Christmas Bird Count

Northern shrike

I had a wonderful morning at the Christmas Bird Count near the Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge.  A sibling and I met another woman who helped us survey the southeast slice of the 15 mile pie.  We were glad to have her because she was a great birder and had lots of enthusiasm.  Her father is a falconer and a bird bander.  She has hunted with raptors herself.  She once had a red tailed hawk and a kestrel.  She is an apprentice bird bander of raptors.  So she knows her birds.  She lives in Shoreview and spotted the Clark's nutcracker that had all the Minnesota birders excited earlier this year.  Usually the Clark's nutcrackers stick to the Rocky Mountain area; not Minnesota.  We really enjoyed her company and her knowledge of birds. We saw a total of 296 birds and a total of 20 species.  In a newer housing development without very many mature trees we saw a most amazing flock of common redpolls.  They flew in unison from a tree to the tall grasses.  The flock would cyclone downwards to the right of us, right at us, and to the left of us.  We watched them for about 5 minutes.  It's hard to count that many birds moving so fast but there might have been 200 or more.  We guessed 175.  At the open water at the dam near Elk Lake we saw a pair of bald eagles, a pair of red shouldered hawks, a pair of mallards and one male wood duck.  I said I would really be happy if we could spot a shrike.  In a yard we saw 14 turkeys.  Four of the wild turkeys were on the front steps of the house staring at the door.  Were they begging for scraps?  Of course we saw black capped chickadees, white breasted nuthatches, downy woodpeckers, hairy woodpeckers, red bellied woodpeckers and 4 pileated woodpeckers.  We saw 6 blue jays and 29 crows, juncos and one goldfinch.  We saw a couple red tailed hawks, a rock dove and a swamp sparrow. Our very last bird, a life bird for my sister and myself, was a very compliant and proud northern shrike.  The shrike posed for us at the top of a 15 foot tree very near the side of the road.  What an awesome morning!