Bird count numbers soar to new heights in area

Ken Johnston

Participating in the 103rd Christmas Bird Count, Mark Johnson, of St. Paul, Minnesota, lead three other bird “fanatics” around two count circles in the Rainy River and Morson areas December 28 and 29, 2002.
This being Johnson’s 20th count in the Morson area, he said this year was basically uneventful. In the Rainy River to Gameland circle they counted 579 birds and 16 different species. In the Morson count they recorded 552 birds and 16 species.
Johnson said they heard a Great Grey Owl in the Morson circle but did not see it.
In Rainy River they saw a Morning Dove which is strange because, “They should be gone south long before now.”
He noted that this was only the second time the RR-Gameland count was done and while they saw the same number of species, the total number of birds counted was up from last year’s 180 to 579.
In Morson the number of species was the second highest and the number of birds counted was the third highest.
While Johnson had hoped for more local participation he did not get it. They waited at the CN Station for people to come but one did. “We had fun anyways,” he noted.
Another problem they have in the Rainy area is that they do not know were all the bird feeders are. He hopes that next year people will let him know their locations and that he can persuade a few feeder owners to watch the number of birds at their feeders that day.
More information can be found on the annual bird count at www.audubon.org.