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By Russ Koppendrayer
While we added some nice species to our composite year list in February, none of them fit in the rarity category.
The smelt runs up the Columbia River and its Cowlitz County tributaries is one of the great spectacles of nature. These tiny but highly nutritious fish attract hordes of predators as they come upstream, including many sea lions, hundreds of Bald Eagles and thousands of gulls. Typically during a large smelt run (this year was one) we find a few vagrant gull species as mixed with the huge flocks of the usual seven species. This year a single Bonaparte's Gull was the sole oddity found in spite of a fairly robust effort by knowledgeable birders. While not one of our regular seven winter species it's not quite a rarity as we expect to see a few during their spring migration in April.
A middle of February sighting of Barn Swallow was also about two months early although winter records of the species are becoming more frequent. All other additions to the list were expected arrivals or resident species we happened to miss in January.
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By Russ Koppendrayer
After not adding any new species to our complete list in 2022 we started off the new year with a bang by adding Brandt's Cormorant before noon on the 1st. This fish eating bird has a strong proclivity for salt water and very rarely would come this far upstream on the Columbia River. Found first at the end of Sportsman's Club Road, it was spotted again that day across the river from the Rainier Marina. On the morning of January 2nd it was seen for the last time near the Lewis and Clark Bridge.
Another rarity for the month was our fourth record of Ross's Goose, found mid month floating in the Columbia at Woodland in a large raft of diving ducks.
As usual we got the month off to a fine start with the Christmas Bird Count giving us a nice number of species on January 1st. Here's to a great year of birding for all of you.
Download the pdf here.
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By Russ Koppendrayer
During the last two months of 2022 we added three species to our Cowlitz year list. All of them were waterfowl found in the Woodland to Kalama stretch of the Columbia River. Red-breasted Merganser and Pacific Loon we find most years with an occasional miss. The Clark's Grebe was the prize find of the period as we can go numerous years between sightings of this species.
Overall 2022 was a great year for birders in Cowlitz County with the 208 species recorded being only one shy of our all time record of 209. We had no misses of our annually expected species. Also there were no new species added to the all time list with super rarity finds. Of the species that started the year with less than five records we managed to locate nine.
2023 got off to a rousing start when a bird was found from a species never before seen in Cowlitz County. But that remains to be detailed here a month from now. Time to get out there and enjoy another year of birding.
Download the pdf here.
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By Russ Koppendrayer
As frequently happens, the September and October period of fall migration brought a few new species to Cowlitz County for our year list. This year it was a total of six new species giving us 203 for 2022. Surf Scoter and Pectoral Sandpiper are annual or nearly so, while Semipalmated Sandpiper is a little less frequent but not a huge surprise. Both of these sandpipers are a bit unique in that they are very rare in western Washington in spring migration, but are expected to pass through in the fall.
The biggest surprise of the period was the county's second record Long-billed Curlew found on a sandbar in the Columbia River in the Woodland Bottoms. Unfortunately it was only seen by a few before being displaced by the incoming tide and disappearing, not to be relocated.
The late September through early October migration of Turkey Vultures along the ridge line east of I-5 north of Woodland has been attracting more counters the last few years. This year the biggest day was October 8th when 1014 passed by. Counters also added Lewis's Woodpecker to the year list with single individuals seen on two different days. There's only been a handful of previous records of this woodpecker. Five years ago when vulture counting started our first record of Broad-winged Hawk was seen in Cowlitz County. This year three different birds were seen and that makes it four out of the last five years they have been seen migrating through.
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By Russ Koppendrayer
With a week to go in August I thought we'd have no additional species to report for the last two months.
Then in the last four days we added two species. Both Baird's Sandpiper and Common Tern were found at the mouth of the Kalama River on the gravel bars at low tide. Baird's Sandpiper is a species seen in Cowlitz County during fall migration, but only about one out of every three years. Common Tern is seen even less frequently as this is only the third ever record for the county, all in August or September.
With fall migration in high gear now we hope to make a few more additions in the next couple months..
Download the pdf here.