BIRDWATCHING

Christmas Bird Count celebrates 125 years, showcasing importance of local birders

TJ Rhodes — Tue, 17 Dec 2024 19:39:15 GMT

BEMIDJI — Local birders had a chance to showcase their bird watching skills in Bemidji on Saturday when the 125th annual Christmas Bird Count — a National Audubon Society event that takes place between Dec. 14 and Jan. 5 each winter — kicked off.

The Christmas Bird Count is the nation's longest-running community science bird project. It provides ample data which is useful for both the scientific community and everyone as a whole.

“The data collected is useful for the cities, counties, states, businesses and non-profits to make land management decisions,” explained local bird enthusiast and Bagley resident Kelly Larson, who participated in the Bemidji bird count.

“They have a database of what birds are in an area, how they have been using a particular habitat, where they’re located, what times of year they are dependent upon (an area as) a winter resource — or summer resource,” Larson said, adding that the information provided is crucial for bird preservation.

Many factors lead to why the Christmas Bird Count is successful, including its consistency, but the dedicated birders who attend each year could be seen as the count's driving force.

Counting birds

Experienced and fledgling birders alike from Beltrami County and afar gathered at Country Kitchen early Saturday morning as the Mississippi Headwaters Audubon Society prepared for Bemidji's Christmas Bird Count.

The birders were divided into groups, prepared to tackle different portions of a 15-mile radius encompassing the Bemidji area.

Experienced birders David Harrington of Turtle Lake and Larson claimed the southwest corner of the circle which included Lake Plantagenet to begin surveying for birds.

Their process was simple yet effective. The duo traveled by car in search of bird feeders, open water and bird-friendly habitats. They never stayed in one location for too long and kept a watchful eye on the sky and nearby trees and power lines.

When they did spot a bird, they quickly identified it and wrote it down to keep track.

As their day concluded, they identified a wide array of birds with some surprises like the red-winged blackbird and the American goshawk. But their most common finds were the wild turkey, snow bunting, blue jay, crow, house sparrow and the black-capped chickadee.

All of the birders met back up afterward to combine their numbers and conclude the Bemidji Christmas Bird Count. But with low volunteer numbers, it can be difficult to provide a fully comprehensive bird census.

That is why birders hope more people enter the hobby of bird watching in the future.

Join the cause

On a bird count, spotting birds is only half the battle. Identifying them can be the largest challenge, especially for beginners who might scramble through an app or book to make a proper identification.

This could scare potential bird enthusiasts from joining the hobby or a bird count.

But each bird count provides a simple solution: pairing newbies with bird watching experts who can guide the experience. This way, a beginner could keep their eyes peeled, alerting an expert as they make a quick identification.

Birders like Larson and Harrington are up for the task of teaching beginners and hope more people find the hobby of bird watching to participate in future Christmas Bird Counts, which would help solidify the results. Larson did remark though that more people, including younger folk, attended this year's Bemidji Christmas Bird Count, a potential tell of the future.

Larson keeps coming back to the counts for many of the same reasons as other birders: a passion for birds and a shared camaraderie.

“Birds are charismatic, they’re colorful, they have beautiful songs, have interesting behaviors and get you into different types of habitats and environments,” Larson said. “(The bird count) is a way to stay active and outdoors during the winter time. (It) gives me hope and takes my mind off the depression of winter.

“Having other people that can get as excited about seeing different birds as I can … you don’t run into a lot of people that are like ‘Whoa, you saw an American pipit today? That’s so cool.’”

Harrington feels similarly.

“I like bird watching because it's a good excuse to get out,” Harrington said, adding that a count may not be environmentally friendly but that it "serves a purpose in the long-term."

The next local bird count will take place on Thursday, Dec. 19, at Rydell and Glacial Ridge and all other counts can be found on the National Audubon Society website.

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Dokken: Area birders hope to revive Christmas Bird Count at Icelandic State Park

Brad Dokken — Fri, 13 Dec 2024 13:00:00 GMT

It’s still tentative (as of my deadline, at least), but two area birding enthusiasts hope to revive the Christmas Bird Count (CBC) at Icelandic State Park near Cavalier, North Dakota, later this month.

But first, a bit of background. …

A holiday tradition for more than a century, Christmas Bird Counts date back to 1900, when an ornithologist with the National Audubon Society launched the first count as an alternative to a “side hunt” event, in which participants went out and shot as many birds as they could.

Today, thousands of volunteers across North America and beyond participate in Christmas Bird Counts, tallying as many birds as they can within designated 15-mile “count circles.” The National Audubon Society continues to coordinate the program and uses information from the counts to track long-term changes in bird populations.

Christmas Bird Counts can be held any time between Dec. 14 and Jan. 5 each year. The last CBC at Icelandic State Park was in December 2019, park manager Mike Duerre said.

That’s where Keith Corliss of Fargo and Seth Owens of Grand Forks come into play. If they can recruit enough volunteers to participate, there will be a count at Icelandic State Park on Sunday, Dec. 22.

