted [around] 1900 or so," he said. "It took awhile to become basically an urban forest."

He said this change has brought more birds common tonorthern forests into the Regina area, like woodpeckers, nuthatches, and northern finches.