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Local Christmas Bird Counts Overview

Last Updated on Thursday, 10 January 2013 15:55 Written by Webmaster

The Christmas Bird Count (CBC) is citizen-science at its best. You can help with this effort, whether you have ever gone bird watching or not. You will have the opportunity to meet new people with interests in birds, or spend time with friends from previous years. Again this year WHAS sponsors the following CBC's:

• Leadbetter CBC on Saturday Dec 15th: contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
• Wahkiakum CBC on Friday Dec 28th: contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
• Cowlitz Coweeman Columbia CBC on Tuesday January 1st: contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

This is your chance to help collect the information which will direct decisions in the future, decisions which will affect how much natural beauty, including birds, remains for future generations.

Bring your binoculars if you have some, boots, warm clothes and a lunch, and join us for a day outside, looking closely at some of Nature's most interesting creatures, sharing the day with people who have similar interests.

30th Cowlitz Columbia CBC Results

Last Updated on Friday, 10 February 2012 17:59 Written by Bob Reistroffer

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.

Wahkiakum CBC Results

Last Updated on Friday, 10 February 2012 17:56 Written by Andrew Emlen

The fourteenth annual Wahkiakum Christmas Bird Count was held Dec 30, 2011. The 21 participants  found 115 count day species, equalling our highest number, plus three additional count week species: Rough-legged Hawk, Red-breasted Sapsucker and Swamp Sparrow. American Bittern was a species new to the count.

New high counts were set for several water bird species: Cackling Goose 8302, Mallard 1423, White Winged Scoter 154 (previous high was 23), Common Loon 12, and Horned Grebe 32. We also set new high marks for Bald Eagle 59, and Wilson's Snipe 65. We have also documented the appearance, spread and establishment of Eurasian Collared Doves over the last three years, from 10 on Puget Island in 2009 to 72 found in many locations throughout the circle in 2011.

For the first time in the history of this count circle, Greater Scaup was not the most abundant bird. Last year we had more Greater Scaup than any other North American count with over 22,000, and our high is 27,165. In 2011 we counted 6615, making it less abundant than Cackling Goose. Hopefully the storms just pushed some of the big flocks up the river.

Leadbetter Point CBC Results

Last Updated on Friday, 10 February 2012 17:58 Written by Larry Brandt

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.