114th CBC Minnesota Regional Summary

By Steve Weston

The 114th Minnesota Christmas Bird count was well attended with good numbers of birds, despite the typically cold weather.   Seventy-five of the 76 counts are included in this report with the Ely count not reporting any data.  

The state had a record of more than 1400 participants, for an average of over 19 per count.  While ten counts had six or fewer participants, five had 40 or more.  St. Paul had the most participants in field (57), while Henderson had 74 and Owatonna 60 feeder watchers, showing broad community support.

Weather was typically cold with more counts (17) finding high temperatures at zero or below than experiencing temperatures above freezing (only 5).   Nine counts had low temperatures below -20 with Agassiz N.W.R. having a low of -36.  Only 12 counts had no snow on the ground and Carlton County had over two feet.  Thirteen counts reported no open water and all but eight counts reported lakes completely frozen.

Total count (242,797) was low compared to last year’s count (325,500+) when there was more open water and significantly more waterfowl.  Seven species accounted for more than half of the total count.  The species count (131) was also less than last year’s (142).   A King Eider found in Lake Superior in the Duluth CBC was a new species for Minnesota’s CBCs.   Woodpeckers, thrushes, Eurasian Collared-Doves, Cedar Waxwings, and field snow birds were up, while cormorants, Bohemian Waxwings, gulls, and irruptive finches were way down, mostly at their nadir for the last decade.  The counts did not hint at the winter’s biggest avian story: the historical irruption of Snowy Owls.

Waterfowl counts of almost all species were low reflecting the lack of open water.  The most common species all had close to or the lowest count in the last ten years with two exceptions.   Trumpeter Swans numbers (2700) were ten percent below last year’s record count (2989).  This did not reflect the number of swans in Minnesota, but the fact that the Monticello nuclear plant was off-line during this time and the warm water was not flowing into the Mississippi by Monticello where most of Minnesota’s Trumpeters congregate.   Common Mergansers with 6114 birds was the third highest number on record, but down from last year’s record tying 8632.  The 28 species of waterfowl was down slightly from last year’s 31 species.  Uncommon species included the aforementioned first record King Eider, first winter record of Blue-winged Teal for Isanti County (Cedar Creek Bog CBC) and only the second record since 1995 (a wild bird among a flock of domestic ducks), a Northern Shoveler with the same flock in Isanti County, a Greater White-fronted Goose at Rochester, and two White-winged Scoters and a count week Barrow’s Goldeneye in Duluth.   Other water dependent birds were present in unremarkable numbers, except for the record high count (21) of White Pelicans along the Mississippi in St. Paul.   Cormorants, usually present, were not found.

Upland game bird numbers were mostly below average in number.  Wild Turkeys (3594) were below last year’s record (5006) but still the fourth highest number on record.  Sharp-tailed Grouse were present in record numbers (297) and Greater Prairie-Chicken in near record numbers (366) in Northwestern Minnesota.  Hawk and eagle numbers were strong indicating steady numbers.  Rough-legged Hawk numbers (74) were at their lowest this decade.  Barred and Great Horned owl numbers were stable, but Eastern Screech-Owls hit the lowest (5) since 1979.  Snowy Owl numbers (13) were indicative of above average winter numbers, but did not hint at the irruption that Minnesota would soon experience.  Other owls were found in the low numbers expected in non-irruptive years, with the exception of Northern Saw-whet Owls, whose numbers (9) tie the record, but are too low to indicated a trend.   Falcon numbers were down, but did not indicate any trends.

Gull numbers were way down from last year: Ring-billed (41 vs. 489) and Herring (408 vs. 1557).  Uncommon gulls included Thayer’s (10), Glaucous (1), and Great Black-backed (2), mostly in Duluth.  Rock Pigeon and Mourning Dove numbers were stable, but Eurasian Collared-Dove numbers (327) exceeded last year’s record (278) and the previous year’s record (141).  Cottonwood CBC had 60 EUCDs and Hastings CBC had 54.

Common woodpecker numbers were very strong, up from last year and among the top four counts, with the exception of Red-bellied Woodpeckers with a record of 1413 (vs. last year’s 1110).  Red-headed Woodpecker numbers (30) included 21 from Cedar Creek Bog CBC.  Northern Flickers (237) set a record.  There were nine Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers (second highest count), five Black-backed Woodpeckers (lowest since 1997), and no American Three-toed Woodpeckers.

Corvid numbers were mostly down from last year.  Crows, magpies, and ravens were down, but Gray Jays and Blue Jays were up, with Blue Jays noted in record numbers (8056).   Northern Shrike, Red-breasted Nuthatch, and Brown Creeper tallies were all slightly lower than last year.  White-breasted Nuthatch, Boreal Chickadee, and Tufted Titmouse were almost unchanged, while Black-capped Chickadee was up slightly.  Highly variable, Horned Lark numbers were up from the last three years, but lower than the previous three.   The only wrens found were two Carolina Wrens, one in Owatonna and one in the Minnesota side of the La Crosse, WI count.

The most abundant thrushes, American Robins and Eastern Bluebirds were recorded in record numbers (8295 and 185 respectively).  The Wabasha count reported 2460 robins sighted, but many more birds were flying and the count was limited by the observers’ field of view.  The uncommon thrushes included five Townsend’s Solitaires (second highest number), three Hermit Thrushes, one Gray Catbird on the Minnesota side of the La Crosse count, and a Brown Thrasher at the Willmar count.  No Varied Thrushes were reported.    Golden-crowned Kinglet numbers were low (7).  Bohemian Waxwings were scarce with 671 reported, representing the lowest number since 1982, when the observers and counts were much lower than now.  Cedar Waxwings, however, were found at record numbers (8762).  Starlings were abundant, but lower than the last couple of years.  House Sparrow numbers were high.  Lapland Longspurs (2180, second highest count) and Snow Buntings (10,510, fourth highest count) were at irruption heights.  Half of the Longspurs were found at the Owatonna count, whereas Snow Buntings were abundant across the state.   The only warbler, one Yellow-rumped Warbler was reported on the Winona count.

Sparrow numbers across the board were high, but not at record numbers, except at the many Henderson feeders, where half of the record 10 White-crowned Sparrows were counted.   In addition there were six Fox Sparrows and one Swamp Sparrow (the latter on the Minnesota side of the La Crosse count).   Perhaps, the most interesting bird of the count was a Cassiar’s Junco, well photographed from the Minnesota side of the Grand Forks CBC.  In addition, four Oregon form Juncos were reported.  One female Eastern Towhee was found in the Redwing count.  Cardinal numbers were slightly below the average for the last 10 years.  Blackbird numbers, which are highly variable, were unremarkable, lower than five or six years ago, but higher than the past few years. 

House Finch and American Goldfinch numbers were strong, higher than the past few years, while northern finch numbers, which can be the most variable in the state, were all way down.  Common Redpolls, which can be most abundant, were all but absent from state.  Last year’s record count of 23,579 was replaced by 179 this year, the fourth lowest count in the last 50 years!    Pine Siskins at 241 (vs. 1764 last year), Pine Grosbeaks at 489 (vs. 1764 last year), Red Crossbills at nine (vs. 219 last year), White-winged Crossbills at 31 (vs. 911 last year), Hoary Redpolls at 0 (vs. 51 last year), Evening Grosbeaks at 133 (vs. 411 last year), all were the lowest numbers since 2002 and in the case of the crossbills, since the 1990s.   Evening Grosbeak numbers were the lowest since 1950.  The only northern finch bucking this trend was the Purple Finch with 833, up from 524 last year.