“This is just kind of a whim on my part simply to see if there's interest in doing it again,” Corliss said earlier this week. “I figure if we can get a dozen or so (volunteers), we should do it.”

Former Herald Editor and Publisher Mike Jacobs, an avid birder who wrote the weekly “Always in Season” bird column until this past September, was among the key organizers of the Icelandic CBC until it was discontinued, Corliss says.

“It was never a big count, maybe 10 to 12 people, including (usually) a couple park personnel,” Corliss said.

Corliss says he participated in the Icelandic CBC “four or five” times, including the year he was with Dave Lambeth, “dean of Grand Forks birders,” and Lambeth got his vehicle stuck in deep snow.

They spent 45 minutes digging out, Corliss recalls.

Call it part of the adventure.

Owens, an avid birder and wildlife photographer, posted a notice to the Grand Cities Bird Club’s email list Sunday, Dec. 8, seeking volunteers to join the Icelandic CBC. A half-dozen volunteers already were lined up to participate as of early this week.

“If we could just pull a few more people from Grand Forks, we’d be (set),” Owens said.

Corliss on Monday said he was trying to track down a map of the actual count circle for the Icelandic CBC. In addition to the state park, the count includes Jay Wessels Wildlife Management Area and Walhalla, North Dakota, Owens says.

“(The Icelandic count) covers some really cool habitat, and that’s kind of the rally that I’m trying to use – ‘here’s your excuse to come and see some of the cool birds that are going to trickle in here this winter,’ ” Owens said. “It’s the only Christmas Bird Count that I know of (in North Dakota) where you can actually see ruffed grouse and some of those boreal species that we get, which is always cool.”

Pine grosbeaks also are among the species birders may encounter at Icelandic State Park, Owens says.

“Up around the Pembina Gorge is one of the places where they’re pretty consistent,” he said. “They’re not flooding the forests, but they’re ‘commonly uncommon,’ I guess you’d say.

“You can expect to see them up there, but you might have to work for it. I haven’t seen them yet this year, and I want to get some nice photos.”

For more information on the tentative CBC at Icelandic State Park or to volunteer as a participant, contact Owens at sowens@pheasantsforever.org or Corliss at kcor708@gmail.com.

Upcoming counts

In the meantime, here’s a list of some of the counts coming up across the region.

Dec. 14: 53rd Annual Crookston Christmas Bird Count. Meet at 7 a.m. at McDonalds; count will begin at sunrise, about 8 a.m. Info: John Loegering, volunteer count compiler, jloegeri@umn.edu or (218) 280-8014. Dec. 15: 64th Annual Grand Forks-East Grand Forks Christmas Bird Count. Interested participants can meet at 6:30 a.m. at the Northside Cafe, just north of Ralph Engelstad Arena, for count assignments. There will be an optional post-count wrapup at 12:30 p.m. at the Subway on 13th Avenue South. Info: Dave Lambeth, count compiler, (701) 330-1474 or davidlambeth58201@yahoo.com. Dec. 19: Rydell and Glacial Ridge National Wildlife Refuges 10th Annual Christmas Bird Count. Meet at 8 a.m. at the Rydell NWR Visitor Center, 17788 349th St. SE, Erskine, Minnesota. Info: Ben Walker, wildlife biologist, (218) 230-5563 or by email at benjamin_walker@fws.gov. Dec. 21: Devils Lake Area Christmas Bird Count. Participants should meet at 7 a.m. at the Cedar Inn off U.S. Highway 2. Info: Colleen Graue, event coordinator, colleen_graue@fws.gov.

For a complete list of Christmas Bird Counts across North America and beyond, check out the National Audubon Society’s Christmas Bird Count webpage at audubon.org/community-science/christmas-bird-count/join-christmas-bird-count.

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National Audubon Society set to host local Christmas Bird Counts

Pioneer Staff Report — Mon, 09 Dec 2024 19:15:41 GMT

BEMIDJI — The Mississippi Headwaters Audubon Society invites the public to join in on gathering data on bird populations in the Bemidji area during the 125th annual Christmas bird count, administered by the National Audubon Society as the longest-running citizen science bird project in the U.S.

Counts are held in designated areas throughout the U.S. between Dec. 14 and Jan. 5 each year.

The first in the Bemidji area is set for Saturday, Dec. 14, in Bemidji. Another will take place on Tuesday, Dec. 17, at Itasca State Park. The third is the 10th Annual Rydell/Glacial Ridge Christmas Bird Count on Thursday, Dec. 19.

Each count will take place within a 15-mile diameter circle from the starting point. Organizers ask that participants bring binoculars and a bird book if in possession, otherwise extras will be on hand.

According to a release, information from the counts provides important information on winter ranges of birds, population trends and how a changing climate alters winter bird distribution.

