[mou] Owls on a National Map

[John Green]

This is a message from Jan on John's email.

There is an opportunity to call attention nationally and quickly to the
northern owl invasion in Minnesota by participating in "The Great Backyard
Bird Count".  The dates for this project are the weekend of February
18-21.  It is sponsored by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and is in its
8th year of collecting information on bird populations and distributions
in late winter.  The results are tabulated and mapped shortly after the
end of the survey and posted on the Cornell site
(http://www.birdsource.org/gbbc/).

This is a place or location based count and the site identifier is the
local zip code.  Although it is called a "backyard" count, participants
are urged to also survey local parks, natural areas, and federal lands.
The protocol is easy: just count for 1/2 hour or more and cover an area up
to about a one-mile walk.  You can count in as many different locations as
you want as long as you keep a separate tally for each place.  Results are
submitted via the Internet to the Cornell site.

Fore birders/owlers in the Minnesota backcountry, it would be interesting
to cover as many different places as possible across the state.  Since
this is not a roadside count but a place-based count, sites where owls and
feeders can be seen in a mile area are chosen.  Phone books have a zip
code directory and there is a national zip code web site.  Some St. Louis
County examples are: Cotton & Kelsey (55724), Meadowlands & Toivola
(55765) and Zim & Forbes (55738).

In the last owl invasion year, February 2001, Minnesota topped the
state/province totals for Great Gray Owls with 13 birds at 11 sites.
Quebec had the greatest number with six birds in one town; Meadowlands had
three Great Grays.  For Northern Hawk Owls that year, Minnesota has eight
at six sites, second only to Alberta.  The greatest number of Northern
Hawk Owls at one site was nine in Alberts, but Melrude was second with
three.

In 2005 Minnesota should far surpass any totals that have been recorded
before.  This is a call to all birders to go out February 18th to 21st and
count all birds at good owling locations across the state.

Go to Cornell's "Great Backyard Bird Count: internet site for more
information.

Jan Green