RECORD-SMASHING SAX-ZIM CBC! Christmas Bird Count betters 34-year record high
Thirteen hardy souls birded in below-zero windchills to participate in the 35th Sax-Zim CBC on Monday December 14. The low was ZERO and the HIGH was 6! Winds in the 10mph range created a 10-below zero windchill. Sunny skies made the day tolerable and the counters WALKED a combined 17 MILES (!!) in bitter cold conditions. Sparky has been compiling this count since 1986. Our 34-year average is 29 species and 987 individual birds. Record number of species (until this year) was 37 in both 2014 and 2017. Could we manage to break the “40 Barrier” in 2020? Not quite, but we managed 39 species for a NEW ALL-TIME RECORD! 1360 individuals were counted (5th highest total) We had one species that has NEVER been recorded on the CBC before…It will be revealed below (building suspense) Individual species records included… * 564 Black-capped Chickadees (old record 541) * 2 American Robin (old record 1) Way to go Dave & Lars Benson and John Ellis! * 1 Northern Cardinal (ties record; also had 1 in 2014) Thanks to Board Members the Ollila’s for hosting this rarity! * 16 Wild Turkey (ties record from last year) * 1 Common Grackle (ties record; not seen since 2008) Sparky found at the “Bison Farm” Other notable sightings * Clinton and Kristina found 3 Bohemian Waxwings (only 6th year ever recorded) * 4 Black-backed Woodpeckers which is second highest total (7 in 2017) * 31 Canada Jays (fourth highest total ever, 46 in 2001) * 3 Northern Goshawks (possibly 4) * 1 Great Gray Owl (the “famous” bird on Overton) * I thought we had a chance at the Evening Grosbeak record (203 in 1995) but we ended up with a respectable 3rd place total of 112 (and Mary Lou’s feeders aren’t even in the Circle!) * 10 Red Crossbills (3rd highest total) * 2 Brown Creepers (Clinton and Kristina at Winterberry Bog) * Pine Marten at a bird feeder * Moose tracks found by Lori Williams and Sarah Beaster * and drumroll please…1 Red-bellied Woodpecker found by Sparky at a remote farm (FIRST EVER RECORDED ON SAX-ZIM CBC) Okay, not that exciting for most folks, but mega rare for SZB in winter. FOUR OWLS outside the count circle (insert sad face here…TWO Snowy Owls, 1 N Hawk Owl and 1 Great Gray) Thanks to Lori Williams, Sarah Beaster, Bill Tefft, Abbie Valine, Frank Nicoletti, Clinton & Kristina Dexter-Nienhaus, Dave Benson, Lars Benson, John Ellis, Tony Hertzel, Tommy Hertzel and Sparky Stensaas. SAX-ZIM CHRISTMAS BIRD COUNT 2020 TOTALS 11 Bald Eagle (1 juvenile, rest adults) 3 Northern Goshawk 4 Rough-legged Hawk 8 Ruffed Grouse 16 Wild Turkey (ties record) 1 Sharp-tailed Grouse (found by Frank and Abbie) 41 Rock Pigeon 1 Great Gray Owl 4 Black-backed Woodpecker 1 Red-bellied Woodpecker 16 Downy Woodpecker 21 Hairy Woodpecker 4 Pileated Woodpecker 31 Canada Jay 61 Blue Jay 8 Black-billed Magpie 36 American Crow 50 Common Raven 564 Black-capped Chickadee (new record) 6 Boreal Chickadee 29 Red-breasted Nuthatch 13 White-breasted Nuthatch 2 Brown Creeper 6 Northern Shrike 59 Eurasian Starling 2 American Robin (new record) 3 Bohemian Waxwing 1 Common Grackle 1 Northern Cardinal 1 Purple Finch 67 Pine Grosbeak 112 Evening Grosbeak 10 Red Crossbill 49 White-winged Crossbill 96 Common Redpoll 1 Hoary Redpoll 6 Pine Siskin 4 Snow Bunting 10 House Sparrow Link to the Video about Monday's CBC (video of Great Gray Owl, Short-eared Owl, Fisher, Boreal Chickadee, etc) https://youtu.be/1Nx4NFyGygQ Sparky Stensaas 2515 Garthus Road Wrenshall MN 55797 218.341.3350 sparkystens...@hotmail.com www.ThePhotoNaturalist.com www.KollathStensaas.com www.SaxZim.org ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html During the pandemic, the MOU encourages you to stay safe, practice social distancing, and continue to bird responsibly.