Bemidji area count

Meet at Country Kitchen in Bemidji from 7:30 a.m. to 8 a.m. for assignment of survey area or pairing of teams. Beginners are welcome but expect to be paired with a more experienced birder.

Contact Jaime Thibodeaux at (218) 308-6853 (text or call) or jaimethib@hotmail.com for more information. A heads-up text or email to Thibodeaux is helpful for beginners to coordinate pairing.

Itasca State Park count

Meet at the Jacob V. Brower Visitor Center lobby between 7:30 and 8 a.m. for assignment of count areas or contact Connie Cox to get an assigned area. For registration, questions and further details, call Cox at (218) 699-7259 or email constance.cox@state.mn.us.

Rydell and Glacial Ridge count

Registration is required for Thursday's count and interested participants are asked to meet at the Rydell NWR Visitor Center at 8 a.m. for coffee and a brief meeting.

Participants can count from a vehicle or on foot, depending on their preference and the weather conditions that day. Those who live within the Rydell and Glacial Ridge Count Circle can even participate by reporting bird sightings at feeders from the comfort of their own homes.

Birds observed in the Rydell/Glacial Ridge Count Circle over the past nine years have included 57 different species including northern shrikes, Bohemian waxwings, red-bellied woodpeckers, Hoary redpolls, northern goshawks, white-winged crossbills and Lapland longspurs.

“People interested in participating do not need to be experienced birders. This event can serve as a learning experience for new birders and those individuals will be paired up with Refuge staff or experienced volunteers,” the release said.

Refuge staff will host a potluck lunch at the Visitor Center at noon. After a hearty lunch, folks can “call it a day” or can go back out and continue to search for birds.

If interested in taking part in Thursday’s count at Rydell, register no later than Dec. 16, by calling Wildlife Biologist Ben Walker at (218) 230-5563 or emailing benjamin_walker@fws.gov. Walker can also be contacted for additional information and to answer any questions.

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Minnesota's National Loon Center looks to get $1.7 million in federal funding

Tom Fraki — Fri, 02 Aug 2024 19:46:13 GMT

CROSSLAKE — The National Loon Center in Crosslake recently announced that U.S. Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith each requested that a Senate appropriations subcommittee designate $1,700,000 in congressionally directed spending for construction of the loon center’s new campus.

“Senators Klobuchar and Smith have shown their commitment to protecting loons and freshwater ecosystems while also supporting a significant economic asset in the Brainerd Lakes Area that will educate and engage visitors and residents alike,” NLC Executive Director Jon Mobeck said in a news release.

The NLC has been a part of Crosslake, a city roughly 24 miles north of Brainerd, Minnesota, since its founding in 2017. It is a destination for study and education on loons and their habitats, as well as freshwater conservation.

The loon center has been in its current location at Crosslake Town Square since 2021, thanks to a donation from Crosswoods Development. Now the center is looking to make a big step forward as it prepares for a scheduled opening of a standalone campus in about 18 months.

During the inaugural Minnesota Loons and Lakes Festival in June, Mobeck said they hope to break ground on the new facility yet this year.

“We’ve made kind of a bold commitment to say, ‘Before these loons fly out of here in the fall, we want our shovels to go in the ground on the loon center,'” Mobeck said. “We’re very close now to actually making this facility happen.”

History

The National Loon Center originally began as an idea to improve the city and community of Crosslake, but it quickly became something much bigger over its short history.

The idea for the center first came out of a group of about 80 community participants organized by the Minnesota Design Team in 2016 to generate concepts for improving the Crosslake area.

“From that, they came up with all kinds of great ideas of different things to do. Many of them have come to fruition, but one of them was this wild idea to create a national center,” Mobeck said.

Being so closely tied to community improvement, the NLC has received a great deal of local support over the past years.

“I can say right away because of that, the Brainerd Lakes Chamber of Commerce became the biggest advocate. And they really helped to get (the center) where it is today,” he said.

Mobeck started with the National Loon Center in January 2021, the same year it moved into The Nest, its current location in Crosslake Town Square.

The National Loon Center and its programs

With the Nation Loon Center being located in the heart of lake country, it is focused on research and education regarding both loons and freshwater conservation.

“Our goal is to protect loons and freshwater habitats, and to both promote responsible recreation and encourage people to take action in protecting loons and freshwater ecosystems. So we’re trying to engender stewardship among people who love the loon and extend that love to preserving the freshwater ecosystems that are dwindling around the planet,” Mobeck said.

In its ongoing work, the National Loon Center collaborates with the University of Minnesota, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, the Northern Waters Land Trust and the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe.

From its 2021-2023 operating seasons, the National Loon Center has seen 167 loons banded and 132 loon territories studied.

Among its educational programs is the Share Our Shoreline program, which emphasizes the need for the natural shoreline vegetation that is necessary for loon habitats and clean lake water.

The NLC also hopes to teach visitors about the dangers associated with using lead tackle, as one in five loon deaths is due to lead poisoning.

