'Like a treasure hunt': Christmas bird count numbers in from NWT

Yellowknife birder Bob Bromley says every Christmas Bird Count is "a little bit like a treasure hunt."

"You just never know what you'll see," says Bromley, a bird biologist and former N.W.T MLA.

• Some firsts and 'surprises' in Yukon's annual bird count

This past December was the start of the117th annual bird count. There were more than 12.2 million birds counted in North America this bird-counting season December to today according to the National Audubon Society, a non-profit environmental organization that seeks to protect birds and other wildlife.

Yellowknife seeing more ravens, woodpeckers and magpies

Birders are seeing more magpies in Yellowknife andit might be for man-made reasons, says Bromley.

"When we started to have a lot of dog teams put up in town, just the waste from feeding those dog teams provide the food supply for the magpies," says Bromley.

Raven counts in Yellowknife havealso significantly increased over the years, saysBromley.

"Our first bird count was in 1973, and we had 300 ravens. Now, we're over 2,000 ravens."

Birders in the city are also sighting more woodpeckers.

"The last number of years, we've been seeing a lot of woodpeckers as well. This year, we've got three species of woodpeckers."

The Pine Grosbeak and Bohemian Waxwings have also been on the increase, says Bromley.

"We have probably half a dozen core species in Yellowknife and then the challenge is to build that up into more," says Bromley. "Lately, we've been getting over ten species which is pretty good compared to the old days."

Hay River numbers

Overall bird numbers were down over a hundred in Hay River, according to Gary Vizniowski. Birders counted 15 species in total in Hay Riverwhich is the average.

But Hay River's magpie population saw an increase like Yellowknife.

"Our magpie numbers are way up, from ten to fifteen years ago."

The only "out of range" bird this year was the American Robin. "We didn't see it on count day, but we saw [them] a couple of days before which we call count week. Robins are common in the summer as everybody knows, but we had a number of them sticking around in the fall."

• 'Nice rarities' found during first of P.E.I.'s Christmas bird counts
• Starling flocks are disappearing, Christmas Bird Count numbers show

Red-BreastedNuthatches are found in Hay River and not in Yellowknife. Birders are also noticing Willow Ptarmigans are lingering in Yellowknife and not crossing the Great Slave Lake to Hay River.

"It would be lovely to see some of those nuthatches from Hay River," says Bromley.

Bromley says these fluctuations and changes in the migratory patterns may be associated with the changing climate.