May / June 2012 Whistler is Online
- Details
The May / June 2012 Whistler is available now.
Read more of its content:
- Impressions from the Annual WHAS Meeting and Banquet with Program: “Still Walking: Bigfoot in the Dark Divide and Beyond.”
- Bird Calendar 2013 Update
- Membership Application Form
- Birding Ecuador’s Andes
- Memory of Gerald Henry
- Lake Sacajawea Native Plant Update
- Backyard Birding Planting Tips
- 2012 Great Backyard Bird Ct Results
- Book Reviews:
- Collected Stories of Wallace Stegner
- Feathers: the Evolution of a Natural Miracle
- WHAS Programs
Harbingers of Spring; Wood Ducks return to Lake Sacajawea
- Details
On February 28, the first pair of Wood Ducks was seen on Lake Sacajawea in Longview.
We hope these ducks will nest in one of the duck boxes recently placed on the Lake. On February 12 and just in time for breeding season, Bob Arnsdorf and John Green put up new boxes and refurbished two old ones.
Three new were placed on the north island near Ocean Beach Hwy, and the 2 old boxes on that island were cleaned and repaired. On the south island, Bob and John placed 2 new boxes; they left the remaining old box which contained an enormous bee hive. There are now a total of seven duck boxes on the lake to accommodate the new Wood Duck families.
Wood Ducks are not the only signs of spring. Have you noticed the American Robins singing in the mornings? Spring is just around the corner.
Red-shouldered Hawk seen at Willow Grove
- Details
On Tuesday, February 21, a Red-shouldered Hawk was seen at the west end of the county park in Willow Grove, Longview.
Local birders have been seeing a Red-shouldered at this location through late fall, but no recent sightings had been reported. This may or may not be the same bird.
Still this is not a common local sighting.
March / April 2012 Whistler is Online
- Details
The March / April 2012 Whistler is available now.
Read more of its content:
- WHAS Annual Member Meeting;
- Message to NAS members;
- Membership Application Form;
- Christmas Bird Count Results;
- Backyard Bird Notes;
- Volunteers for Earthday;
- Lake Sacajawea Native Plant Project;
- Midwinter Bald Eagle Survey Results;
- Get the Lead Out…;
- Book Review: The Poets Guide…Birds;
- Amphibian Surveys Report;
- WHAS Programs and Field Trips;
2012 Amphibian Egg Mass Surveys Kick Off
- Details
On January 28th, the WHAS-sponsored citizen science amphibian egg-mass survey project kicked-off its third season. After 25 people participated in training at Lower Columbia College, seven volunteers surveyed Indian Jack Slough (IJS) near Cathlamet, finding 269 red-legged frog and 17 long-toed salamander egg masses. Russ and Ann Kastberg first surveyed IJS under the Clark County Citizen Science Amphibian Survey Project in 2008. Surveys focus on three pond areas this year. The “Red Barn” site, our baseline survey site, consists of an old creek channel and an open wetland. In addition, we are surveying two new areas the landowner, Columbia Land Trust, has restored and re-shaped into ponds. It was a successful and fun day, and a good start to a promising season!!
30th Cowlitz Columbia CBC Results
- Details
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.
Leadbetter Point CBC Results
- Details
Many thanks to everyone that participated in the 2011 Leadbetter Point Christmas Bird Count on December 17. For those of you not familiar with Leadbetter Point, it is a 15-mile radius circle generally in the area around Willapa Bay. This year, we had a total of 34 participants working in five sectors and two participants monitoring feeders.
We had good weather with temperatures ranging from freezing to about 50-degrees. Winds were not a factor. This sounds like perfect birding weather, right? It was!
In total, we identified 110 species with about half being water fowl and shore birds and the other half upland species. The least found group was owls with only 2 snowy owls being spotted. The most common species was Dunlin with 29,950 spotted. Second was Northern Pintail duck at 16,141. No rare species were seen but species unusual to the Willapa Bay area in December included Western Scrub Jay (5), Brown Pelican (1) and Orange-Crowned Warbler (30).
Most participants were from the Longview-Kelso-Castle Rock area. A few from Long Beach-Ilwaco. Others came from Seattle, Portland and Alaska to be day-long participants. We had four new people turn out and we hope they make the C an annual event.
January/February 2012 Whistler is Online
- Details
The January / February 2012 Whistler
is available now.
Read more of its content:
- Environmental Lobby Day in Olympia;
- Presidents Message;
- Wildlife Sighting: Snowy Owl;
- Membership Application Form;
- Recent Lake Sacajawea Social Review;
- Conservation Issues;
- 2012 Great Backyard Bird Count;
- WHAS 2012 Nomination Form;
- WHAS on Coal;
- Wildlife Sighting: Pied Junco;
- Book Review: Bird Cloud;
- Amphibian Training 2012;
- WHAS Programs and Field Trips;
Final 2011 Cowlitz County Bird List is now available
- Details
It was a stunningly high species count with a great start of unusual waterfowl especially on the Columbia at Woodland, followed by an amazing spring variety of shorebirds, a breeding season with a couple bonuses, a late fall with hordes of out of the area folks visiting for the rarities and finding additions and ending with a New Year's Eve Brown Pelican over the Columbia between Longview and Kalama.
203 species--WOW.
Find the list as a pdf in our Wildlife Sightings area.
WHAS Signs on Against Coal
- Details
Willapa Hills Audubon, as part of the Washington State Audubon Conservation Council (WSACC), has joined in a statewide opposition to coal export from west coast ports.
- Snowy Owl in Ridgefield NWR
- Barred Owl seen in Longview
- How many Birds can you see in Washington State?
- WHAS members John and Margaret Green featured in The Chronicle
- November / December 2011 Whistler is Online
- Bald Eagle Recovery
- Christmas Bird Counts Overview 2011
- Duckling sightings at Lake Sacajawea
- Backyard Birds Calendar 2012 for sale
- Urban Bird Adaptations