B.C. town marks 8 years of kids counting birds as part of national program

Published 5:30 am Monday, December 29, 2025

It was the first Christmas Bird Count at Brydon Lagoon for Langley City teacher Adam Knowlson and his family.

“I actually teach outdoor ed at the school just nearby,” Knowlson told the Langley Advance Times.

“I like to come look at the birds, but I don’t know a lot of the names, so I’m here to learn.”

On Sunday, Dec. 28, the annual bird count marked it’s eighth year, guided by Nehal Saleh, founder of Langley City-based Explore Science Club (ESC).

“We get to hang out in nature and do some bird counting,” Saleh explained. “With this particular count, it’s a lot about biodiversity and how it changes every year.”

Identifying and counting birds during the lagoon walkabout is part of a Canada-wide study. All the data is submitted to Bird Studies Canada.

“So we are actually helping researchers, those that are interested in those types of questions, the bigger questions of biodiversity and migration and that type of thing,” Saleh said.

8th annual Christmas bird count for kids at Brydon Lagoon in Langley City. pic.twitter.com/rIt6H2lMim

— Langley Advance Times (@LangleyTimes) December 28, 2025

Close to 40 kids and adults turned out. It was good weather for an outdoor survey, cold, but not freezing, and more importantly, dry.

“We had a lot of rain last year,” Saleh remarked. She predicted the different weather would mean different types of birds.

At one stop along the lagoon pathway, Saleh was explaining how to tell female and male Common Merganser ducks apart.”

“The Merganser female has this kind of Mohawk, brown Mohawk. That’s how you know it’s her.”

There were “hardly any” Canada geese to see this year, but red-winged blackbirds were back this year.

“And we saw two great blue herons, which is quite a treat, and we saw a pileated woodpecker.”

Saleh said she developed detailed knowledge of the many birds during visits to the Lagoon with kids, who wanted to know about the different types.

They would ask questions and she would look up the information.

Christmas Bird Count for Kids (CBC4Kids) was established in 2007 by Sonoma Birding in California.

Birds Canada joined as the Canadian partner in 2010, and ESC started its count in 2018.

CBC4Kids events and outings are coordinated locally by naturalist or community groups throughout December and January.

More information can be found online at www.explorescienceclub.com.