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The Oregonian recently featured the Vaux Swifts in Rainier Ore, check out the video below and see our volunteers in action. Scroll down further for some more info if you would like to go.
Several years ago, Darrel Whipple and crew removed the grating covering the smokestack at Riverside Community church in Rainier OR. The purpose was to attract Vaux swifts during their twice-yearly migration.
The southward migration of the swifts from all over the Northwest usually starts in September, affording us more opportunities to view thousands of them entering the chimney. The success was greater that possibly imagined. One Sunday night in early September last year saw 25000 birds enter the chimney before dark. Similar counts happen each night during the 3-4 weeks of migration. You can watch them and meet our volunteers from the corner of W D St and W 3rd St near Fox Creek in Rainier, Ore.
Larry Schwitters of Vaux’s Happening recently sent out the rankings for the top 14 roost sites on the flyway for the migration. Rainier's Riverside Community Church ranked first, second or third in all three categories!
Enjoy the video and come and see the spectacle in person.
The birds can be unpredictable but, in general, if the weather is relatively calm, they begin entering the roost around an hour before sunset and conclude half an hour after sunset.
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As they have for the last several years The Carbon Capture Foundation (TCCF), a charitable organization sponsored by one of our own WHAS members, Norm Dick, is offering free bare root native tree seedlings to all WHAS members, their families and friends for planting on their property. Primarily four species will be provided: Douglas fir, western red cedar, black cottonwood, and red alder. However if other species are needed, that may be possible by special arrangement. Generally the limit per household is 240 seedlings per year, but this limit may be exceeded by arrangement with TCCF. If you, your family or friends wish to order seedlings you, your family or friends may contact WHAS by
The seedlings will be delivered to WHAS this next winter between late December and the end of February. WHAS will be in contact with those requesting trees to coordinate delivery dates and times. Tree recipients are responsible for making arrangements to plant their seedlings and maintaining them. WSU Extension Foresters are available to help with questions online, by phone and sometimes in person. Also materials on seedling planting, care and maintenance will be provided by TCCF when you pick up the seedlings.
The only limitations for receiving the free seedlings is that they cannot be used for commercial purposes, for replanting areas you have had logged, or for planting areas that you have to plant to keep your ground as forest land for tax purposes. For planting purposes these trees should generally be planted about 12 feet apart. And cedars are best planted in areas that tend to be wet or close to wet areas. With our current drought conditions cedars are struggling to survive in dry areas that they formerly did well in.
Home and farm owners should take advantage of this great offer.
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From the WHAS Board
At a special board meeting recently a majority of the board present voted unanimously to begin a process of investigation into a name change to the organization.
By consensus a committee has been appointed to begin this process and the end result will most likely be a name change that won’t include the name Audubon but will honor our founding as a National Audubon chapter in 1975.
The board took this action after more than a year’s discussion of the issue and the special two hour meeting held on February 11, ending with the resolution to seriously look into a name change.
The discussion has been ongoing since at least 2021 when National Audubon began in earnest to address JJ Audubon’s flawed character and slave-holding past. That discussion followed efforts to make Audubon more inviting to a new and more inclusive generation of Americans, and evolved into a national debate on whether to retain the Audubon name.
A decision on that discussion is expected to conclude soon. Similarly, Seattle Audubon decided last year to drop Audubon from that chapter’s name and is expected to announce a new name sometime in June. Several other chapters nationwide have also decided to change their names, and still others await the decision at the national level.
With all this in mind, and more, the WHAS board has decided to move forward but on our own terms. We acted with a nod to the future and our ability to gain new members and also to be more impactful. We noted that the organization was never primarily about Mr Audubon and his personal story but about birding and by changing the name we can move forward cleanly. We also believe this can be done without striking off JJ Audubon’s achievements in ornithology, but by carefully re-examining him, and his history, with solid and nuanced scholarship.
We counsel care at the national and state level of Audubon, to move with a transition plan in place if the name is changed; and for continuing cooperation with all current chapters, if not. We want to emphasize the legacy of respect that the Audubon Society has built in the US and around the world, the citizen science and the conservation efforts to protect all bird species and their habitats.
Again, WHAS has benefited from our relationship with the wider world of Audubon and so the board is most concerned about this issue of transition here in Washington state, where the statewide Audubon WA is so effective.
The board continues to be open to comments from you chapter members, get in contact through our Contact page. As of now, there is no timeline for action and any change will be the result of careful consideration and a continuing conversation with you.
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Several years ago, Darrel Whipple and crew removed the grating covering the smokestack at Riverside Community church in Rainier OR. The purpose was to attract Vaux swifts during their twice-yearly migration.
The southward migration of the swifts from all over the Northwest usually starts in September, affording us more opportunities to view thousands of them entering the chimney. The success was greater that possibly imagined. One Sunday night in early September last year saw 19,514 birds enter the chimney before dark. Similar counts happen each night during the 2-3 weeks of migration. You can watch them and meet our volunteers from the corner of W D St and W 3rd St near Fox Creek in Rainier, Ore.
Larry Schwitters of Vaux’s Happening recently sent out the rankings for the top 14 roost sites on the flyway for the northbound migration Rainier's Riverside Community Church ranked second or third in all three categories! Enjoy the video from the previous chimney and come and see the spectacle at the new location in person.
The birds can be unpredictable but, in general, if the weather is relatively calm, they begin entering the roost around an hour before sunset and conclude half an hour after sunset.
The count on Monday, September 12th, was 24035, they started entering the chimney at 7:30pm and finished by 8pm.
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The Cowlitz PUD Osprey cam is live again for 2022.
They provide a free children’s guide (PDF) built around Osprey Migration and Electrical Safety. See the videos on YouTube: Camera one has a view from above, and camera two from the side with the audio.