2022 Vancouver Christmas Bird Count
Report by Peter Candido
The 2022 Vancouver Christmas Bird Count took place on Saturday December 17th. The morning saw intermittent rain, the temperature was 2-3 C and winds were light at about 7 kph from the east. Light fog offshore in the morning limited visibility for observing waterbirds, though the sea was fairly calm. The rain ended around noon and skies cleared somewhat. Though some shoreline was exposed early in the morning, the tide was high for most of the day.
As was the case last year, winter finches and grosbeaks were in short supply, with very few Pine Siskins or Red Crossbills and no Pine Grosbeaks or Redpolls reported. A note about the American Crow number: because of a high incidence of avian influenza currently, it was deemed prudent to avoid approaching the large crow roost in Burnaby and arriving birds could only be observed from one distant vantage point, so the crow count is not representative. This is reflected in the lower count of total individuals this year. Also, this year Area V (east Richmond) was not covered due to lack of a leader.
The species total stands at 121 with 47,537 individuals, compared to 124 species and 71,756 individuals in 2021.
A big Thank You to all who contributed to the count! If you notice any errors or omissions in the data, please contact me at pcandido328@shaw.ca.
Some Highlights
Tundra Swan 1 in Area H |
Black Scoter 9 in Area Y (from boat) |
Ruddy Duck 1 in Area N |
Black Turnstone 2 in Area D West |
Least Sandpiper 6 in Area S |
Western Sandpiper 3 in Area S |
White-throated Sparrow 2, one each in Areas J & S |
Short-eared Owl 1 in Area U |
Band-tailed Pigeon 7 in Area U |
Mourning Dove 1 in Area U |
Mountain Bluebird 2 in Area M |
Chipping Sparrow 1 in Area D East |

Complete List of Species Observed
2021 Numbers for Comparison
No. | Species | 2022 | 2021 |
1 | Snow Goose | 3909 | 6492 |
2 | Cackling Goose | 541 | 840 |
3 | Canada Goose | 2076 | 1770 |
4 | Trumpeter Swan | 6 | 5 |
5 | Tundra Swan | 1 | 0 |
6 | Wood Duck | 169 | 100 |
7 | Northern Shoveler | 56 | 98 |
8 | Gadwall | 85 | 95 |
9 | Eurasian Wigeon | 22 | 11 |
10 | American Wigeon | 2318 | 3608 |
11 | Mallard | 3975 | 3669 |
12 | Northern Pintail | 177 | 933 |
13 | Green-winged Teal | 573 | 377 |
14 | Ring-necked Duck | 20 | 34 |
15 | Greater Scaup | 2 | 130 |
16 | Lesser Scaup | 21 | 89 |
17 | Surf Scoter | 3971 | 692 |
18 | Black Scoter | 9 | 0 |
19 | White-winged Scoter | 590 | 13 |
20 | Long-tailed Duck | 4 | 2 |
21 | Bufflehead | 317 | 330 |
22 | Common Goldeneye | 300 | 161 |
23 | Barrow’s Goldeneye | 1281 | 1634 |
24 | Hooded Merganser | 58 | 61 |
25 | Common Merganser | 47 | 86 |
26 | Red-breasted Merganser | 290 | 62 |
27 | Ruddy Duck | 1 | 1 |
28 | Pied-billed Grebe | 5 | 16 |
29 | Horned Grebe | 69 | 16 |
30 | Red-necked Grebe | 2 | 3 |
31 | Western Grebe | 19 | 0 |
32 | Rock Pigeon | 1912 | 950 |
33 | Band-tailed Pigeon | 7 | 0 |
