One of Cortes Island’s longstanding traditions is the Christmas Bird Count; for almost 25 years, local residents have volunteered in a coordinated week-long audit of the island’s bird life. For many years this effort has been coordinated in the field by longtime islander George Sirk, host of CKTZ’s ‘Nature Boy‘ which kicks off a new season at 9:30 AM on Wednesday, January 7, 2026.
Roy Hales interviewed George about this year’s bird count.
A lot of people have heard of this Christmas bird count, but not too many know the origins of it. It was started in 1900 by a fellow named Chapman. And he was in the United States, Eastern Seaboard, and he said, “Hey fellas, instead of shooting as many birds as we can on Christmas Day or around that period, why don’t we just count them?”
That was absolutely revolutionary because up till then, what people used to do at Christmas time is just go out and see how many birds they could shoot. Times have changed! But he started this, and he had 25 people in his first count… and now there’s 2,693 counts worldwide (and Cortes is one of those) and 83,000 volunteers.
That’s a lot of people! 21 countries counting 44 million birds. There’s a whole movement started by one person.
While George organized the very first Cortes bird counts, the effort is now coordinated by the Museum Society.
I should mention this is all the Cortes Island Museum and Archive Society program.
It’s not my program. I just happen to be the group leader, I analyze all the data, but it’s Gina at the museum who runs it. And the museum has sponsored it, and I’ve got the list here going way back — and they started in 2001. We’re talking 24 years they’ve been sponsoring this count. I did a couple in the past, before the museum did it, back in the eighties just for a few people, but it’s really the museum, they do all the organising.
Roy asked what was different or interesting about this year’s count. George remarked on the unusual mildness of the weather which may be having some effect on bird behaviour and population. He noted that 28 bird watchers participated in this year’s count, and these are some of the things they noticed:
The count of species (diversity) was 61, below the average of 70. But George noted that there’s a lot of variability in this number: The lowest species count ever recorded was 54, in 2022.
The count of individual birds was 2239, down from 2800 last year. Neither of these counts compares to the record high of 4000 individuals five years ago, in 2020.
The most numerous bird this year was the surf scoter, with 346 individuals counted. There were also 150 grebes and 138 Harlequin ducks. George says “ We’re Duck World really, seabird world, the seabirds are really what’s big around here.”
A couple of species were notably missing from this year’s count and George encourages listeners and readers to write to the museum if they saw any of the following during the week between Dec 28th and Jan 1st: Robins, Barred Owls, Crossbills, and Pine Siskins.
While the surf scoter count was down from previous highs around 1400 individuals, George emphasises that this may not mean the whole species is in trouble: “ So where are they? they love to feed on those mussels that fall out of the nets in the Gorge Harbour. And maybe we didn’t get out to see them there.” The birds, he says, are where the food is.
Western Grebes, for example, this year were counted at 150 when previous counts averaged 4 or so. George thinks this is because of the rebound in the herring population due to the moratorium on herring fishing in certain areas of the coast.
We have had a real increase of the herring population here. One great example is that this is the first winter that a Humpback Whale and calf has been documented at Christmas time off of Whaletown.
We’ve got observers there, and they said they’ve never seen the humpback in the winter. So obviously there’s food here, and they’re herring eaters — and so are the Western Grebes. And I think it goes all the way back to when Joyce Murray was the minister of the environment for the federal government, and about seven or eight years ago, she brought in a moratorium for the herring fishery in the inside waters, as well as in other parts of the west coast and up in Haida Gwaii as well. And it was revolutionary. The fishers went absolutely crazy about that. They were upset because she had done this.
Once again, one person can make a change. I think the repercussions of that is that our herring population’s coming back –like two years ago, right? They were spawning all here off Sutil Point and the roe was six inches deep on the beach ’cause the storm washed them up there.
So for preservation of animals, we have to say No, we cannot just keep catching them all. We have to eat less of them, less of the fish, less of the sea life. We have to have more marine protected areas too.
George is pretty sure that the current scarcity of Barred Owls on Cortes is because Great Horned Owls are moving in. The Barred Owls moved in from the east in the 1970’s, he tells Roy: and they are bird eaters. Once they were established, the local population of smaller owls (Pygmy, Screech, and Saw-whet owls) plummeted because the Barred owls ate them. George speculates that the smaller owls may start to reappear now that the barred owls are almost gone.
George also describes his lifelong passion for birdwatching and some of the travelling it has motivated him to do. He says he’s encouraged to hear from his children that bird watching is popular right now among the 25-30-ish age range in Victoria.
”Of course, us old farts, we only have so long left. But it’s interesting that people in that 25- to 30-year-old range have taken it on, and I think the main reason for that is the fact that the Merlin app was invented.”
George describes the Merlin app, invented and supported by Cornell University, which can identify a bird from its song captured as ambient audio. “ It goes on your cell phone — and say you’re sitting on your porch outside and you’ve got your cup of tea or whatever, and the Merlin app will tell you, oh, you got a Western Tanager, you have a a Western Flycatcher, or a Song Sparrow.”
When multiple birds can be heard, he says, the app can play recorded birdsong from the Cornell archives to help the use identify which is which, and display pictures and information about range, migratory patterns, behaviour, etc. just like any standard birding guide. He feels this has made birdwatching and identification very accessible for large numbers of people. “ And it’s made a huge difference — an astronomical difference — to people because they can go out there and they can easily find out, Oh, that’s what I’m listening to now. So it catapults people into being able to identify birds, and I think it’s made a huge difference.”
George is as enthusiastic about birdwatching as he has ever been and recommends it as a hobby to everyone. In the interview he recommends several print guidebooks and recommends particularly the Cortes Museum’s “bird checklist” which is available for $5.
I was hooked when I was 14, right? I just kept wanting to see new birds, new species, one after another. And I had other teenage friends and they wanted to see more new species. And when you see a new one that you’ve never seen before, it’s a thrill. Especially when you can identify it — you go Oh wow, that, that’s a Red-eyed Virio!
And the neat thing about when you get into birding, is that you find yourself in really interesting habitats — ’cause if you find a habitat, you find the species. So you are away from the concrete jungles. Sure, there’s a few birds in the cities too… but when you go into the wilderness and the national parks and wild parts of the world, you’re in absolutely beautiful habitats.
George encourages everyone to participate in the Spring Birdcount and says he’s considering teaching one or two classes (through the Museum) to help prepare people for it.
[All photos from the Dec 28th Bird Count, courtesy of G Sirk. Feature image and podcast images by Midjourney, prompts by author. Original interview by Roy Hales, edited for radio and print by De Clarke.]