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Chalk up another successful Grand Marais Audubon Christmas bird count day. The annual event was done with temperatures below freezing and not too much wind, said Grand Marais Audubon Christmas Bird Count Compiler Jeremy Ridlbauer.
Folks counted birds in an area that encompasses a 7.5-mile radius circle from a point three miles south of the middle of Devil Track Lake. The count circle covers Highway 61 to the Lindskog Road and north, some of County Road 60, the Gunflint Trail to the landfill road, the Pine Mountain Road to the backside of Elbow Lake, the Devil Track Road to Bally Creek Road, the Ball Club Road to The Grade, Pike Lake Road, and Highway 61 west to Cascade Lodge, and all of the lakeshore between Lindskog Road and Cascade Lodge.
On the count day, more than 3,300 individual birds were recorded, 38 species in all.
The most common birds sighted were the Common Redpoll, Whitewinged Crossbill, Blackcapped Chickadee, Pine Grosbeak, Herring Gull, Cedar Waxwing, American Crow, Rock Pigeon, Common Raven, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Long-tailed Duck, Red Crossbill, Blue Jay, and Downy Woodpecker.
Birders had a chance to add to the species list from 12:01 Wednesday, December 15 to 11:59 p.m. on Tuesday, December 21.
Typical birds that weren’t seen on count day include the American Robin, Blackbirds, Barred Owl (any owl), and Northern Flicker.
“We did have a late snow bunting and swamp sparrow, a single yellow-bellied sapsucker, and a snowy owl in the harbor on the count this year for unusual species, so you never know what you’ll see!” noted Ridlbauer, who added, “We had lots of white-winged crossbills and common redpolls, along with many pine grosbeaks and the usual plethora of black-capped chickadees.
Audubon Christmas Bird Count
On Christmas Day 1900, Frank M. Chapman, an ornithologist and an early officer of the Audubon Society, proposed a “Christmas Bird Census” where birds would be counted over the holidays rather than be hunted.
In Minnesota, the first known Christmas Day Bird count (CBC) was conducted Christmas Day 1905 in Minneapolis, and Red Wing. During the last 121 years, the Christmas Bird Count has been held uninterrupted in the state. Nationally and internationally the count has grown to include approximately 2,100 active CBC census circles. Those counting areas spread across the U.S., Canada, parts of South and Central America, and some Caribbean countries. They involve more than 72,815 participants, 54,533 in the U.S.
The Minnesota CBC has tallied over 8.5 million birds, which includes 201 species. Each counting group completes a census of the birds found during one 24-hour period between December 14 and January 5 in a designated circle 15 miles in diameter, about 177 square miles.
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