Kamloops birdwatchers were buoyed by the presence of majestic peregrine falcons during the annual Christmas bird count this month.

The raptors have been threatened by extinction due to pesticides and other human environmental impact, so it was heartening to see them nesting on cliffs at Kamloops Lake, said Rick Howie of the Kamloops Naturalist Club, which organized the count.

“(Peregrine falcons) have made a bit of a comeback and it’s always exciting to see those large and charismatic birds of prey, to know that there’s still some around,” said Howie.

Overall, 30 Kamloops bird counters saw a “fairly good” number of 78 different species, said Howie, which is not a record but “getting up there” when compared to the last 30 years of counting. And there were 13,311 individual birds of one kind or another.

The Christmas count was held Dec. 16 as part of a much larger North American count sponsored by the National Audubon Society in the United States and co-ordinated in Canada by Bird Studies Canada.

More than 12,000 volunteers across Canada and over 60,000 continent-wide will be counting and recording every individual bird and bird species seen in a specified area from Dec. 14 to Jan. 5.

Also involved are parts of Central and South America, Bermuda, the West Indies and the Pacific Islands.

The initiative is the world’s longest running wildlife census and began in 1900 as a replacement to a traditional Christmas bird side hunt.

“There were people back in 1900 who thought maybe a more responsible thing to do would be to just go out and see how many birds you can count instead of how many you can shoot,” said Howie.

“So this is, I think, a good symbol of an increasing interest in ecology and conservation that started way back in the early 1900s.”

The 113-year-old count has been instrumental in providing reliable data for scientific use, said Dick Cannings, Bird Studies Canada’s program co-ordinator.

“Data from the Christmas bird count is at the heart of hundreds of peer-reviewed scientific studies and inform decisions by wildlife managers across Canada,” said Cannings.

“Because birds are early indicators of environmental threats to habitats we share, this is a vital survey of North America and, increasingly, the Western Hemisphere.”

This year’s Kamloops count may have revealed a few surprises worthy of study.

The snow goose found its way into the area, which is unusual since it typically winters on the coast.

A few dozen sandpipers called dunlin were also surprising to see since they usually make their way to the coast in the tens of thousands at this time of year, but rarely here.

The rarest bird spotted was the canyon wren.

“I know of probably three sightings prior to this in the last 30 years and not in the winter,” said Howie.

“They normally are found in the South Okanagan. They don’t really migrate so we’re not sure where this came from but we may have a very small population of them here.”

The newest addition to the bird population is the Eurasian collared dove, which may have led some observant residents to wonder where those large, odd-coloured pigeons came from.

They were first seen in Kamloops four years ago and this year tallied 90. They were introduced into Central America and have been expanding “like crazy” throughout North America over the past 10 years, said Howie.

The most common bird was the Canada goose at a whopping 3,000 counted.

In the bird count in Kamloops, 78 species and 13, 311 individuals were found. This included:

Common Loon  -7

Horned Grebe -6

Great Blue Heron -4

Canada Goose -3236

Trumpeter Swan -adults - 14

Trumpeter Swan -juv -6

Snow Goose -1

Gadwall -4

American Wigeon -1

Mallard -910

Northern Pintail -4

Greater Scaup -165

Lesser Scaup -20

Bufflehead -14

Common Goldeneye -63

Barrow's Goldeneye -155

Hooded Merganser -4

Common Merganser -4

Ruddy Duck -1

Bald Eagle -adult -16

Bald Eagle - immature -7

Northern Harrier -15

Red-tailed Hawk -16

Rough-legged Hawk -5

American Kestrel -5

Merlin -6

Peregrine Falcon -2

Sharp-tailed Grouse -13

Chukar -50

Killdeer -3

Dunlin -3

Common Snipe -1

Ring-billed Gull -77

Herring Gull -99

Glaucous-winged Gull -5

Rock Pigeon -1240

Mourning Dove -2

Eurasian Collared Dove -89

Short-eared Owl -1

Belted Kingfisher -2

Downy Woodpecker -10

Hairy Woodpecker -7

Northern Flicker -129

Pileated Woodpecker -3

Northern Shrike -10

Gray jay -1

Steller's jay -7

Clark's Nutcracker -32

Black-billed magpie -150

American Crow -362

Common Raven -276

Black-capped Chickadee -57

Mountain Chickadee -28

Red-breasted Nuthatch -11

White-breasted Nuthatch -4

Pygmy Nuthatch -4

Brown Creeper -2

Canyon Wren -1

American Dipper -2

Golden-crowned Kinglet -2

Townsend's Solitaire -10

American Robin -21

European Starling -2981

Bohemian Waxwing -673

Cedar Waxwing -15

Spotted Towhee -7

American Tree Sparrow -25

Song Sparrow -50

White-crowned Sparrow -10

Dark-eyed Junco - oregon -139

Dark-eyed Junco -slate-coloured -2

Snow Bunting -10

Red-winged Blackbird -194

Brewer's Blackbird -36

Pine grosbeak -6

Cassin's Finch -1

House Finch -747

Common Redpoll -168

Pine Siskin -5

American Goldfinch -134

House Sparrow -680