Photo by Dennis Chick This young pine grosbeak is one of the most common birds spotted in the 2009 Audubon Christmas Bird Count.
The 2009 Audubon Christmas Bird Count took place in Grand Marais last week, with 12 drivers and hikers and six feeder watchers heading out in the wind on Saturday, December 19, the primary counting day. Counters gathered at Neptune’s Cyber Café over coffee and cocoa to compile results on Saturday afternoon.
Organizer Jeremy Ridlbauer expressed appreciation to those who braved the cold to take part in the count in the 7.5-mile Grand Marais circle. He said 30 species were spotted on count day with another eight spotted during count week (three days before and three days after count day). Thatis down from last year’s 41 species.
CBC participants carry on a tradition that started on the East Coast in 1900. A small group of East Coast ornithologists wanted an alternative to the traditional Christmas afternoon bird shoot. Today, the Christmas Bird Count is an institution. Birders across the nation (and even other nations) scour their circle, counting both numbers of species and numbers of birds.
The late Justine Kerfoot, author and owner of Gunflint Lodge, is credited with beginning the bird count in Cook County in the early ’60s.
The National Audubon Society coordinates the count. The Society designates a 16-day period for the count around Christmastime and publishes a complete compilation annually of all official counts in its Audubon Field Notes.
Birds seen in previous
counts, but not in 2009:
Horned Lark
Northern Three-toed Woodpecker
Mallard
Pine Siskin
Common Redpoll
Hoary Redpoll
Bufflehead
American Black Duck
Black-backed Woodpecker
Brown Creeper
Canada Goose
Common Grackle
Great Gray Owl
Harlequin Duck
Northern Goshawk
Red Crossbill
Snow Bunting
Thayer’s Gull
Townsend’s Solitaire
White-throated Sparrow
Ring-billed Gull
Species spotted on count day, in order of abundance:
Black-capped Chickadee
Common Raven
Cedar Waxwing
Red-breasted Nuthatch
European Starling
American Goldfinch
Pine Grosbeak
Downy Woodpecker
American Crow
Long-tailed Duck
Rock Pigeon
Blue Jay
Common Goldeneye
Purple Finch
Hairy Woodpecker
Bald Eagle
Herring Gull
Gray Jay
Pileated Woodpecker
Evening Grosbeak
Ruffed Grouse
Red-breasted Merganser
House Sparrow
Rough-legged Hawk
Northern Hawk Owl
Northern Shrike
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Snowy Owl
White-winged Crossbill
Northern Flicker (yellow shafted)
Others counted
during the week:
American Robin
Barred Owl
Bohemian Waxwing
Boreal Chickadee
Dark-eyed Junco
Eastern Towhee
Evening Grosbeak
Northern Cardinal
White-breasted Nuthatch
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