34 | Eurasian Collared-Dove | 37 | 65 |
35 | Mourning Dove | 1 | 1 |
36 | Anna’s Hummingbird | 244 | 188 |
37 | Virginia Rail | 3 | 3 |
38 | American Coot | 85 | 149 |
39 | Black Oystercatcher | 26 | 26 |
40 | Killdeer | 10 | 14 |
41 | Black Turnstone | 2 | 9 |
42 | Sanderling | 2 | 2 |
43 | Dunlin | 1050 | 70 |
44 | Least Sandpiper | 6 | 0 |
45 | Western Sandpiper | 3 | 0 |
46 | Wilson’s Snipe | 8 | 5 |
47 | Spotted Sandpiper | 2 | 4 |
48 | Greater Yellowlegs | 1 | 1 |
49 | Common Murre | 20 | 180 |
50 | Marbled Murrelet | 11 | 0 |
51 | Bonaparte’s Gull | 72 | 48 |
52 | Short-billed Gull | 499 | 1016 |
53 | Ring-billed Gull | 110 | 137 |
54 | California Gull | 26 | 20 |
55 | Herring Gull | 5 | 2 |
56 | Iceland (Thayer’s) Gull | 4 | 77 |
57 | Glaucous-winged Gull | 3048 | 4330 |
58 | Red-throated Loon | 9 | 8 |
59 | Pacific Loon | 13 | 4 |
60 | Common Loon | 22 | 13 |
61 | Brandt’s Cormorant | 6 | 276 |
62 | Double-crested Cormorant | 168 | 361 |
63 | Pelagic Cormorant | 185 | 124 |
64 | Great Blue Heron | 78 | 109 |
65 | Northern Harrier | 11 | 16 |
66 | Sharp-shinned Hawk | 9 | 6 |
67 | Cooper’s Hawk | 24 | 11 |
68 | Bald Eagle | 115 | 121 |
69 | Red-tailed Hawk | 24 | 32 |
70 | Rough-legged Hawk | 1 | 4 |
71 | Barred Owl | 1 | 3 |
72 | Short-eared Owl | 1 | 0 |
73 | Belted Kingfisher | 9 | 6 |
74 | Red-breasted Sapsucker | 4 | 6 |
75 | Downy Woodpecker | 31 | 17 |
76 | Hairy Woodpecker | 1 | 3 |
77 | Pileated Woodpecker | 13 | 9 |
78 | Northern Flicker | 367 | 241 |
79 | American Kestrel | 1 | 6 |
80 | Merlin | 4 | 3 |
81 | Peregrine Falcon | 2 | 6 |
82 | Hutton’s Vireo | 1 | 2 |
83 | Northern Shrike | 3 | 1 |
84 | Steller’s Jay | 72 | 82 |
85 | American Crow | 5332 | 32,134 |
86 | Common Raven | 63 | 47 |
87 | Black-capped Chickadee | 1693 | 970 |
88 | Chestnut-backed Chickadee | 101 | 83 |
89 | Bushtit | 530 | 310 |
90 | Golden-crowned Kinglet | 377 | 323 |
91 | Ruby-crowned Kinglet | 149 | 154 |
92 | Red-breasted Nuthatch | 41 | 13 |
93 | Brown Creeper | 61 | 45 |
94 | Pacific Wren | 138 | 117 |
95 | Marsh Wren | 9 | 8 |
96 | Bewick’s Wren | 30 | 24 |
97 | American Dipper | 4 | 2 |
98 | European Starling | 2583 | 1862 |
99 | Mountain Bluebird | 2 | 0 |
100 | Townsend’s Solitaire | 5 | 1 |
101 | Varied Thrush | 83 | 223 |
102 | Hermit Thrush | 3 | 21 |
103 | American Robin | 1885 | 255 |
104 | Cedar Waxwing | 16 | 17 |
105 | House Sparrow | 121 | 134 |
106 | Evening Grosbeak | 1 | 0 |
107 | House Finch | 389 | 213 |
108 | Purple Finch | 35 | 8 |
109 | Red Crossbill | 28 | 0 |
110 | Pine Siskin | 51 | 270 |
111 | American Goldfinch | 310 | 50 |
112 | Chipping Sparrow | 1 | 0 |
113 | Fox Sparrow | 166 | 337 |
114 | Dark-eyed Junco | 1776 | 1279 |
115 | White-crowned Sparrow | 92 | 129 |
116 | Golden-crowned Sparrow | 178 | 321 |
117 | White-throated Sparrow | 2 | 1 |
118 | Song Sparrow | 1136 | 1343 |
119 | Spotted Towhee | 554 | 582 |
120 | Red-winged Blackbird | 149 | 399 |
121 | Yellow-rumped Warbler | 12 | 2 |