Annual bird count breaks record

Ken Johnston

Birding is not just a summer activity.
Mark Johnson of St. Paul, MN. travels to Morson every year at Christmas to visit family and to go birding.
Johnson has coordinated volunteers in the Morson and Rainy River/Gameland area for the past several years in an effort to count birds and different species for the Audubon Society. This year was the 106th annual Christmas Bird count.
Johnson said this year was a banner year with both areas setting new or tying count records. On December 27th he and his fellow bird enthusiasts saw 20 different species and counted 536 birds in the Morson area. “That tied the all time record there,” said Johnson.
On Dec. 28th they did the count in the RR/Gameland area and set an all time record of 21 species and 623 birds.
They saw seven Great Grey and Hawk Owls and many Red-breasted Nuthatches, Magpies, Pine Siskins and Rough-legged Hawks.
Johnson was very grateful to Alex, Paul and Bill Julius of Sioux City, Iowa for helping him do the counts this year. He also extended thanks to all who feed the birds.
For more information on the count go to www.audubon.org.