40th Cowlitz-Columbia CBC Results
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By Bob Reistroffer
On January 1, 2022 the 40th 3CBC was held as part of Audubon's 122nd Christmas Bird Count. Eleven field observers and 5 feeder watchers joined and spent a partially sunny day finding 8,620 birds and 90 species. The temperature ranged from 26° to 36°. This was the cold day with ice and snow on many roads that hampered the coverage of the area.
We had several high counts: 39 Common Raven, 154 Varied Thrush, 1 Lesser Goldfinch, 4 Cooper’s Hawk.
Seen during count week: 2 Canada Jays, 1 Rough-legged Hawk, 1 Peregrine Falcon, 1 Barn Owl, 1 Eurasian Wigeon, 2 Canvasback, 1 Northern Harrier, 1 Iceland Gull
New to the count this year: 1 Lesser Goldfinch.
Thank you all for a great job.
Hope to see you all next year on Tuesday, Jan 1, 2023.
2021 Willapa Bay Christmas Bird Count Results
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By Robert Sudar, Compiler
The weatherman predicted a significant storm for Southwest Washington on Saturday, December 18th, and he didn’t disappoint. Despite having to again institute a “pandemic approach” to organizing the count, 19 counters spread amongst 8 groups in 8 sectors of the count circle, plus two feeder watchers, braved heavy (as in sideways) rain and 30-40mph winds to collect bird numbers for this year’s Willapa CBC. It was the worst weather that anyone could remember for count day and it certainly had a negative influence on sightings. Willapa Bay was very rough and so the usually flotillas of ducks were mostly absent, as were some other typical birds that prefer the open water. There were fewer sightings, and in some cases no sightings. The same can be said for the ocean side of the peninsula. Crashing waves and blowing sand made it difficult to observe and count. But that’s a yearly risk, really – who can predict December weather? – and so this year was an aberration, not the norm.
Overall, 18,486 individual birds comprising 84 species were seen and recorded. The total number of birds is actually slightly more than last year (helped greatly by the 11,625 Dunlin seen) but for comparison, last year we had 88 species and some years we’ve been close to 100. I don’t think this indicates a natural decline, but rather the challenges in seeing what’s there. Last year, I lamented that “there were no Brants, no Greater White-fronted Geese, no Gray Jays, no Snowy Plovers, no Northern Shovelers, no owls of any species, no Coots, no Bitterns, no Sapsuckers and only Common Loons.” This count we still didn’t have any Gray Jays, Northern Shovelers, owls, Coots or Bitterns but we did have 10 Brants, 21 White-fronted Geese, 8 Snowy Plovers, a Red-breasted Sapsucker and all three loon species that we might expect to see in the winter.
Of course, the good news and the bad news and overall drop in species means that there were regular species that weren’t seen, such as Peregrine Falcon and Northern Harrier, and really any members of that family except Bald Eagle, Red-tailed Hawk and American Kestrel. Other omissions this year that we would normally expect to see were Ring-necked Duck, Great Egret, Hairy Woodpecker, Brown Creeper, Bewick’s Wren or any warblers except Townsend’s. And last year’s star – Bar-tailed Godwit – was nowhere to be seen this year. But that’s kind of the story every year – each count is different.
There were some unusual sightings, too. We had 6 American Dippers – again! We also had 2 Snow Geese, 6 Chipping Sparrows and a White-throated Sparrow. And this year’s star might be the Black Phoebe seen in the North Oceanside sector by Suzy Whittey. That species has been seen more frequently in SW Washington in recent years but I believe it’s the first time it’s been spotted during the count. A Hooded Oriole again made an appearance this year, in the Bay Center area, but unfortunately it was again outside the count week. Bummer! As always, the variety, and the unexpected, are what make birding, and bird counts, interesting!
Many thanks to the counters who persevered through the awful weather to collect another year of valuable data, and especially to Suzy Whittey, who did anther great job of organizing the count and making sure we all had the information we needed to do the job. Next year’s count will be on December 17th. No doubt it will combine the expected and the unexpected, too!
Spring 2022 Whistler is online
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The Spring 2022 Whistler is available now.
Read more of its content:
- Annual Announcements - Presidents message
- Message to our National Members
- Membership Form
- NW Birding Events
- 2022 is a WHAS Election Year
- Christmas Bird Count Results
- Keep your feeders clean
- The Loon Lunch
- Conserving Coastal Birds and Habitat
Winter 2021 Whistler is online
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The Winter 2021 Whistler is available now.
Read more of its content:
- Free Tree Seedlings from the Carbon Capture Foundation
- Christmast Bird Counts - All the local info
- Membership Form
- NW Birding Events
- 2022 is a WHAS Election Year
- More than 350000 swifts roosted in Rainier!
