The Cortes Island Museum has been sponsoring two birding events every year for the past two decades.* 2,873 birds were seen during the 2023 Christmas Bird Count, but this number would have been much higher if there were more participants.
“We can only go to a certain number of places where we know there will be birds, and that’s mostly along the coastline,” explained Laurel Bohart, a keen birder as well as co-curator of Wild Cortes.
Continue reading The 2023 Christmas Bird Count
Cortes Island: The results from this year’s Christmas Bird Count are finally in. As expected, the numbers are down. According to George Sirk, this was because of the weather.
George Sirk: it was really cold and it was the day of the World Cup soccer final. I was at home nice and cozy with Kim, having breakfast and coffee and watching this tremendous finale of the World Cup. I had told Gina Trzesicka at the Cortes Island Museum that I was not going to be available until about 10 o’clock because I had wanted to see this finale
Continue reading A very cold but rewarding 2022 Christmas Bird Count
A group of 10 Cortes Island residents set out from Gorge Harbour in a Zodiac.
“I loved it that we were all together on this boat, like tourists from Cortes out there hunting for a sighting of a whale. Everybody was in that together. Our only purpose today was to get out onto the water, look around and see what creatures we’d see. And it just seemed like community,” explained Jane Newman.
Continue reading A wild water adventure: seeking orca, seals and other marine lifeA total of 92 species are listed in Cortes Island’s Spring 2022 Bird count. More than 20 birders participated, including local naturalist George Sirk who started the day off as a guide on board the Misty Isles. This year’s count was expanded to include Mitlenatch island, where Sirk served as a naturalist in 1969 and 71.
Continue reading Cortes Island’s Spring 2022 Bird Count
When Cortes Currents asked the Friends of Cortes Island (FOCI) who to interview for more in depth coverage of ‘species at risk,’ they responded ‘Jenna Cragg’ from BC’s Ministry of Environment. That was last January, which shows how busy she is. Sabina Leader Mense described Cragg as one of FOCI’s key ‘go to’ species at risk biologists, who provides the facts that FOCI brings into the community.
In the emails we exchanged prior to this interview, Cragg specifically mentioned five species: the Marbled Murrelet, Great Blue Heron, Double Crested Cormorant, Pelagic Cormorant and Western Screech Owl.
Continue reading Ministry biologist talks about five threatened bird species on Cortes Island
