Surprisingly, birds didn't suffer much in the recent fires that burned near the end of the Gunflint Trail. In fact, the overall impact on birds will be positive.
The fire hopscotched through about 120 square miles in Minnesota and Canada, but the changes brought by the flames are nothing new for the estimated half-million birds in the area.
"Birds have evolved to live with fire," said Gerald Neimi, professor of biology at the University of Minnesota-Duluth. "For them, it's a natural phenomenon."
Neimi said that there is likely to be a temporary reduction in the total number of birds in the area, and that the mix of species will change.
Resident species -- chickadees, nuthatches, woodpeckers -- might have lost nests and eggs, but some of them will nest again. And some species -- including least flycatchers, red-eyed vireos, rose-breasted grosbeaks, veerys and blue jays -- will probably be low in numbers for years, returning gradually as the forest matures.
But birders will find more chestnut-sided and mourning warblers and white-throated sparrows as the forests regenerate. American redstarts will be common, too.
Two species you wouldn't expect to find in a northern Minnesota forest -- the house wren and the killdeer -- will appear, perhaps in abundance, because they'll now find the open habitat they prefer. And one family of bird species will find the fire a cornucopia: woodpeckers. The insects lured by the dead and dying trees will provide abundant food for woodpeckers, including two uncommon species, the black-backed and the northern three-toed woodpecker.
Both are opportunists that are well camouflaged when on burned trees -- black against black.
If you go to the Gunflint Trail to look for them, stop and listen for their quiet tap-tap-tap. You may never have a better chance to see these birds in Minnesota.Minneapolis Star Tribune