- Cowlitz Bird Count October update
- The Grace of Trumpeter Swans
2022 Cowlitz County Bird List - January Update
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By Russ Koppendrayer
As usual we got our year list off to a nice start on New Year's Day with the Christmas Bird Count, but the addition of more folks interested in the birding hobby and use of eBird has been valuable for additions to the list as well.
The most unusual bird species of the month was a flock of Common Redpolls found at 7th Avenue Park in Longview on January 17th. This is the second record for Cowlitz County and unlike the 2018 birds that were here and gone, this group seems to be still present at this writing on February 2nd. While they have been seen by numerous birders their presence at the park has been intermittent. The best chance to find them seems to be right after sunrise when they appear in the alder trees between the soccer field and the drainage ditch. Sometimes their stay is only a few minutes and other times they have been seen there for over an hour. We've never figured out where they spend the time away from the park. These birds that nest in northern Canada and Alaska and rarely get this far south in Washington in winter may linger for another month or be gone tomorrow.
Download the pdf here.
2021 Cowlitz County Bird List - Final
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By Russ Koppendrayer
As usual the last two months of the year didn't add many species to our Cowlitz County year list. The three additions included a Ring-necked Pheasant in November. This species seems to be getting more difficult to find each year and my take is that they are no longer successfully breeding in the county and we are only finding them after WDFW does their fall release in the Woodland Bottoms for the hunters. Also found were Red-throated Loon and Pacific Loon which are both not quite annual in the county. Amazingly they were both seen in the Columbia River at the mouth of the Kalama River on the late date of December 29.
Our final species list of 204 is above average, but short of our all time best record of 209 species set in 2020. The only species completely new to the list was Great Gray Owl. We did not have any misses for species that are expected annually.
As of this writing we are already getting going on our 2022 list. Enjoy the birding in 2022.
Download the pdf here.
2021 Cowlitz County Bird List - October Update
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By Russ Koppendrayer
We've managed to add five species since the last update at the end of August. A Semipalmated Plover was actually seen in mid August, but not on the eBird accepted list until September. The rarest find was the county's fourth record of Broad-winged Hawk seen by a hawk watcher in the Woodland Bottoms where all previous records also occurred during fall migration. All these records have occurred in three of the last four years, which would seem to imply that they may have been passing through in small numbers for years since this hawk watch has only been happening for four years. The ridge just east of I-5 just north of Woodland may just be one of the primary migration corridors in western Washington for hawks and especially Turkey Vultures.
Also of interest was the number of reports of Surf Scoter in October. While we expect to see small numbers in the Columbia River as they migrate through in October through early November we had a group of six at Willow Grove and a number of reports from the Woodland Bottoms area. Three were even in the ponds of the former Longview sewage treatment facility, which is not an annual place for them. Furthermore all these birds were either females or juvenile males with no adult males present. Who knows what is driving this phenomenon.
Download the pdf here.
Common Winter Birds of Western Washington Class
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Winter birds of western Washington are amazing. Explore 100 species commonly found in fall and winter. Learn about their shape, size, color patterns, behaviors, habitat, and sounds. The 5-week course taught by Ornithologist Dr. Thomas Bancroft consists of five 90-minute classes held on Zoom.
Class dates:
- Thursdays from 7:00 PM-8:30 PM,
- October 21st, 28th
- November 4th, 11th, and 18th.
Class recordings are also available.
Fee: $115
More info and registration at Rainier Audubon Society!
Fall 2021 Whistler is online
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The Fall 2021 Whistler is available now.
Read more of its content:
- The Wonder of Grief
- Christmast Bird Counts - Save the dates
- Membership Form
- NW Birding Events
- Report on Audubon State meeting
- Bird Flight Patterns and Music
- Vaux Swifts in Rainier Oregon
- Birds of a Feather Winter Roost Together
See the Vaux's Swifts in Rainier Oregon
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Vaux's Swifts are starting to roost in the Riverside Community Church chimney in Rainier. We already had a few readings getting up to 20,000.
Folks wishing to check out this phenomenon for themselves will have the best chance from half an hour before sunset until half an hour after sunset. The southward migration of the swifts from all over the Northwest starts in September, affording us more opportunities to view thousands of them entering the chimney. You can watch them from the lower parking lot accessible from W C St next to Fox Creek.
Check it out and say hi to Carolyn, Juni and Terri.
- 2021 Cowlitz County Bird List - August Update
- 2021 Cowlitz County Bird List - June Update
- Summer 2021 Whistler is online
- 2021 Cowlitz County Bird List - May Update
- Cowlitz PUD Osprey Cam 2021
- 2021 Cowlitz County Bird List - April Update
- Vaux's Swifts are back in Rainier, Oregon
- 2021 Cowlitz County Bird List - March Update
- Birding Classes at LCC (open to all)
- Midwinter Bald Eagle Survey