Photo by Deb Gau
Sue Morton looked for woodpeckers and different hen species in Camden State Park on Sunday morning, as a part of the annual Christmas Bird Count. Volunteer birders unfold out over an space that stretching from Marshall south to Garvin Park.
It was a quiet morning as Sue Morton walked alongside a path close to the north finish of Camden State Park. Maybe a bit too quiet.
“There should be woodpeckers out here,” Morton stated.
She scanned the timber, trying by way of a pair of binoculars, and stopped to hear for hen calls and different sounds. She ultimately noticed three completely different sorts of woodpeckers on her hike, in addition to birds like chickadees, cardinals and juncos. But there weren’t as many birds there as in previous winters.
“It’s such an odd year,” Morton stated.
Area residents who took half on this yr’s Christmas Bird Count in and round Marshall stated that they had comparable experiences. They may discover a good vary of hen species, however not in large numbers. There have been additionally some birds that they had by no means seen in Lyon County earlier than.
The Christmas Bird Count is a citizen science occasion that was began by the Audubon Society in 1900. Volunteers throughout the U.S. set up to depend the quantity and sort of birds they see or hear throughout a day, in a particular geographic space. A Marshall space depend has been carried out since 1970. On Sunday, a complete of 5 volunteers lined an space that included the town of Marshall, in addition to Lynd, Russell, Camden State Park, Amiret and Garvin Park.
Volunteers unfold out to search for birds in several habitats, from open nation to marshes and woods, and even at yard hen feeders. When volunteers met again up for lunch, they in contrast notes on what that they had seen. After the depend day was over, volunteer Nolan Meyer would compile the outcomes.
The group thought they might discover about 35 to 40 completely different species of birds on this yr’s depend. But some have been proving elusive this yr. Paul Egeland stated he hadn’t managed to search out any glints.
“Did anybody get a flicker?” he requested the group.
“I did, at Wayside Rest,” stated Roger Schroeder.
Meyer stated he was having a tough time discovering hen species that might usually be widespread alongside roadsides and in farm fields.
“It’s harder to find birds by the road,” he stated.
One hen that Dalton Spencer noticed — a Eurasian tree sparrow — was a brand new sighting for the Marshall depend space.
Volunteers stated modifications in local weather, or the unusually dry yr southwest Minnesota has had, may have affected the place birds migrated this winter.
“The weather makes a lot of difference,” Egeland stated.
It’s not sure how local weather change will affect space hen populations sooner or later, volunteers stated.
“I foresee the count will be steady, but we’ll see different birds,” Morton stated.
