...supports environmentally sustainable ways of life

Kids Day 2012

Programs

Willapa Hills Audubon will have a table at Bob's Merchandise Kids' Day on Saturday June 2nd from 9 to 3 with bird related educational activities aimed at the many children attending the event. Stop by to join in the fun for the kids dissecting owl pellets, assembling pre-cut wood duck boxes and making feather bookmarks.

Free screening of "Bag It"

Programs

"Please join the Willapa Hills Audobon Society and the Lower Columbia College Biological Society in viewing a free screening of the documentary movie "Bag It" on Friday, May 18 at 6:30 pm in the Wollenberg Auditorium at LCC.  This film explores our plastic world and the environmental implacations of the 12,000 plastic bags Americans throw away every minute.  Anyone interested in this important issue is welcome to attend."

Red-shouldered Hawk seen at Willow Grove

Wildlife Sightings

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.

Harbingers of Spring; Wood Ducks return to Lake Sacajawea

Other Projects

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.

March / April 2012 Whistler is Online

News

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

Egg Mass Survey

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!!

Read more: 2012 Amphibian Egg Mass Surveys Kick Off

30th Cowlitz Columbia CBC Results

Bird Counts

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

Bird Counts

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.