Sighted were 33 different species
A non-native bird to this area of Minnesota, the Eurasian collared bird, was again spotted during its trek across the country by members of the Cottonwood County Bird Club during their 46th annual Christmas Bird Count, which they traditionally hold on New Year’s Day. The nationwide counts are all conducted between December 14 to January 5, inclusive dates, each season.
A total of seven bird-watchers, hailing from Mountain Lake, Delft, Bingham Lake and Windom, fanned out across the county on Thursday, January 1, to make the count in field and at feeder. The Christmas Bird Count is a National Audobon Society-sponsored activity. This year marked the society’s 116th annual bird count.
Each year the birders traditionally cover a 15-mile diameter circle that is centered one mile north of Maiden Lake on Cottonwood County Road #2. The bird-watchers were in the field from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., viewing by foot and by car. Start temperatures were 19 degrees Fahrenheit, and by afternoon, it had risen to 32 degrees Fahrenheit. Snow depth ranged from five-to-15 inches. Still water had frozen over, but moving water was open. Blowing snow caused difficult travel by late morning and through the afternoon, with less miles driven as a result.
According to the Cottonwood County Bird Club’s treasurer (and annual count statistics-compiler), Jon Harder of Mountain Lake, 33 different species – and 1,568 individual birds – were spotted.
Adds Harder, “This is only the second year we have seen swans, because there is rarely open water on January 1. During count week, Trumpeter Swans were sighted. Same with Wild Turkey. The only other time both of these were seen was 2012. The Varied Thrush is also unusual, although one was seen in 1995. One was also observed this year.
“We’ve never seen so many American Robins (23) before – and there may have been even more in that group.”
Sightings included a repeat sighting of the Eurasian Collared Dove, which is not a native to southwestern Minnesota. Eurasian Collared Doves have spread over the United States in the past few years. They were first counted in Cottonwood County in 2008 and have been seen every year since. The bird’s identifying mark is its black collar on the back of the neck. This dove has been making its way across the nation. Five were seen this year.
Leading the list of bird species sighted were Snow Buntings, with 751 noted.
The remaining species and number were as follows:
+ Ring-necked Pheasant – 58.
+ Sharp-skinned Hawk – 1.
+ Bald Eagle – 1.
+ Red-tailed Hawk – 4.
+ Rough-legged Hawk – 1.
+ Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon) – 98.
+ Great Horned Owl – 1.
+ Red-bellied Woodpecker – 1.
+ Downy Woodpecker – 12.
+ Hairy Woodpecker – 3.
+ Northern Flicker – 2.
+ Northern Shrike – 2.
+ Blue Jay – 16.
+ American Crow – 24.
+ Horned Lark – 58.
+ Black-capped Chickadee – 9.
+ White-breasted Nuthatch – 2.
+ European Starling – 73.
+ Cedar Waxwing – 54.
+ Lapland Longspur – 9.
+ Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored) – 31.
+ Song Sparrow – 1.
+ Northern Cardinal – 3.
+ Red-winged Blackbird – 74.
+ House Finch – 8.
+ American Goldfinch – 26.
+ House Sparrow – 216.
Critical info gleaned from National Audobon’s annual CBC
The annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count (CBC) is the longest-running Citizen Science survey in the world, as is noted on the organization’s web site. The count provides critical data on population trends. Tens of thousands of participants know that it is also a lot of fun. Data from the over 2,300 circles are entered after the count.
Prior to the turn of the century, people engaged in a holiday tradition known as the Christmas “Side Hunt.” The rules of this hunt would be for participants to choose sides and go afield with their guns, andwhoever brought in the biggest pile of feathered (and/or furred) quarry won.
Conservation was in its beginning stages around the turn of the 20th century, and many observers and scientists were becoming concerned about declining bird populations. Beginning on Christmas Day 1900, ornithologist Frank Chapman, an officer in the beginning years of the Audubon Society, proposed a new holiday tradition – a “Christmas Bird Census” – that would count birds in the holidays rather than hunt them. That day, 27 birders held 25 Christmas Bird Counts. Locations ranged from Toronto, Ontario, Canada to Pacific Grove, California. The majority of the counts were in or near the population centers of northeastern North America. Those bird-watchers tallied around 90 species on all counts combined.
The data collected by observers over the past century allow researchers, conservation biologists, conservationists and other interested individuals to study the long-term health and status of bird populations across North America. When combined with other surveys such as the Breeding Bird Survey, it provides a picture of how the continent’s bird populations have changed in time and space over the past hundred years. In addition, it informs strategies to protect birds and their habitats – and, in turn, helps identify environmental issues with implications for people as well. For example, local trends in bird populations can indicate habitat fragmentation or signal an immediate environmental threat, such as groundwater contamination or poisoning from improper use of pesticides.
