Yukon bird count turns up rare sightings

The co-ordinator of the annual Whitehorse bird count says two birds rare to the Yukon were spotted this year.

Wendy Nixon says there was a report of a northern mockingbird and a song sparrow, along with the normal sightings of chickadees and ravens.

She says the mockingbird was the real surprise because its normal range is in the central United States.

"It has occasionally been seen in southern B.C. and there was one record in southeast Alaska a few years ago, but this year it's been in Whitehorse, noted in the last month," says Nixon.

It looks like a Gray Jay but it is smaller and its head is not so dark, she says. Strong winds may have blown the bird out of its range.

Nixon says it's also rare to see song sparrows in the Yukon, even in the summer.

Bird counts began in North America at the turn of the last century to protest the tradition of shooting thousands of birds on Boxing Day, she says. In Whitehorse the first count was held in 1973.