Non-native Eurasian collared dove spotted during New Year’s Day observation
A non-native bird to this area of Minnesota, the Eurasian collared bird, was spotted during its trek across the country by members of the Cottonwood County Bird Club during their 45th annual Christmas Bird Count, which they traditionally hold on New Year’s Day. The nationwide count this year took place between December 14, 2014 to January 5, 2015.
A total of eight bird-watchers, hailing from Mountain Lake, Delft, Bingham Lake and Windom, fanned out across the county on Thursday, January 1, to make the count, a National Audobon Society-sponsored activity. This year marked the society’s 115th 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 local bird watchers had a difficult time finding birds, but the reason was not the weather.
According to the Cottonwood County Bird Club’s treasurer (and annual count statistics-compiler), Jon Harder of Mountain Lake, the day was comfortably warm for a January 1, and the sun also shone for a part of the day of observation. On that day, there was only a light cover of snow.
Harder premised that perhaps that there were open areas in the fields; or the birds just were not hungry so were not out looking for food.
Despite the fact that not many birds were spotted, there were sightings of eclectic groups of birds, including a repeat sighting of the Eurasian collared dove, which is not a native to southwestern Minnesota. 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 in Bingham Lake, and their spotting marks the sixth time they have been seen in the last 10 years.
However, Harder noted that it was strange to not see a goldfinch during this year’s count.
Critical info gleaned from National Audobon’s Christmas Bird Count
The annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count 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.