[mou] Northwest Minnesota Birding Report- Friday, January 2, 2004

[Jeanie Joppru]

This is the Northwest Minnesota Birding Report for Friday, January 2,
2004 sponsored by the Detroit Lakes Regional Chamber of Commerce. You
may also hear this report by calling (218) 847-5743 or 1-800-433-1888.

New Year's has come and gone, and the weather promises to become more
like January, starting immediately. Many birders have been out and about
getting a good start on their 2004 sightings.

Shar Legenhausen in Becker County, reported that she has had a BROWN
CREEPER  and COMMON REDPOLLS at her feeder, and that EVENING GROSBEAKS
showed up on the Christmas Bird Count on December 20th.

In Polk County, Michelle McDowell sighted a RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER at a
feeder in Climax. Donna and Leon Thoresen have , among other species, 7
DARK-EYED JUNCOS, 58 SNOW BUNTINGS, COMMON REDPOLLS, and AMERICAN
GOLDFINCH at their feeders , also near Climax.

On December 27th,  a NORTHERN GOSHAWK and some WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILLS
were seen in Red Lake County.

There are COMMON REDPOLLS at our feeder near Thief River Falls in
Pennington County. Peder Svingen reported a probable MERLIN seen near
the elevators in Thief River Falls on December 28th.=20

In Marshall County, among other species seen on the Warren Christmas
Bird Count on December 28th were RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER, a pair of
NORTHERN CARDINALS, and three RED-WINGED BLACKBIRDS. Also on December
28th, four ROUGH-LEGGD HAWKS, GREAT HORNED OWL, three NORTHERN SHRIKES
and COMMON RAVEN were seen in that county. On December 31st, I observed
a flock of about 200 SNOW BUNTINGS in the northeastern part of Marshall
County.

Roseau Christmas Bird Count turned up no less than 15 BLACK-BACKED
WOODPECKERS. Other species tallied included NORTHERN GOSHAWK,
ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK, 16 SHARP-TAILED GROUSE, two NORTHERN SHRIKES, 280
BOHEMIAN WAXWINGS, SNOW BUNTINGS, PINE GROSBEAK, WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILL,
and AMERICAN GOLDFINCH.

The Beltrami Island Christmas Bird Count in Lake of the Woods County was
held on January 1st. Nineteen species were tallied on count day, and two
more were seen during the count week unofficially. They included BALD
EAGLE, two NORTHERN GOSHAWKS, RUFFED GROUSE, NORTHERN HAWK OWL,
BLACK-BACKED WOODPECKER, PILEATED WOODPECKER, GRAY JAY, COMMON RAVEN,
PINE GROSBEAK, RED CROSSBILL, WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILL, COMMON REDPOLL and
AMERICAN GOLDFINCH. Seen during count week were SPRUCE GROUSE and two
GREAT GRAY OWLS.

Thanks to Paul and Diana Morkassel, Michelle McDowell, David Alexander,
Shar Legenhausen, and Beth Siverhus for their reports.

Please report bird sightings to Jeanie Joppru by email, no later than
Thursday each week, at ajjoppru@wiktel.com OR call the Detroit Lakes
Chamber's toll free number: 1-800-542-3992. Detroit Lakes area birders
please call 847-9202. Please include the county where the sighting took
place. When reporting by email please put "NW Bird Report" in the
subject line of your message. The next scheduled update of this report
is Friday, January 9, 2004.