Drenching rain may have limited the species out B次元官网网址� both feathered and human B次元官网网址� for the annual Christmas Bird Count in Greater Victoria.

Held on a notoriously wet and stormy day (Dec. 14), high winds and gusts prevented any boats from getting out for the count and chased many shoreline counters inland, at least for the first two hours of daylight.

B次元官网网址淢uch to my surprise, we still had a very respectable 300 people out counting including about 30 at the Christmas Bird Count for Kids hosted by Rocky Point Bird Observatory at Beckwith Park in the afternoon,B次元官网网址� co-organizer Ann Nightingale told the Victoria B次元官网网址.

B次元官网网址淲hen the winds slowed down, the rain picked up, but this is better than the reverse. ThereB次元官网网址檚 not much worse than getting soaking wet and then blasted with wind. The shorelines got counted and many people stayed out for the rest of the day.B次元官网网址�

Another 49 people counted the birds at their feeders from the comfort of home.

The tally of species counted marked the lowest number in a decade at 135 species with more than 75,000 individual birds B次元官网网址� slightly below average.

B次元官网网址淎ny rare birds in the area took shelter on the count day, a big change from the last couple of years. Our most prized birds of the day were TownsendB次元官网网址檚 solitaire and rock Sandpiper, species that are not seen every year on our counts,B次元官网网址� Nightingale said.

Weather is also likely to blame for AnnaB次元官网网址檚 hummingbird numbers being down from recent years at 1,045.

The biggest surprises were the high number of Yellow-rumped warblers at 172 B次元官网网址� rapidly increasing in winter population over the last several years B次元官网网址� and the very low number of American coots at 46.

B次元官网网址淭he coots are normally seen in the hundreds on Elk Lake in the winter, forming a black blob on the lake often visible while driving down the highway. This year, there were exactly zero. It canB次元官网网址檛 be blamed on SaturdayB次元官网网址檚 weather, though, as scouting trips earlier in the week also failed to turn up a single coot.B次元官网网址�

The most commonly found species were mallard (8,174), dark-eyed junco (6,611), pine siskin (5,552), American robin (4,276) and glaucous-winged gull (4,233).

The Sidney/South Salt Spring Count was held Dec. 15 under much better conditions. They tallied 121 species and more than 33,000 individual birds. Counts continue in Sooke Dec. 27 and Duncan on Dec. 29.