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Volunteers went into action last week exploring the 15-mile diameter Ely Christmas Count Circle. Count day was Winter Solstice (Saturday, Dec. 21). Members of the Ely Field Naturalists had worked to distribute information in advance.
• Notify everyone who has previously or might want to participate.
• Distribute lists of bird species seen on previous counts.
• Arrange a specific location or area for each of the counters.
• Provide data sheets for recording bird data, volunteer effort, and count day conditions.
• Set the time and place for the wrap up session.
• After the initial tally wrap up on count day, compile all species records for count day.
• Collect any additional species seen on any of the three days before and after as “Count Week” species.
• Report results and share them with the volunteers, local communities and Ely Field Naturalist members.
Why would people want to seek out experiences with nature? Being outdoors and exploring or looking out at the lakes, forests and wetlands, people explore and discover the unexpected. Every person, outing, landscape, plant, animal, and day has a story.
Already there have been many stories from the Ely CBC and one of them became known at the end of the wrap up dinner. A Facebook posting of an owl was shared. The owl was a boreal owl on an animal it had grabbed. On closer examination it was discovered to be a flying squirrel.
A lot of sharing and questioning led to contacting the picture’s source. It turns out that Jim Blauch and his family own Moose Track Adventures Resort on the Kawishiwi Trail Road. Some may know this location as the Ojibway Resort.
On the evening of Friday, Dec. 20, Jim’s family was watching television when sounds were heard from outside. Upon looking out, a small owl was seen tussling with a flying squirrel on the deck.
After they settled down, Jim’s son was able to open the deck door, crouch, scoot out on his stomach and take pictures of the boreal owl and squirrel. Next a barred owl flew down and landed on the railing, scaring the boreal owl away with the squirrel. The barred owl then left the railing to perch for some time on a tree branch.
Since neither boreal owls nor barred owls were seen on Saturday (Count Day) and Friday was during Count Week, both species can be added to this year’s report. The boreal owl has never been seen before on an Ely CBC, is rarely seen in northern Minnesota, and is similar in size and appearance to a sawwhet owl. Therefore, having the photo as a description is valuable in verification of this identification. Boreal Owl and Boreal Chickadee are the two Minnesota bird species with the “boreal” title. Both live primarily in the boreal forests of spruce and fir in Canada. They both are known to nest in the boreal forests and climate of northeastern Minnesota. Boreal is a name derived from the Greek god “Boreas”, the name for the Northwind.
In northeastern Minnesota, a Boreal Owl is rarely seen or reported. They hunt at night and therefore my experiences have been primarily where individuals have been found perched in the low branches of a tree or shrub during the day. These were in Lake and St. Louis Counties when either due to weather conditions, lack of food, or both many were seen an described as “invasions”.
“Invasions” were wintering events and in some cases followed by discoveries of nesting boreal owls. The first nesting record was in 1978 in Minnesota and the lower 48 states along the Gunflint Trail.
Northeastern Minnesota provides so many opportunities for memorable experiences. Most people remember every encounter they have with owls. A Christmas Bird Count that focuses attention on the outdoors and its inhabitants enables expected and unexpected encounters. Those encounters either firsthand or through stories of encounters from Ely Field Naturalists or others.
