Acorn Woodpecker
Acorn Woodpecker - Image courtesy of Rob Kedenburg

By Russ Koppendrayer

I'm amazed at the size of our list at the end of April. As migration gets really going in earnest it is usually a month of lots of new species, but with the shelter in place rules I thought we'd struggle a bit this year to see them all. Our composite list does not seem to reflect that however.

With the reporting of birds found on personal property and folks getting out a bit to get some exercise we seem to have found a very nice selection of birds. However, even our most avid birders seem to have seen a smaller percentage of the species on this list than in a typical year.

While we had a few species found in April that are less than annual in Cowlitz, even those were not particularly rare, but seen in most years. Hopefully we can all continue to enjoy the ongoing migration and stay safe and healthy at the same time.

Download the pdf here.