[mou] Notes on Pine County CBC Birds.

[Alt, Mark]

The following are notes on the birds seen in the 2004 Pine County CBC
(page 57 in MN DeLorme):
*	Winter Finches:
o	Redpolls
*	Common - These birds are everywhere.  If our aim was to census
Redpolls, we could have counted much more.  They were at every feeder,
along all the roads, and were very vocal and active.  These birds this
winter were the largest numbers for any species we have ever logged.
This is a migration that is huge in scale. Fill up your feeders, they
are coming and they are hungry!  We saw them on thistle tube feeders and
on the ground beneath sunflower seed feeders, and in Birch and Aspen
trees when perched up in flocks..
*	Hoary - Good luck.  Roger Schroeder and family found ours at a
feeders along CR 153 east of Bruno
o	Crossbills
*	Red - Flyovers of loose flocks, none found feeding, in dense
areas of conifers, seen regularly with lots of time put into them.
*	White-winged - Very hard to find, I have seen none in my 3
scouting trips=20
o	Pine Siskins - Not abundant, heard first and then found when not
at feeders. No large flocks.
o	Goldfinches - Hard to find, very low numbers for this count.
o	Purple Finches - Very tough to find. Only 2 sightings.
o	Evening Grosbeaks - None being seen right now in Pine County
o	Pine Grosbeaks - hard to find, most at feeders in small numbers,
heard calling softly, not singing though.
*	Starlings - we are way up in numbers, tallying 232.  we have
never counted them in Nickerson before, this is depressing.
*	Waxwings
o	Bohemians - We saw 5 separate flocks, the biggest and best in
the small neighborhood community on Sturgeon Island, just over the
covered bridge that leads to these homes on the east shore of Sturgeon
Lake.
o	Cedars - Smattering in the big flock of La Bohemes.
*	Corvids
o	Ravens and Crows were remarkably low compared to previous
counts.  I am reticent to use this fact to deduce anything with West
Nile, but it is amazing to note the paucity of large black birds
compared to previous years.=20
o	Blue Jays were well attended at all feeders and Oak Groves
*	Raptors
o	Owls
*	Northern Hawk Owl - The NHOW east of Kerrick where the road
bends to the east is still the most regular NHOW I have heard of.  There
may be 2 birds here, if you have some time to observe fro a while, let
me know, please.  The bird(s) being seen here is very active and keeps
out of sight a lot, flying out of sight one moment then popping up
nearby.  This remains one of the best spots in the state to observe this
bird inaction. The other two NHOW's were patrolling large open fields,
not Bogland. Scope needed here. The NHOW seen directly east of Sturgeon
Lake (the body of water) and west of Military Road was sighted 3 times
around this huge open field, which is more than a mile square.
*	Great Gray Owl - The birds seen so far have been only in the
northern half of my CBC circle, which is centered near the town of
Duquette, along State Hwy 23. These birds are not staged up like Sax-Zim
Owls, they are not along the road peering down into the grass.  The ones
seen have been near roads, but in as far as 100 yards.  All birds seen
were very actively hunting. My impression is that these birds are common
now in northern Pine County, and very visible in the late afternoon and
evening,  Perhaps their foraging behavior of being away from roads
pushed them through Sax Zim, or perhaps the more open terrain in Pine
County Boglands enables the birds to stay away from the roads.  1 was
seen along hwy 23, 0.5 miles south of Nickerson, the others were in
mixed deciduous/coniferous lowland forest. 1 GGOW seen in Carlton County
was staged up 25-30 feet high atop a tamarack snag.  This was by far the
tallest snag in the area, so at first glance we thought NHOW, but it was
a Great Gray. It was an extremely low wind day, perhaps they can hunt
higher when the wind rustle is diminished?  I can appreciate this when I
try to record birds in a breeze.
o	Eagles and Hawks
*	Bald Eagle - tough to find, 14" of ice on lakes, rives freezing
over in many spots
*	Rough-legged Hawk - not as abundant as in past months.  They are
now centered over open boglands and large open fields.  Both dark morph
and light morph seen.
*	Grouse
o	Ruffed extremely low in numbers, Steve Novatney worked his field
trial Setter in fields trying for Sharp-tails and in aspens for Ruffed,
to no avail.  One group found Ruffed staged up in Aspens near Sturgeon
Island on Sturgeon Lake.
o	Tony Hertzel found Sharp-Tailed tracks, but no bird. None seen
this year.
*	Woodpeckers
*	Black-backed - seem to be hanging near the bog.  There have been
steady sighting of this species for the past 2 months if go near the
bog.  The female I observed was working over a rotten standing snag of
Aspen beside a 60 acre jack pine stand.  This bird was loudly and
steadily vocalizing.  It then flew 50 feet away to another rotten snag
of Aspen, then flew out of sight to the south.  The flat light
conditions, the openness of the bird and its low perch (15 feet) made
for perfect viewing, it did not appear black at all, but rather a dark
steel blue, with clean white striping on its face and a clear white
belly flashed as it flew right by us. It seemed to be pressing its head
to the log to listen for bugs before it fled the scene, it sort of
turned its bead and leaned into the trunk. Tony Hertzel found a bird
along Ericsson Road, again very vocal and very active.

Mark Alt=20
Brooklyn Center, MN=20
mark.alt@bestbuy.com=20
"Birds and their songs are important to me, they add to my enjoyment of
life"=20