The loon center is able to bring visitors onto the lake with its StewardShip floating classroom. With this, visitors can take guided pontoon tours of Cross Lake to learn about loons in their natural habitats.

Between 2021 and 2023, the StewardShip program brought 2,000 loon pontoon passengers onto Cross Lake.

For its 2024 season, the NLC expanded its StewardShip program to the Gull Chain of Lakes with loon cruises held at Cragun’s Resort in East Gull Lake.

Also new for 2024 was the inaugural Minnesota Loons and Lakes Festival in Crosslake that was held Thursday-Saturday, June 20-22. The festival featured loon-centered arts and events throughout Crosslake.

"We're going to make this as fun as possible. The one thing it will be is fun," Mobeck said at the June 21 Eco-Expo Environmental Fair. "It's going to be up to us to keep building this over the future. We're going to do it every year; it's going to get better."

The new campus

The International Wolf Center in Ely and the National Eagle Center in Wabasha have provided a blueprint for making the National Loon Center campus a reality.

Based on figures gathered from the IWC and NEC, the National Loon Center is estimating its new facility could bring in up to 200,000 visitors annually, bringing a significant economic boost in tourism dollars to Minnesota and the Brainerd lakes area.

The National Loon Center campus will be located just west of Crosslake Town Square between Pioneer Drive and County State Aid Highway 66.

It will feature a 15,000-square-foot sustainable facility, including indoor and outdoor exhibits, a bird sanctuary, a research institute, a three-level ecosystem tower, classrooms and a portion of the property to be set aside as an untouched natural area with walkways.

The National Loon Center is working with Dimensional Innovations to create changing exhibits that look to bring visitors back more than once.

“It’s really, really cool stuff. So the interior experience will be first-class, really high-end. The purpose is to make sure there’s a heightened wow factor for anybody who enters the building, but also that there are enough interesting and changing things to make people want to come back more than once,” Mobeck said.

The NLC hoped to receive a $6.5 million bonding bill request from the state to reach the campus’ $18.5 million total project cost. However, in May of this year, Minnesota lawmakers failed to pass the projects bill.

Mobeck said the loon center is still fundraising for up to another $2 million to go toward future exhibits.

“I do want to encourage people to know that whether you’re an individual, a foundation or a corporation, there are opportunities to put their names behind these world-class exhibits. That would help us make sure that the exhibit experience is the best it can be,” he said.

For a project of its size, Mobeck said it has been great to see such wide support for the new loon center campus.

“It’s great to have the project be so widely supported, even in terms of socioeconomics and political backgrounds. Everybody loves the National Loon Center, we’ve got some great support,” he said.

The loon center had recently urged organizations and individuals to send letters of support to the Minnesota senators to request federal funding from the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies for the NLC.

Among those who sent letters were Crosslake Mayor Dave Nevin, Brainerd Lakes Area Economic Development Corporation Executive Director Tyler Glynn, Minnesota Pollution Control Agency Division Director David Benke, Crow Wing Soil and Water Conservation District Manager Melissa Barrick, Audubon Upper Mississippi River Vice President Rob Schultz, Freshwater Executive Director Michelle Stockness, Gull Chain of Lakes Association Board Chair Steve Frawley, Sourcewell Chief Regional Solutions Officer Dr. Paul Drange and Whitefish Area Property Owners Association President Anthony Coffey.

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National Audubon Society set to host 2 local Christmas Bird Counts

Pioneer Staff Report — Thu, 30 Nov 2023 20:40:44 GMT

ERSKINE, Minn. — The Mississippi Headwaters Audubon Society is set to host two annual Christmas Bird Counts in the area this year.

For the ninth year in a row, one of the counts will be held at the Rydell and Glacial Ridge National Wildlife Refuges on Thursday, Dec. 14.

This year, another one will be held in Bemidji on Saturday, Dec. 16. Interested participants for Saturday's bird count are asked to contact Jaime Thibodeaux at (218) 308-6853, email her at jaimethib@hotmail.com or meet at Country Kitchen at 7:30 to 8:00 a.m. on Dec 16.

As both counts are administered by the National Audubon Society, this public event is the longest-running citizen science bird project in the U.S., and this year marks its 124th year. Counts are held in designated areas throughout the U.S. between Dec. 14 and Jan. 5 each year.

According to a release, information from the counts provides important information on winter ranges of birds, population trends and how a changing climate alters winter bird distribution.

Birds observed in the Rydell/Glacial Ridge Count Circle over the past eight years have included 54 different species including northern shrikes, Bohemian waxwings, red-bellied woodpeckers, Hoary redpolls, northern goshawks, white-winged crossbills and Lapland longspurs.

Thursday's counting will take place over a 15-mile diameter circle that stretches from Erskine west to the center of Glacial Ridge NWR. Participants can count from a vehicle or on foot, depending on their preference and the weather conditions that day.

Registration is required for Thursday's count and interested participants are asked to meet at the Rydell NWR Visitor Center at 8 a.m. for coffee and a brief meeting with their binoculars and a bird book. If attendees don't own any, the refuge has some on hand for use.

