Jan. 3, 2021 - Grand Rapids, MN CBC

On Sunday, December 20, 2020, I participated in the Grand Rapids Minnesota Christmas Bird Count. The Christmas Bird Count is a nationwide, 121-year-old citizen science project sponsored by the Audubon Society.  Here’s a link if you would like more information about it.  https://www.audubon.org/conservation/science/christmas-bird-count.  Near the end of each year, volunteers split up the area within a 15-mile diameter circle and count all the birds they see on one day.  As you might expect, many common birds are seen and counted.  In my section, I counted 45 Black-capped Chickadees.  Combining the counts from all participants, our circle had over 400 Chickadees.

ChickadeeBlackcappedItasca256GrandRapidsCBCroute20201220

I also counted nine White-breasted Nuthatches.

NuthatchWhitebreastedmaleItasca276GrandRapidsCBCroute20201220

This year, many winter finches are showing up in Minnesota.  I was fortunate to find four male Pine Grosbeaks.

GrosbeakPinemaleItasca245GrandRapidsCBCroute20201220

I also saw one female Pine Grosbeak.  These birds are normally in the boreal forest in Canada, so they are not used to roads and cars.  This small flock was right in the middle of the road.  I stopped to watch them and to take a few pictures.  However, I had to honk my horn to get them to move off the road so I could continue on.

GrosbeakPinefemaleItasca245GrandRapidsCBCroute20201220

The only Bald Eagle I saw was perched in this picturesque snag with a beautiful blue sky behind it. 

EagleBaldItasca280GrandRapidsCBCroute20201220

I saw two Downy Woodpeckers, two Hairy Woodpeckers, and three Pileated Woodpeckers but didn’t get photos of them.  So, I’ll just use this photo of a dead tree that has obviously been visited by woodpeckers to represent them.

WoodpeckertreedamageprobablyPileatedItasca282GrandRapidsCBCroute20201220