PGNC News & Notes 2025-02-15

PGNC Memberships: New and Renewals
PGNC Next Executive Meeting, Wednesday March 12
Report: PGNC 2024 Christmas Bird Count
Report: PGNC Swan & Eagle Count
PGNC Board Game Night, Wednesday February 26, 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m., Studio 2880
Great Backyard Bird Count, February 14 to 17
NRESi Colloquium, Wednesday February 26, noon to 1 p.m.
Seedy Saturday, March 1
Project FeederWatch, November 1, 2024 to April 30, 2025
UNBC Colloquium Series
Birdwatching Backpacks at Prince George Public Library
About this newsletter

Club News and Events

PGNC Memberships: New and Renewals

Thank you to everyone who is joining the PGNC or renewing memberships for 2025.

Your membership supports the Prince George Naturalists Club and BC Nature, our parent organization, in all their good work.

E-Transfer is available by sending to PrinceGeorgeNaturalistsClub@gmail.com and it goes directly into the Club’s bank account. No secret word is needed. Payments by cheque can be mailed to Prince George Naturalists Club, PO Box 1092, Prince George BC V2L 4V2.

Memberships run from January 1 to December 31. Cost is $25 per calendar year for individuals, $40 for a family, and $15 for students. Benefits of membership: Subscription to the online version of BC Nature magazine, liability insurance coverage for Club work parties and field trips, and access to popular events limited to Club members only. Add $5 if you wish to receive a printed version of the BC Nature magazine in the mail.

“To be a naturalist is to be joyful, inquisitive, and at home in the world. To be home is to treat every life form as a family member”: Marina Richie.

PGNC Next Executive Meeting, Wednesday March 12.

All members are welcome to attend. If you wish to attend, send an email to the Club at princegeorgenaturalistsclub@gmail.com to obtain meeting details.

Report: PGNC 2024 Christmas Bird Count

Report by Cathy Antoniazzi:

I have attached a table with the Prince George Christmas Bird Count results. Maybe we should have the bird count after Christmas every year! We found 47 species and 19,641 birds. The species total is a bit above average, but this is the highest number of birds ever found. As you can see on the table, ten species had historic high counts! There was very good circle coverage and good effort this year and good weather which contributed to the high totals. There was light snow off and on all day, but it warmed up to -4C and the birds weren’t hiding like they do some years. Weather and effort aside, though, there were alot of birds around. Over half of the total number is made up of Bohemian Waxwings. The 11,281 birds are a new high total. I did not count any waxwings reported by the feederwatchers, assuming that they had been counted already by one of the field groups. There were waxwing flocks of varying sizes everywhere in the city and the field groups struggled to decide if a waxwing flock was a new flock that should be counted, one that had already been counted or part of a larger flock that had been counted earlier. This was also a good year for winter finches with good numbers of Pine Grosbeaks, Redpolls and Pine Siskins around. House Finch and American Goldfinch numbers continue to increase. Goldfinches are no longer restricted to the bowl area. The Pineview group found a flock of 250! There have been a lot of owls around this winter and that was reflected by the numbers found on the CBC. Three woodpecker species set new high counts. One feeder watcher reported 20 flickers–yes seen all at one time! One surprise was the number of robins that were still in town. 45 was a new count high for them also. Not all birds were up. No Eurasian Collared-Doves were found. Their numbers have really dropped from past years. Rock Pigeon, House Sparrow and European Starling numbers continue to decrease. I think it will be a while before we have another Christmas Bird Count like this one. Thank you to everyone who took part!

Cathy Antoniazzi – PG CBC compiler

Report: PGNC Swan & Eagle Count

On Sunday January 19, we headed out on our annual Swan & Eagle count with a good sized group. Thanks to many students from the UNBC TWS Fish and Wildlife Student Chapter for joining us! We saw just over 26 swans (24 adults, 2 immatures) this year, and 3 Bald Eagles. Finally, (after much looking) I spotted an American Dipper, but it was a really nice and sunny day and we saw LOTS of tracks and animal sign. We saw tracks of moose, lynx, Trumpeter swan, coyote, snowshoe hare, red squirrel and river otter. We also saw where a moose mother and calf had bedded down. Along with a tree a beaver had chewed. It was a great trip! Thanks to Shelley Mitchell for the pictures. Report by Angelina Joiner.

PGNC Board Game Night, Wednesday February 26, 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m., Studio 2880

Great Backyard Bird Count, February 14 to 17

Participate in the Global Backyard Bird Count. Details at: https://www.birdcount.org/

NRESi Colloquium, Wednesday February 26, noon to 1 p.m., Callahan Room, Mackenzie Recreation Centre and Online. The Effects of Supplemental Feeding on Physiology and Reproduction in an Endangered Caribou Herd

Most woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) populations in British Columbia are declining throughout their range. In north-eastern BC, the Kennedy Siding herd declined from 120 individuals in 2007 to 41 individuals in 2012. A supplemental feeding program was initiated in 2014 where high-quality food pellets are provided to free-ranging caribou within the herd each fall, with the goal of improving body condition to increase winter survival and improve reproductive outcomes. Feeding appears to have positive effect on caribou, with the herd growing by approximately 16% per year. However, the mechanisms by which improved nutrition is contributing to population growth is currently unclear. Our results suggest supplemental feeding contributes to population growth by allowing caribou to gain the body reserves needed to reproduce. Our work contributes to understanding the role health and nutrition plays in caribou conservation and provides guidance on the use of supplemental feeding in support of caribou recovery. Lauren Elviss presentation (Wildlife and Ecosystem Bioindicators Lab).

Registration to attend via Zoom is required for this special FWCP/NRESi colloquium. We encourage pre-registration. Please use this link to register: https://unbc.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_swW2uzioQj6KtEmfmJg52A#/registration

Seedy Saturday, March 1

Project FeederWatch, November 1, 2024 to April 30, 2025

Many Prince George residents participate in Project FeederWatch. If you would like to participate, here’s the information you need:

https://www.birdscanada.org/you-can-help/project-feederwatch

UNBC Colloquium Series

If you missed one of the recent NRESi Friday afternoon presentations, you can go to this link to see if it is posted yet: https://video.unbc.ca/channel/NRESI/

Birdwatching Backpacks at Prince George Public Library

Prince George Public Library, Bob Harkins Branch, has five birdwatching backpacks available for checkout. You need to copy and paste this link:

https://tinyurl.com/mw4hvms8.

About This Newsletter

The newsletter is sent from the PGNC mailing address: princegeorgenaturalistsclub@gmail.com. We welcome contributions from members and supporters about matters of interest to naturalists. Feel free to send stories and links to princegeorgenaturalistsclub@