Refuge staff will host a potluck lunch back at the Visitor Center at noon. After a hearty lunch, folks can “call it a day” or can go back out and continue to search for birds.

Those who live within the Rydell and Glacial Ridge Count Circle can even participate by reporting bird sightings at feeders from the comfort of their own homes.

If interested in taking part in Thursday’s count at Rydell, register no later than Dec. 8, by calling Wildlife Biologist Ben Walker at (218) 230-5563 or emailing him at benjamin_walker@fws.govcan. Ben can also be contacted if there are any questions about the count or need more information.

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Duluth’s Hawk Ridge set to welcome influx of birds, humans

John Myers — Fri, 08 Sep 2023 12:00:00 GMT

DULUTH — The hawks have been flying over the hill here for millennia, riding air currents around the western tip of Lake Superior as they wing their way south for winter.

The hawk watchers have been coming for decades, too, and as the hawk migration peaks this month, organizers at Duluth’s Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory are hosting their annual Hawk Weekend on Sept. 15-17.

Watching hawks and other birds is always free at Hawk Ridge Nature Preserve, but many special events during Hawk Weekend require preregistration and a $5 wristband.

Events include field trips to Sax-Zim Bog, guided walks and programs at Hawk Ridge, songbird-banding workshops, a live hawk demonstration and much more. Some events already are full, but you can find more information at hawkridge.org/event/hawk-weekend-festival-2023.

As of Tuesday, official hawk watchers had tallied 7,000 birds so far this season at the ridge. On Tuesday alone, they counted a mix of nearly 4,000 birds of 42 species, including nearly 2,000 cedar waxwings, nearly 1,500 blue jays and 83 sharp-shinned hawks.

So you know

Hawk Ridge Nature Reserve is the place, founded in 1972 and located on land owned by the city of Duluth. Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory is the nonprofit organization, founded in 2004, that manages the 365-acre property and operates research and education programs there under an agreement with the city.

The mission of the observatory is to protect birds of prey and other migratory birds in the Western Lake Superior Region through research, education and stewardship.

Hawk Ridge is a destination for birders worldwide. More than 20,000 people visit during migration, and some 85% of the people who sign visitor cards are from outside Duluth. There's now a seasonal Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory staff of more than 20 people, including bird counters and bird banders, public outreach and education staff. The budget now tops $200,000 annually.

Why September?

Hawk Weekend is timed for the peak migration of the common raptors flying over Duluth. But the action continues for several months, so if you can't make Hawk Weekend there's still many weeks of good hawk-watching ahead.

Hawks begin migrating past Hawk Ridge in mid-August and continue through November. The big days, when tens of thousands of broad-winged hawks may fly over, generally occur Sept. 10-25.

52nd season of banding

Hawk Ridge isn't just about watching and counting birds. The observatory staff conducts research as well, especially banding raptors, which helps track population and migration trends.

This is the 52nd year that hawk banding has occurred at Hawk Ridge. An average of 3,000 raptors are trapped (netted) banded and released at Hawk Ridge each year.

Best days to watch hawks

There are no specific hours at the ridge, but staff is on hand every day now through Oct. 31 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Mid-mornings are often peak for migration.

Clear days with west, northwest or north winds are best, pushing more birds south. Rainy days with a strong east or south wind make it harder for birds to fly here, so sometimes they don't. But there will be birds of some sort moving almost every day.

What to bring

Binoculars are the most important tool as many raptors wing high over the hill. Dress for the weather, which can be extreme on Duluth's hilltop, especially with an easterly wind. A camping or bag chair is a good idea as there is no seating. If you plan to do any hiking on the 4 miles of Hawk Ridge trails, hiking boots are a good choice as the trails are rugged.

There is no building at Hawk Ridge; everything is outdoors. There is a portable toilet available during the peak migration and Hawk Ridge offers some light snacks and merchandise for sale.

Directions

Bird counting and most bird watching is done above the second, larger overlook at 3980 E. Skyline Parkway, about 1 mile east of Glenwood Street and just past where the blacktop turns to gravel. On crowded weekend days, be prepared to park some distance from the overlook and walk.

Watch the migration count online

Each year, the raptor count at Hawk Ridge is one of the two or three highest anywhere north of Mexico, averaging 76,000 annually tracking 16 regular hawk visitors and four rare hawk species, plus three rare migrating owl species and all sorts of songbirds and waterfowl.

See nearly real-time raptor counts at trektellen.org/count/view/3670/20230906.

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Spring bird walk at Crane Meadows National Wildlife Refuge

Dispatch staff report — Tue, 25 Apr 2023 17:00:00 GMT

LITTLE FALLS — Are you interested in learning about birds and want to know what species can be found around Little Falls during the spring migration? Join other birders on May 13 at Crane Meadows National Wildlife Refuge for a morning walk along the Platte River Trail.

