A strong showing of northern owls and a first-ever gray catbird were among the highlights of area bird counts, held over the past two weeks.

Well over one hundred area residents took part in the counts, held in Ely, Cook, Isabella, and the Eagles Nest area, many of them braving temperatures as cold as minus 35.

The gray catbird spotted at Isabella was perhaps the most unusual find in the area. While catbirds have been seen in winter in Minnesota before, it was a first on any of the counts in northern St. Louis or Lake counties. Catbirds are not well-adapted for a northern Minnesota winter, and that fact was borne out the day following the Jan. 2 Isabella count, when the catbird was found dead, apparently having succumbed during a second night of temperatures in the minus 30 degree range.

Other birds had no such problems with the cold, including the signficant number of great gray and hawk owls sighted on area counts. The Cook count had top honors for hawk owls, with three, followed by Isabella, which reported two. The Ely and Eagles Nest counts reported one apiece.

The Isabella count also reported five great gray owls, while counters in Ely found one.

While owl numbers were up, many other northern species, particularly finches, were down significantly. The Isabella count, the longest-running in the area, reported its first year ever without an evening grosbeak. Other counts found scarce numbers of evening grosbeaks in addition to below average numbers of pine grosbeaks, pine siskins, purple finches, and crossbills. Ely ornithologist Bill Tefft said the relative lack of cones, particularly pine and balsam fir cones, seems to have prompted many cone-dependent birds to leave the area temporarily.

That appears to be particularly true of red-breasted nuthatches, a highly-cyclical species that favors the seeds of balsam fir. "They really seem to come and go with the food resource," said Tefft. All the area counts reported much lower numbers of red-breasted nuthatches. Isabella recorded its second-lowest number on record, with just nine — well below the 28-year average of 110.

While cones and cone-dependent birds are scarce this winter, at least one finch is having a banner year in the area. "We had great numbers of goldfinches, way up over last year," said Charlotte Jacobson, who coordinated the Cook count. Other area counts saw higher than average numbers of goldfinches as well.

Ely paced the field with the most species, with 33, while counters in Cook saw 26 different species, a drop from last year. A total of 24 species were found in Isabella, while 23 were spotted in Eagles Nest.