lies north of Rochester between Highways 52

and 63 is the largest area: this year we had

two teams assigned to that area. The south-

west section, including Mayowood and the

Zumbro River, also had two teams to cover

the diverse habitat , and to take advantage of

the river being relatively free of ice. The II th

team covers a driving route through the south-

ern part of the count circle.

One of the most important ingredients for

a successful count is to draw on the expertise

gained from the previous 24 counts. This year,

all section leaders worked in sections with

which they were familiar; some had several

years experience, others only one year's ex-

perience, but all of this experience is helpful

in knowing where the productive areas are.

Expertise also is key to knowing when to

check an area. Jerry Pruett and his team know

that it is better to check Silver Lake between

9 and II AM when most of the geese have

left to feed in local corn fields. With the geese

gone, they spotted Canvasback, Lesser

Scaup, and three American Coots on Silver

Lake . All three of these species had not been

seen on the lake when the 18 ,900 geese were

there.

Another key ingredient is to do as much

pre-count scouting and preparation as possi-

ble. This includes keeping one's ears open to

what other people are seeing at their feeders

(possible Carolina Wren seen at a feeder in

southwest Rochester in late November), what

has been seen at Silver Lake (Ross' Goose,

Snow Goose) , and contacting the DNR

people to find out what they have been seeing

(Sandhill Crane seen just west of Rochester

while they were banding geese), etc. With

this kind of information, the week before is

spent checking these leads and hoping to dis-

cover some new sightings. Bill Evans arrived

in Rochester on the Wednesday evening be-

fore the count day, and he spent two days

scouting along three miles of the Zumbro

River. He found Song Sparrow, a Golden-

crowned Kinglet, and Belted Kingfisher. He

also had seen a Cooper's Hawk around the

Mayowood area the day before the count. All

of this pre-count scouting locates several of

the harder-to-find species, and gives us a

good idea where to look and what to expect

on the count day.

During the past five years, we have worked

hard to develop a good reliable list of feeder

watchers to help with the count. Rochester

has many hills and wooded valleys around it

which are attractive building sites. Finding

one or two active feeders in each area and

asking the owners to keep track of the bird

activity, has provided additional coverage on

our count day. This active network of feeder

watchers allows the field teams to spend more

of their time walking trails or riverbanks ,

checking pine groves, grass fields , or other

locations looking for those species that don't

come to feeders.

A special feeder counting form has been

developed with instructions on how to keep

track of the numbers of birds seen. This has

proven very successful in finding additional

species each year; this year an additional four

species were seen and reported by feeder

watchers (Carolina Wren , Red-headed Wood-

pecker, Northern Bobwhite , and Merlin).

They are asked to count the birds coming to

their feeders and also the birds they see in

their yard or area. The feeder forms include

a section for details of unusual species and

a personal followup is made to assure the

validity of all unusual sightings reported.

Hard work is another ingredient that is im-

portant for a successful count. Walking miles

of river bank is not easy work, especially

when there are not trails , but it does produce

good results. Wood Ducks, Song and Swamp

Sparrows, kinglets, and Brown Creepers were

seen because of being "off the road" and back

in the woods. Getting up at 4:30AM to go

owling on a winter morning doesn't appeal

to many people, but three teams were out

early and had found five species of owls be-

fore the "regular" 7:30 AM starting time.

Weather is one of the ingredients that the

compiler cannot control; you have to take

what you can get. In 1987, the mild Fall

weather, and lack of cold and snow, had temp-

ted a few stragglers to linger around the

Rochester area. Certainly the Sandhill Crane,

Carolina Wren , and Rose-breasted Grosbeak

had found the fall weather to their liking.

Flocks of American Robins and Common

Grackles were seen regularly into December.

The weather for count day 1987 was ideal

for good bird finding. It was foggy with very

little wind most of the morning. This seemed

to keep the birds active longer and out in the

open. About II :30 it started misting and rain-

ing and the birding activity slowed down .

Later in the afternoon the mist began to

change to snow; with the snow moving in ,

12 The Loon Vol. 60