Winter storms impact Audubon Christmas bird count in Cook County

Kalli Hawkins | December 31, 2022

The annual Audubon Christmas bird count is the nation’s longest-running community science bird project.

In Minnesota, the first known Christmas Day bird count was conducted in 1905 in Minneapolis and Red Wing. Since then, volunteers across the entire state have participated in the citizen science project.

Here in Cook County, the activity is a welcomed holiday tradition for many residents.

“We have both field watchers and feeder watchers,” said Grand Marais Audubon Christmas Bird Count Compiler Jeremy Ridlbauer. “The field watchers are the ones that are out walking, hiking, driving, snowshoeing, skiing, and whatever other mode of transportation. And then we’ve got people that watch their feeders.”

Cook County volunteers took to the field and feeders on Saturday, Dec. 17, to gather and assess the health of bird populations, and help guide conservation action for the future.

Unfortunately, Ridlbauer said the weather created a challenge for both the volunteers and the birds.

“We had about half the number of individuals (birds) that we typically get, and that’s because of the storm,” Ridlbauer said.

While volunteers encountered a reduced diversity in species, there were plenty of Chickadees, Bohemian Waxwings, and Evening Grosbeaks.

“That seems to be the trend this year. The Evening Grosbeaks are sort of back, they actually beat out the Pine Grosbeaks that we normally have hundreds and hundreds of,” Ridlbauer said.

In addition, he said that typically included in the count each year are Common Redpolls. However, this year there were none.

As of Dec. 18, volunteers counted 1,400 individual birds, 32 species in all.

This number is significantly lower than the previous year. In 2021, more than 3,300 individual birds were recorded, 38 species in all.

WTIP’s Mark Abrahamson spoke with Jeremy Ridlbauer following the Audubon Christmas Bird Count in Cook County. Audio from the interview is below.