On January 1, 2012 the 30th 3CBC was held as part of Audubon's 112th Christmas Bird Count. Twenty-Two field observers and 3 feeder watchers joined and spent the sunny day finding 17,771 birds and a record 105 species. The temperature ranged from 36° to 48°. This was the nicest day we have had in many years.

We had several high counts: 139 Great Blue Heron, 558 Tundra Swan, 60 Trumpeter Swan, 165 Mourning Dove, 105 Eurasian Collared-Dove, 3 Barn Owl, 2 Short-eared Owl, 21 Anna’s Hummingbird, 16 Northern Harrier, 47 Red-tailed Hawk, 20 Bald Eagle, 33 American kestrel, 60 Northern Flicker, 123 Western Scrub Jay, 8 Brown Creeper, 19 Marsh Wren, 18 Bewick’s Wren, 472 American Robin, 15 Lincoln’s Sparrow, 6 White-throated Sparrow, and 71 American Gold Finch.

Seen during count week:  3 Ruddy Duck, 1 Brown Pelican, 1 Oregon Dark-eyed Junko (Pied), and 1 Evening Grosbeak. New to the count this year: 21 Black-bellied Plover and 3 Thayer’s Gull.

Thank you all for a great job and a great potluck. Hope to see you all next year on Tuesday, Jan 1, 2013.