Click here for an Excel version of the Annual Bird Report Calendar.
Click here for a PDF version of the Annual Bird Report Calendar.

The 2007 Annual Bird Report is now available in PDF.
Click here to download a copy.

Previous Annual Bird Reports
2006
2005

1972
1971
1970

Starting in 2005, VNHS resumed publishing an Annual Bird Report for Southern Vancouver Island, similar to the Reports that were published in the early 1970s. In this article we briefly describe the nature and purpose of the Reports and the ways in which all birdwatchers in the area can help with the project. For many years local birdwatchers have been accumulating countless observations of the birds of the area, but most of these have never been placed on permanent record in print for all future birdwatchers to read about. Now is our chance to do this.

The Report will publish a species-by-species systematic account of the occurrence of all species seen within the boundaries of the area during the calendar year. The area to be covered will be the portion of Vancouver Island, including the Canadian Gulf Islands, south of latitude 49^o N and east of longitude 123^o 50' W. For a thumbnail map of the area, see the VNHS Bird Checklist. Records of birds of exceptional interest seen near to but outside the boundaries of this area will be included in an Appendix to the Report.

All birdwatchers are encouraged to keep regular records of their sightings and to submit them for publication in the Report. It will be most convenient if observers send in their records in four batches, at the end of March, June, September and December; they could also be submitted in one batch at the end of the year if you prefer, though we would prefer to receive quarterly batches. It will also be convenient if they are submitted in standard taxonomic order. This could be one of the following, whichever is easiest for you: (i) the new AOU order, which begins with the geese; (ii) the old AOU order (beginning with loons), which is used in most of the current field guides; or (iii) the order in which birds are listed in the VNHS Checklist. Observations submitted in chronological or alphabetic order or in some other order will cause us a lot of extra work, and we would prefer you not to do this! Records may be sent by ordinary mail to Victoria Natural History Society, P.O. Box 5220, Station B, Victoria, BC, V8R 6N4, or they may be submitted electronically - keep an eye on the VNHS website (www.vicnhs.bc.ca) for details on how to do this.

What records should be submitted? In the case of common resident birds such as Song Sparrow, it is not intended to publish every sighting made by every observer. Indeed, we expect that few observers will send in observations of such species, and the entry in the Report for such birds in likely to be brief. This is not to say that common resident birds are of no interest - indeed it is arguable that they are more important that the occasional exceptional rarity. Common birds have a habit of gradually changing their status over the years so gradually that we may not notice. Therefore it will be quite appropriate for the Report to publish any special studies or systematic, regular counts that anyone may undertake of such species.

Records of migratory birds are obviously of particular interest. Observers can let us know the date of arrival of the first migrant they see, as well as the date by which the bulk of the migrants are in, the date by which most of them are gone, and the date when the last one was seen. And obviously the Report will serve to place on record the occurrence of all uncommon or rare birds. For guidance as to what birds are considered uncommon or rare, see the VNHS Bird Checklist.

All birdwatchers recognize that it will be essential for observers to supply field notes of observations of uncommon or rare birds as well as out-of-season birds (e.g. swallows or House Wrens in winter) or birds that are hard to identify ( e.g. Sharp-shinned Hawk, Long-billed Dowitcher, Arctic Tern). Usually just a sentence or two will suffice to describe the features that were seen on the bird under observation. In the case of "vagrant" and "accidental" birds, full and detailed descriptions of the bird will have to be provided as usual to the Bird Records Committee on the form provided for that purpose. Whether for "accidental" or for merely "rare" or "uncommon" or even for common but out-of-season birds, the provision and publication of the details that were seen on the bird under observation will serve to assure all readers of the Report (including readers from outside the area, or readers in the far future) that the record is absolutely sound and will remove any of the doubts that often attend reports of an unusual record.

All contributors to the Report will, of course, be acknowledged, and it is traditional to include the observers' initials after each record - and I know that observers eagerly look for their own initials in order to experience that special Glow of Pride in knowing that they saw a Tree Swallow before anyone else did. I know that, because I do it myself!

While the success of the Annual Bird Report depends heavily on the involvement of all birders, and on their sending in their records and field notes, there is also a fair amount of less exciting organizational work involved in bringing the project to fruition. Therefore a Working Group (WG) is being set up to guide the Report through the necessary stages. We are therefore asking now for anyone who would like to be a member of the WG, or who would like to help in some way without necessarily being a member of the WG, or who can offer any special expertise (e.g. in layout, cover design, budgeting, seeing it through the printer's, and a host of other tasks of that nature), please to make yourself known. We do need help, and we eagerly seek any that you can offer.

Jeremy B. Tatum