The Christmas Bird Count was held on December 17, 2017. We had 90 observers (down from last year's 99) record a total of 6,389

recorded since 1986 happened in 2004 with 61 species and the highest number of individual birds recorded was in 2005 with 14,540 birds counted. This year, we also had three count-week (cw) birds. These are birds seen 3 days before or 3 days after the count ern Saw-whet Owl. This is the first time a Mountain Bluebird has been recorded at the Christmas Bird Count.

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Walked: 20 hr 50 min, 44.34 km; Driven: 59 hrs, 40 minutes, 1839 km. Feed-er watching: 149.5 hrs; Skated: 1 hr, 4 km; Owling: 1 hr. Temperature: -8 to +8oC; Wind speed: 0 to 45 km/hr; Wind direction: W, WSW, N, NW, SSW, SW; Snow cover: patchy crusty 0-14 cm

90 Observers: Colleen Anderson, Phillip Anderson, Brian Biggs, Karin Bjorge, Myron Bjorge, Ron Bjorge, Alberta Blake, John Blake, Judy Boyd, Larry Boyd, Lois Burkishaw, Phil Burkinshaw, Colleen Caddy, Jerry Caddy, John Caddy, Ed Cameron, Sandra Cameron, Wally Cameron, June Campbell, Vern Connelly, Brad Coyston, Marg Dewald, Sonya Dreger, Mary Flexhaug, Bertha Ford, Harry Ford, Eileen Ford, Jordan Ford, Laurel Ford, Stewart Ford, Sharon Faszer, Gordon Graham, Sharon Graham, Robert Grey, Michelle Guevremont, Connie Haustein, Bill Heinsen, Colin Hill, Marlene Ironside, Roy Jamieson, Gordon Johnson, Pat Johnson, Carol Kelly, Grant Kelly, Keith Kline, Joanne Kotowich, Linda Kullman, Andrea Lash, Joyce Lemke, Jim Leslie, Claudia Lipski, Kari Lisowski, Shelley Macauley, John McEachern, Tim McJunkin, Deirdre McLean, Michael McNaughton, Rhon-da McNaughton, Charles Meggison, Susan Morris, Stephen Morris, Sandy

Payne, Chester Payne, Marie Payne, Thomasina Payne, Myrna Pearman, Jim Potter, Rose Primus, Darlene Reimche, Barb Rooney, Lawrence Rooney, Dave Salomons, Everdien Salomons, Gerald Schmidt, Sylvia Schmidt, Aly Seymour, Harley Siebold, Kim Siebold, Eric Sinton, Helga Sinton, Joanne Susut, Harvey Sutherland, Sandra Sutherland, Rick Tallas, Bob Towns, Al-thea Williams

The Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC), a non-government, independent body of scientific experts, has assessed the following 11 species as being at risk in Canada:

1. Bank Swallow (Riparia riparia)

2. Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica) 3. Bobolink (Dolichonyx oryzivorus) 4. Cerulean Warbler (Setophaga cerulea) 5. Eastern Meadowlark (Sturnella magna) 6. Eastern Wood-pewee (Contopus virens) 7. Grasshopper Sparrow pratensis subspecies (Ammodramus savannarum pratensis) 8. Hooded Warbler (Setophaga citrina) 9. Western Grebe (Aechmophorus occidentalis) 10. Wood Thrush (Hylocichla mustelina) 11. Yellow-breasted Chat virens subspecies (Icteria virens virens)

tween 1,000 and 10,000 times higher than the natural rate. (Biodiversity is positively related to ecosystem productivity, health and resiliency (i.e., the ability of an ecosystem to respond to changes or disturbances). Given the interdependen-cy of species, a loss of biodiversity can lead to decreases in ecosystem function and services (e.g. natural processes such as pest control, pollination, coastal wave attenuation, temperature regulation and carbon fixing). These services are im-

tem resulting in the loss of individuals and species can therefore result in adverse, irreversible and broad-ranging effects. More information can be found at http://www.gazette.gc.ca/rp-pr/p2/2017/2017-11-15/html/sor-dors229-eng.html

March 29 Dr. Phil Currie: Current Re-search on Alberta Dinosaurs at the U of A. Jointly sponsored with RDC, held at the Margaret Parsons Lecture Theatre.

April 26 Wes Olson: Bison

Are you 15 to 18 years old and interested in birds and nature? Would you like to learn and practice how to ID, sex, age and band birds? Would you like to experience what it is like to be in a camp setting with other teens learning from biologists? Check out http://beaverhillbirds.com/programs/young-ornithologist-workshop or contact helentre-fry@gmail.com. Location: Beaverhill Bird Observatory near Tofield, Al-berta.

Dawson Suflita (right) of Bentley attended the workshop last summer. He greatly enjoyed the experience, made new friends and learned lots! Photo by Helen Trefry

http://www.gazette.gc.ca/rp-pr/p2/2017/2017-11-15/html/sor-dors229-eng.html#footnote.56209

Story and Photo by Tom McDonald, Grande Cache

On December 29, 2017, I was watching the birds at my sis-

I saw a chickadee that I thought looked like a Boreal Chicka-dee. I started taking pictures of it as it would fly to the feeders and back to the nearby willows or aspen trees. Later that even-ing, when I got home, I uploaded my images onto my comput-er and reviewed the images. Thanks to The Sibley Field Guide To Birds of Western North America, I realized it was the Chestnut-backed Chickadee. I posted an image to the Birds of Alberta Photography Facebook Group, and within a day I started to get comments about it. I sent the image and details to Dr. Jocelyn Hudon, Curator of Ornithology at RAM, who confirmed that it was a Chestnut-backed Chickadee and asked me to fill out a Rare Bird Form. There are fewer than 15 documented records

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There are already eBird reports of Snowy

Owls dropping as far south as Oklahoma and North Carolina this winter. The Snowy Owl tracking program called Project SNOWstorm is downloading data from birds that were banded last year and outfitted with transmitters (gbbc.birdcount.org).

Jim and Bonnie Potter of Delburne have been watching and

enjoying the antics of a Long-tailed Weasel in their yard. It

shows up periodically to eat suet and munch on the deer rib

cages that Jim has hung in his yard for the chickadees and

woodpeckers. Photos by Jim Potter.