I know many people don't care but I like to observe changes, Canada jay for the last few decades is a remnant of past years. Sad. My favorite BWCA bird. Bird count

A total of 2,537 birds were recorded, including 29 species.
The full tally of birds is as follows. The list includes an additional four species seen during the count week (identified with cw).
Ruffed Grouse 36
Wild Turkey 1
Bald Eagle 5
Rock Pigeon 32
Great Gray Owl cw
Owl species 1
Downy Woodpecker 24
Hairy Woodpecker 33
American three-toed Woodpecker cw
Pileated Woodpecker 8
Northern Shrike 2
Canada Jay 6
Blue Jay 119
Black-billed Magpie 7
American Crow 48
Common Raven 98
Black-capped Chickadee 355
Boreal Chickadee 1
Red-breasted Nuthatch 121
White-breasted Nuthatch 48
Brown Creeper 1
European Starling 60
Bohemian Waxwing cw
Snow Bunting cw
Pine Grosbeak 48
Purple Finch 253
Red Crossbill 4
White-winged Crossbill 634
Common Redpoll 267
Pine Siskin 155
American Goldfinch 113
Evening Grosbeak 4
House Sparrow 53
Thanks to Julie Grahn for compiling the above information.

More Magpies than Canada jays also and Blue Jay populations up north have sky rocketed in recent years.

I already miss the whiskey jack, two summers/75 nites in the BW the last two years and I never saw one.

LindenTree: "I already miss the whiskey jack, two summers/75 nites in the BW the last two years and I never saw one."

Ever since the cold winter of 1995-96 they just disappeared,, winter camping we had one fall dead in camp, it starved to death. Something else is going on. They should of bounced back by now. Some bird people blaming the bluejays?
Years ago I hardly remember seeing bluejays, now very common, also more crows than the past.

That is really amazing zero Canada jays in 75 nites, unreal. Always years ago you figured one would visit you in camp, that is why many call them the camp robber.

Canada Jays unfortunately are a victim of climate change. They cache food to get them through the winter and warmer than normal temps spoil these food sources. The times are a changing.

Ha I keep forgetting there's a Cook County Minnesota! Cook County Illinois here and I was feeling some serious jealousy over all the crazy sightings and wondering where the heck people were finding all these northern birds!

prettypaddle: "Ha I keep forgetting there's a Cook County Minnesota! Cook County Illinois here and I was feeling some serious jealousy over all the crazy sightings and wondering where the heck people were finding all these northern birds!"

I made a mistake-still relevant to the area and the BWCA,but it was Cook MN., not cook county. This would still areas touching he west side of the BWCA.

Freddy: "
Canada Jays unfortunately are a victim of climate change. They cache food to get them through the winter and warmer than normal temps spoil these food sources. The times are a changing."

I read that a couple of years ago the theory of food catching and population dropping, I always though Blue jays did the same tho?

n a 2021 study in the journal Global Change Biology (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/gcb.15445), a team of researchers have correlated a long-term decline in the Canada jay population in Algonquin Provincial Park with more frequent freeze-thaw cycles in the fall, which accelerates the deterioration of the caches that Canada jays distribute throughout their territories during that time period.

It would be interesting to see that grouse count from the past several years. The flooding in June, 2024 was reported to have damaged many nesting areas. I only went out once last year, between Soudan and Ely, and it was average. My favorite spot flushed a few birds, which I missed because it was about 100 feet from my car and I wasn't really paying attention to anything but my coffee. The rest of the walk was pretty fruitless.

flopnfolds: "It would be interesting to see that grouse count from the past several years. The flooding in June, 2024 was reported to have damaged many nesting areas. I only went out once last year, between Soudan and Ely, and it was average. My favorite spot flushed a few birds, which I missed because it was about 100 feet from my car and I wasn't really paying attention to anything but my coffee. The rest of the walk was pretty fruitless. "

I believe they were down from the past couple of years.

This is a little to the east-last year 2024 January;
All the counts reported strong numbers of ruffed grouse, including Isabella, which set a record with 63, more than ten times the long-term average. Isabella counters also reported five spruce grouse. The Aurora count tallied 11 ruffed grouse, the second-highest total in the count’s history, while the Virginia count reported 10 grouse.

Unlike the decline in Canada jays, Ruffed Grouse numbers is a little more complicated. Long term declines are primarily attributed to quality habitat loss but as mentioned, we see short term fluctuations in numbers for a variety reasons. Food availability, predation, and disease to name a few.

I manage the bird counts each CBC around Baudette , MN. our Canada Jay numbers are stable but our deer herd rebounded from the starvation years in the late 90's. Wolf killed deer mean leftovers for the jays. I have Canada Jays around my remote cabin over there. I have noted that in extremely early warm springs my Canada Jays fledge 4 young instead of the usual 2. Early snow melt seems to expose an abundance of food used to feed the extra birds that would normally not survive.

Marten: "I manage the bird counts each CBC around Baudette , MN. our Canada Jay numbers are stable but our deer herd rebounded from the starvation years in the late 90's. Wolf killed deer mean leftovers for the jays. I have Canada Jays around my remote cabin over there. I have noted that in extremely early warm springs my Canada Jays fledge 4 young instead of the usual 2. Early snow melt seems to expose an abundance of food used to feed the extra birds that would normally not survive."

keep up the good work,your surveys mean more as the years go on to determine trends.

I definitely see fewer C. Jays than 15+ years ago, but have seen more just recently. I had 3 of them "adopt" me on my Sept. solo trip. Often landing on me and scouring for any crumbs. Funny characters, for sure!