Here’s how bird watchers in Medicine Hat help conservation efforts worldwide

Each bird watcher will cover a different territory, and more than one once all are occupied.

Dan Schiebelbein, an avid bird-watcher who has been tracking birds for nearly 20 years, sends data he collects to Cornell University.

Schiebelbein waits quietly for a shot of one of the several bird species in Police Point Park. Jayk Sterkenburg/CHAT News

The university keeps track of the health of bird populations and trends that are observed with the help of bird watchers like Schiebelbein all over the world.

Schiebelbein uses Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s eBird program, which collects its data from thousands of users who contribute.

“I used to just keep track of all the birds in my head, but a few years ago I joined eBird, which is digital and I keep daily checklists of all the birds I see,” said Schiebelbein.

The website hosts a collection of user-entered data about bird populations and trends around the world.

A map depicts the change in populations of the house wren from 2012-2022. Courtesy Cornell Lab of Ornithology

“It’s valuable for keeping track of the health of the planet actually, because with climate change and everything,” he said.

“Bird population trends are falling or losing a lot of songbirds and so they rely on the general population to help them keep track of bird populations.”

Mathieu explained why the bird count takes place at this time of year.

“It was begun by an ornithologist. His name is Frank Chapman. He was concerned, he and many other people, about declining bird populations,” she said.

“He wanted to start a new tradition where people would count birds and monitor their populations instead of collecting them in a hunt,” she added.

“He started the first one in the year 1900 in the United States, and now this happens year-round in a lot of different, like hundreds of different communities across North America.”

Mathieu said the interpretive program also hosts a spring bird count, with the list of birds being three times as long as the winter.

The Christmas bird count is more accessible for new watchers, but well-trained birders also take part annually.

“We love it, because you don’t have to be an ornithologist. You don’t have to have a master’s in anything. You can just do your best,” she said.

“It’s citizen science, which means that the data collected is not expected to be professional level,” she added.

“We understand that we’re all still learning and that’s taken into account when that data is being used by scientists and researchers.”

Mathieu said that with citizen science, so much more ground can be covered with so many people participating.

A bird count for kids will be taking place on Jan. 5 with the interpretive program, to learn about some of the skills that be gained to identify birds.

by Jayk Sterkenburg

Here’s how bird watchers in Medicine Hat help conservation efforts worldwide

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