Minneapolis' winter bird count delivers thrills on the wing
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Birders by the dozens headed outdoors Sunday for the third Minneapolis West Circle Winter Bird Count, part of an international Audubon Society tradition that stretches back 125 years.
An eagle and a long-eared owl were among the prize finds for the Minneapolis birders in the count, which helps track the health of species.
“We saw a bald eagle eating some fish, and we saw lots of crows,” said Jane Shallow, a member of the Urban Bird Collective, a group formed in 2018 to help make birding more welcoming to people of color and LGBTQ+ people. The Loppet Foundation and Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board also took part.
The Sunday count, Shallow added, included a flock of 32 robins along with “chickadees, nut hatches, all the winter birds, our friends.”
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The Minneapolis West Circle covers an area in the Twin Cities that hadn’t been part of the count for about 60 years, said Monica Bryand, the collective’s executive director. Bryand started the group with some of her birding friends who were seeking a welcoming, inclusive space.
“From that eight the first year, we’re up to 34 leaders in our group, and 100 percent of our leaders are either BIPOC or LGBTQAI+, and they are majority BIPOC and majority gay. So a really amazing group,” she said.
One newcomer told Bryand on Sunday that she was hoping to see an owl since she had never seen one in the wild. And the sight they saw was even exciting for Bryand, a 20-year birder.
“Long-eared owls are really rare. It was just really awesome. It was so, so much fun,” Bryand said.
Ages in the West Circle group run from people in their mid-20s to their 80s. Bird watching is the common bond.
“It brings me a lot of joy. I really just like being able to observe the birds and see them live their lives and watch them in their their like behaviors, whether they’re forging for food or interacting with each other,” said Loreen Lee, who’s been involved with the collective from nearly the beginning.
“Taking people out to look for birds in different green spaces in and around the Twin Cities, being able to turn and look at the group and for it to be very racially and ethnically diverse, or our focus on the on the queer community, I love taking people out, and I love that we’re able to serve a diversity of people,” Lee added.
Last year, the fall remained warmer for longer which meant birds had access to waterways when the bird count was held. While this winter has gotten colder faster, the birders said Saturday’s freezing rain did not result in any trouble for the Sunday count.
The birders reconvened at Theodore Wirth Park for a potluck and a bird tally after their morning scouring the skies. A final tally will follow.
“It’s about community, and it doesn’t have to be about birding. We can go out and whatever we see, we see. It’s about trees and plants and other animals that we see. And for me, it’s having other people benefit being out in nature,” Bryand said. “I feel privileged that I became a birder early on and could do that, but I’m glad I can share that with other folks, and that we can create that space.”