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
