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By Russ Koppendrayer
We were able to add nine species to our year list in March as migrants continued to trickle in. Nothing was particularly rare as all these species are expected in Cowlitz County. The arrival of Caspian Terns at the mouth of the Kalama River was a mild surprise as we typically don't expect them until early April, but what I found more interesting was that these appeared before any reports at the mouth of the Columbia River. Off the top of my head I don't recall that happening previously. The Ruffed Grouse of course is a year round resident that had escaped detection during the first two months of the year.
As April continues and we get into May migration will really ramp up and we'll add species at a faster pace. So get out there and enjoy migration from your yard or by checking more habitat types.
Download the pdf here.
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By Russ Koppendrayer
During February we continued to add wintering and year around resident species to our Cowlitz County year list. The flock of Common Redpolls found in mid January were seen occasionally through the first three weeks of the month for over a month's visit. This county rarity was enjoyed by many.
The rarity added in February was a couple of Pelagic Cormorants in early breeding plumage seen flying downstream at Willow Grove. This appears to be the third record for the county. As the name implies this species is rarely seen away from salt water, with the brackish Gray's Bay being the farthest upstream on the Columbia River to find this species with any regularity.
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By Russ Koppendrayer
As usual we got our year list off to a nice start on New Year's Day with the Christmas Bird Count, but the addition of more folks interested in the birding hobby and use of eBird has been valuable for additions to the list as well.
The most unusual bird species of the month was a flock of Common Redpolls found at 7th Avenue Park in Longview on January 17th. This is the second record for Cowlitz County and unlike the 2018 birds that were here and gone, this group seems to be still present at this writing on February 2nd. While they have been seen by numerous birders their presence at the park has been intermittent. The best chance to find them seems to be right after sunrise when they appear in the alder trees between the soccer field and the drainage ditch. Sometimes their stay is only a few minutes and other times they have been seen there for over an hour. We've never figured out where they spend the time away from the park. These birds that nest in northern Canada and Alaska and rarely get this far south in Washington in winter may linger for another month or be gone tomorrow.
Download the pdf here.
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By Russ Koppendrayer
As usual the last two months of the year didn't add many species to our Cowlitz County year list. The three additions included a Ring-necked Pheasant in November. This species seems to be getting more difficult to find each year and my take is that they are no longer successfully breeding in the county and we are only finding them after WDFW does their fall release in the Woodland Bottoms for the hunters. Also found were Red-throated Loon and Pacific Loon which are both not quite annual in the county. Amazingly they were both seen in the Columbia River at the mouth of the Kalama River on the late date of December 29.
Our final species list of 204 is above average, but short of our all time best record of 209 species set in 2020. The only species completely new to the list was Great Gray Owl. We did not have any misses for species that are expected annually.
As of this writing we are already getting going on our 2022 list. Enjoy the birding in 2022.
Download the pdf here.
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By Russ Koppendrayer
We've managed to add five species since the last update at the end of August. A Semipalmated Plover was actually seen in mid August, but not on the eBird accepted list until September. The rarest find was the county's fourth record of Broad-winged Hawk seen by a hawk watcher in the Woodland Bottoms where all previous records also occurred during fall migration. All these records have occurred in three of the last four years, which would seem to imply that they may have been passing through in small numbers for years since this hawk watch has only been happening for four years. The ridge just east of I-5 just north of Woodland may just be one of the primary migration corridors in western Washington for hawks and especially Turkey Vultures.
Also of interest was the number of reports of Surf Scoter in October. While we expect to see small numbers in the Columbia River as they migrate through in October through early November we had a group of six at Willow Grove and a number of reports from the Woodland Bottoms area. Three were even in the ponds of the former Longview sewage treatment facility, which is not an annual place for them. Furthermore all these birds were either females or juvenile males with no adult males present. Who knows what is driving this phenomenon.
Download the pdf here.