The event is sponsored by the Friends of Crane Meadows NWR and is free and open to the public.

The walk begins at 8 a.m. at the Sedge Meadow Classroom near the Refuge Maintenance Shop and will be about two hours long. Participants should wear walking shoes and bring binoculars. All birding levels are welcome, no experience is necessary and binoculars are available to borrow.

The Sedge Meadow Classroom is located at 19502 Iris Road, Little Falls.

For more information call the Refuge Office at 320-632-1575 or visit the website at www.fws.gov/refuge/crane-meadows/.

Direct all requests for sign language interpreting services, closed captioning, or other accommodation needs to 763-389-3323, cranemeadows@fws.gov, or TTY 800-877-8339 with requests by May 5.

Crane Meadows National Wildlife Refuge is located near the cities of Little Falls, Royalton and Pierz in central Minnesota and is part of Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge Complex, which is managed by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.

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3 things you can do to help songbirds

John Myers — Fri, 14 Apr 2023 12:00:00 GMT

MADISON — Sometimes the environmental problems facing humans and other creatures seem so daunting, so overwhelming, that they appear hopeless to solve.

Take the decline in North American birds, for example. About this time each spring Northlanders start seeing our summer resident songbirds return from their wintering grounds. But research shows there are now 30% fewer birds winging north each spring than there were in 1970. That’s 3 billion fewer birds than 50 years ago.

Species like the once-common Baltimore oriole are down 44%. Golden-winged warblers are down 68%. Evening grosbeaks are down 90%.

Yet, experts say there are some things almost everyone can do to help birds thrive. And to help stem that loss of birds, the Natural Resources Foundation of Wisconsin and Wisconsin Bird Conservation Partnership this month are starting a new campaign, SOS Save Our Songbirds, to spur more people to take three actions at home that help birds.

“Our songbirds are in crisis, in Wisconsin and everywhere,” said David Cutler, executive director of the Natural Resources Foundation. “The pleasure we get from seeing and hearing them will be lost if we don’t act now. The other mental health, economic and environmental benefits that we get from birds will go away, too.”

Lisa Gaumnitz, SOS Save Our Songbirds coordinator, said experts have always presented options for people to pitch in — everything from keeping cats indoors to turning off office lights at night. But by simplifying and shortening the list, the new effort aims to get more people involved.

“We're all busy. We all have hectic lives. But many of us want to help stop this bird loss, and here are three relatively easy things we can do that really will make a real difference,” Gaumnitz told the News Tribune.

The SOS Save Our Songbirds campaign calls on Wisconsinites to:

Add native plants to yards that are good for birds, especially plants that support insects. Some 96% of birds use insects at some point, especially to feed their young. Reduce window threats by addressing one problem window for birds. If your windows don't have exterior screens, applying tape, paint or decals so birds notice windows as a solid object. Buy coffee grown in bird-friendly ways to protect their winter habitats. Industrial coffee plantations often destroy native habitat to expand coffee production. But many growers now use bird-friendly practices.

“There are, of course, many more things we can do to help birds. But these are the three we felt people would be most likely to understand and to take action on,’’ Gaumnitz noted.

The need to take action is obvious to anyone who has watched birds for very long. In North America, songbird families like native sparrows, warblers, blackbirds and finches suffered the biggest losses. Wisconsin is experiencing similar trends, with grassland birds like bobolinks and western and eastern meadowlarks, and northern forest birds like evening grosbeaks, Connecticut warblers and Canada jays suffering some of the largest declines.

Connecticut warblers were once regular nesters in northern Wisconsin's jackpine forests. But recent surveys only managed to find three nesting pairs across the entire region. Minnesota is the only other state with a nesting population of Connecticut warblers, which actually don’t nest in Connecticut at all.

People who subscribe to SOS Save Our Songbirds' electronic updates will also receive seasonal discount offers to help them take the three actions, Gaumnitz noted. For more information, go to sossaveoursongbirds.org.

