By Russ Koppendrayer
For the month of June we only added a half dozen species to our Cowlitz County year list, however two of them were quite unusual. A female Acorn Woodpecker put in a morning appearance on 6/11 at a feeder on Pleasant Hill Road and was photographed, only to never be seen again. This supplied the fifth record for the county and an exciting lifer for the home owners.
The very next morning on 6/12 an adult male American Redstart was found singing on some Port of Kalama property that is accessible to the public. This first ever record for Cowlitz County was joined by a female a few days later and both birds persist at that location until this writing at the end of June and have been seen by numerous birders. No evidence of nesting at this point, except for the presence of the pair. I consider this an "about time" find as we are the thirty-fifth out of the thirty-nine Washington counties to record this species. However the vast majority of counties have only records of migrating birds, especially in the fall, so having a pair on territory is a special treat. We'll try to keep a watch on this pair to see if there are further developments.
Be healthy and safe out there.
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