By Russ Koppendrayer
A couple quite rare species for the county were found in the last couple months along with a number of species that are seen more often, but not annually. Add in a couple finds of species seen annually, and we had a banner late fall season. Our total species to date for 2020 ties our best ever annual total, so any additions in the final two months will be our best ever since the beginning of this project.
The second county record of Marbled Godwit was found in a wetland at Kalama during September. Like the previous record it was a one day wonder and gone by the next day. Also a second record for Cowlitz County was a Broad-winged Hawk found by a hawk watcher that was primarily counting Turkey Vultures migrating along a ridge line just east of I-5 near Woodland. This bird soared along the same wind currents as the vultures. The only previous record was two years ago during fall migration at the same place and found by the same observer. A Brown Pelican was seen resting briefly on a Columbia River sandbar for another rare find. There have been a number of prior records, but this species is far from annual this far from salt water in Washington.
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