6 native plants to create backyard bird habitat Pussy willow Scientific name: Salix discolor Mature size: 6-25 feet tall, 4-15 feet wide Why to plant: This native shrub hosts 456 species of caterpillars of butterflies and moths and provides shelter and nesting sites. Its furry flowers appear before leaves do, attracting small insects that provide critical food for early-arriving migratory birds. Where to plant: Moist to wet areas where many other species would struggle. White spruce tree Scientific name: Picea glauca Mature size: 40-60 feet; 15-foot spread. Why to plant: Hardy tree works well in cities and as rural windbreaks. Provides nesting sites, shelter and food for birds and other wildlife. Crossbills, evening grosbeaks and red-breasted nuthatches enjoy the seeds; grouse, rabbits and deer the foliage. Where to plant: White spruce prefers cool, moist soils with good drainage. Oxeye sunflower Scientific name: Heliopsis helianthoides Mature size: 3-6 feet Why to plant: An early to mid-summer bloomer, this sunflower provides seeds for songbirds and attracts butterflies. Where to plant: A good option for clay soils, also grows well in just about any reasonably fertile soil. Spotted jewelweed Scientific name: Impatiens capensis Mature size: 2-5 feet tall Why to plant: This self-seeding annual flowers in midsummer and continues until frost kills the plant. Hummingbirds, butterflies and bees are attracted to nectar in the bright-orange showy flowers and birds to the insects. Where to grow: Moist, shady areas although the plant will grow in all soil types if it receives sufficient moisture. Serviceberry Scientific name: Amelanchier species Mature size: Depending on species, ranges from a shrub to a small tree. Why to plant: Provide insect food during spring and early to midsummer fruit when few other fruit sources are yet available. Attracts many bird species such as waxwings, flickers, thrushes, vireos, grosbeaks and tanagers. Where to grow: Full sun to full shade; does best in lightly moist to moist soils but tolerates sand and clay. Rough blazing star and prairie blazing star Scientific name: Liatris aspera and Liatris pycnostachya Mature size: 2-3 feet for Rough Blazing Star; 3-5 feet tall for Prairie Blazing Star. Why to plant: These are easy to grow and will attract hummingbirds, butterflies, bees and other pollinators seeking nectar. In turn, birds are attracted to the insects and eat the seeds in fall. Where to grow: Rough Blazing Star grows best in full sun in dry to medium soils and Prairie Blazing Star needs full sun and grows well in moist soils and clay. Options on where to buy bird-friendly plants

Ask your local nursery if they carry native wildflowers and plants to create bird habitat. If not here are some regional options:

Prairie Restorations, Inc., 'Boreal Natives'

Greenhouse seedling plants, trees, and shrubs for woodland, wetland and shoreline restoration projects throughout northern Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan. 3943 Munger Shaw Road, Cloquet; 218-729-9044; info@prairieresto.com; prairieresto.com.

Wildflower Woods

Variety of native flowers, grasses and sedges. Wholesale and retail orders may be placed online, with pickup at its nursery. Also sells plants at multiple local events and farmers markets throughout the growing season. 75415 Church Corner Road, Washburn; 715-292-2621; info@wildflower-woods.com; wildflower-woods.com.

Lupine Gardens

Chemical-free native plant nursery that sells both plants and seeds. Currently, all retail sales are by mail order only. 961 Johnson, Drive, New Richmond, Wisconsin; 715-716-1545; lupinegardens@yahoo.com; lupinegardens.com.

Help birds avoid windows

Exterior screens: One of the best solutions to help prevent birds from colliding with glass windows are exterior screens that birds recognize and avoid.

Marking problem windows for bird collisions with paint, tape or decals can help birds recognize glass as a solid object to avoid. Dots or lines are often used, spaced 2 inches apart, to delineate windows.

Drink 'bird-friendly' coffee

Ask your local retailer or barista if they stock certified bird-friendly coffee. If not, the Smithsonian Institute has a list of 139 brands of bird-friendly coffee available to buy online. Go to nationalzoo.si.edu/migratory-birds/buy-bird-friendly-coffee-online.

Two-thirds of U.S. adults drink coffee daily, yet don’t know that most coffee is grown in ways that destroy bird habitats. Vast swaths of forest have been cleared in coffee-growing areas in Central and South Americas, where many Northland songbirds spend their winters. Coffee that’s grown under a shade canopy of native trees helps save forests for bird habitat.

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How to follow along on great spring bird migration

John Myers — Thu, 13 Apr 2023 11:00:00 GMT

DULUTH — First to be noticed were the Canada geese — hard to miss that honking — and the ring-billed gulls, who suddenly appeared in Duluth for yet another season of hunting french fries.

Then the robins were noticeable in their seemingly too-early arrival, even as an April snowstorm was raging, and swans, hawks and eagles were already stopping by on their way north to stake their claim on prime nesting spots.

It’s a seasonal journey, an ordeal for survival for many birds, that can often cover thousands of miles and many weeks. But every year we're captivated as the great push of birds northward arrives in spring.

A bay-breasted warbler, for example, weighs about the same as four pennies. But each spring, they fly nearly 4,000 miles between their wintering grounds in South America and Canada’s spruce forests, where they nest and raise their young.

Now, you can follow along on their northward trip, which might bring some of them winging over the Northland, thanks to an online atlas of bird migration. The Bird Migration Explorer, BirdMigrationExplorer.org, is a free mapping tool, drawn from an unprecedented number of scientific and community data sources to illustrate the routes of 458 bird species in the Americas, including warblers. More than 4 million tracking data points have been used to map migrations.

It’s not an app, per se, but it works on phones and tablets as well as computers — a website that offers access to all of its contents from a single page.

The explorer is part of an ongoing collaboration between 11 groups that collect and analyze data on bird movements, including the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center, the U.S. Geological Survey, Georgetown University, Colorado State University and the National Audubon Society.

It debuted just in time for last fall’s southward rush of birds and is now kicking in for its first northward migration season. You can even see the time of each month they are most likely to be around.

“We’re really just getting going at getting the word out. This is our first spring migration and it’s a really good time to explore the Explorer to see what’s coming through your area and when,’’ said Melanie Smith, program director for the Bird Migration Explorer for Audubon.

The site brings together online data from hundreds of scientific studies that use GPS transmitters, MODUS radio telemetry transmitters to track bird movements, as well as more than 100 years of bird-banding data collected by the U.S. Geological Survey, community science observations entered into Cornell’s eBird platform, genomic analysis of feathers to pinpoint bird origins and other data.

Smith called it this “golden age’’ of bird tracking as devices get smaller and lighter and as more scientists are working to see where the birds are coming from and going to, with the end goal protecting more species and their habitat from decline. The new science has especially helped fill in the routes each species takes north and south.

“The past 20 years have seen a true renaissance in different technologies to track bird migrations around the world at scales that haven’t been possible before,” said Peter Marra, a bird migration expert at Georgetown University who collaborated on the project.

The site allows a user to enter a species — for instance, osprey — and watch movements over the course of a year. For example, data from 378 tracked ospreys show up as yellow dots that move back and forth between coastal areas of North America and South America as a calendar bar scrolls through the months of the year.

Smith noted she found the track of a marbled godwit that will have spent its winter off Mexico and may well wing over Duluth again on its way to James Bay in Canada.

“You really seem to be on an active point for migration,’’ Smith said of the Duluth area.

Type in "woodcock," for example, and you can see where birds fitted with transmitters in north-central Minnesota migrated to Louisiana. Let the animation run and watch their movements south, north and back south again over the years. Type in "bald eagle" and watch as little yellow dots, representing each eagle with a transmitter, flies north — so many over Duluth that it becomes the bald eagle capital of the world each spring.

Users can also enter the city where they live and click elsewhere on the map for a partial list of birds that migrate between the two locations. Type in "Duluth" and "Florida," for example, and you can track common terns, eagles and ospreys that have made that trip. Another search finds a golden-winged warbler that was linked from Duluth to Cantagallo, Colombia.

Throw in "Grand Forks, North Dakota," and "Texas" and you can track eastern whip-poor-wills, peregrine falcons and mourning doves that make the trip over the city.

The website was the brainchild of scientists and organizations that wanted a way to get reams of data into the hands of birders and conservationists who might be interested. As new tracking data becomes available, the site will continue to expand.

Georgetown’s Marra hopes that engaging the public will help spotlight some of the conservation challenges facing birds, including loss of habitat and climate change.

In the past 50 years, the population of birds in the U.S. and Canada has dropped nearly 30%, with migratory species facing some of the steepest declines.

Follow bird migration by radar

The website Birdcast.info uses radar reports of large bird movements to forecast when migrations will move over a certain area. It’s color-coded so you can see when peak migration might occur in your areas. It doesn’t differentiate what species are moving, but Birdcast.info can help you plan when you might head out to see the big push of birds moving north.

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So you want to go on an exotic birding trip? Here are some tips

Brad Dokken — Fri, 03 Mar 2023 13:00:00 GMT

Avid birder and nature photographer Beth Siverhus of Warroad, Minn., shared a few tips for anyone interested in traveling to more exotic birding destinations such as Central and South America.

For camera gear, Siverhus carried a Nikon D500 camera with a Nikkor 200-500mm telephoto lens, along with a smaller Olympus E-M5III with a 12-200mm lens on her recent birding trip to Colombia. She used “Merlin,” a free birding app, to help identify birds while going through her collection of photographs after the trip. Even though the trip was guided and the birders checked off all of the species they saw each day, the Merlin app came in handy, Siverhus says. When birding in Central or South America, it’s best to go during the dry season, as it is difficult to tromp around looking for birds in pouring rain. For Siverhus’ 2011 trip to Ecuador, dry season was in mid-late October; in the Colombian Andes, it was mid January. Expect to spend from $2,500 on up, depending on the destination, the purpose of the trip and how many guides will be needed, the length of the trip and the size of the group. Some tours will have more deluxe accommodations than others, and it will cost more to have a private room rather than share with another person. A birding trip to Mexico, Panama or Costa Rica would probably cost between $2,500 and $5,000 depending on the length of the trip. South American countries will be pricier. Tour cost usually includes food, lodging, transportation and guide fees. Additional costs to the traveler would be the airfare to the destination city – where the tour begins – tips for the guides and bus drivers, spending money and travelers insurance. If possible, talk to others who have been on guided tours specific to your interest. The advantages of going with a tour group vs. planning and organizing a trip on your own is that everything is taken care of, and a travel agent is available for emergency calls 24/7. Once you have chosen a tour and destination, check the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website for a list of recommended vaccinations for that location. Visit your medical provider before you go to discuss the list and to receive any vaccinations you may need.

– Brad Dokken

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