Leadbetter Christmas Bird Count Results

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Last Updated: March 03, 2020

By Robert Sudar

Strong coastal storm systems in the preceding days gave way to better weather on Saturday, December 21^st, as 29 intrepid counters took part in the Leadbetter Point Christmas Bird Count.  The count circle is centered in Willapa Bay and includes about half of the Long Beach Peninsula along with a considerable portion of land on the east side of the bay.  The counters were distributed over seven portions of the circle, recording species and numbers from before daylight (when a Great Horned Owl was heard!) until dusk.  Overall, 97 species were seen (or heard) on count day and two more during “count week”. 

As has been the case every year there were some interesting results, both encouraging and disappointing.  On a positive note, there were record numbers of Pacific Loon (8), Pied-bill Grebe (27), Spotted Towhee (86), Brown Creeper (8), Double-crested Cormorant (128), Red-winged Blackbird (500), Brewer’s Blackbird (192), Bald Eagle (58), Pine Siskin (953), Ring-billed Gull (1425!), Eurasian-collared Dove (125) and Belted Kingfisher (28).  That’s a lot of new record highs!

On the other hand, there were no Scaups of either species at all, along with no Mourning Doves and only a single Coot.  There were also no Great Egrets or Bitterns, species which are not always seen but still a disappointment when we can’t include them.  I remember seeing my first Great Egret on the 1981 count, the first time I participated, in the Bay Center area.  I find it interesting that I now see them so frequently in the Longview area, but they appear to remain only an occasional visitor to the coast.

2020 Cowlitz County Bird List - February Update

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Last Updated: March 01, 2020

By Russ Koppendrayer

WOW! On February 6th 2020 the first ever MEGA-rarity for Cowlitz County was discovered around a small weedy field in the Woodland Bottoms. This Siberian Accentor breeds in the region it's named for and typically winters in Korea and eastern China. It possibly got to Alaska last fall either by poor navigation or blown by winds, and continued its migration south on the wrong continent until it liked the looks of the little patch in our county, where this tiny five and a half inch bird was seen as recently as 2/29/2020. While this is the third record for Washington State, I believe it to be only the fifth for the lower 48, with Idaho and Montana having one each. There is one record in British Columbia that I'm aware of and 20 or so in Alaska. The vast majority of the Alaskan records are from islands in the Bering Sea during fall migration however.

Within a couple hours of its discovery the Siberian Accentor had been publicized on Birder list serves in both Washington and Oregon as well as a national Rare Bird Alert Facebook page, all with directions to its west end of Stenerson road location as well as the attached photo on the Facebook page. So thus the Accentor Chase Mania began. By Thursday afternoon of the day it was found there were about 25 avid birders there hoping for a glimpse of this rarity. The crowds would swell to many times that Friday through Sunday before slowly thinning out as time passed. Throughout its stay it has been a test of patience for many as the Siberian Accentor can disappear into vegetation for hours at a time before popping up for a few minutes. It does seem to be punctual about 10-15 minutes before official sunrise to stop in the top of a small apple tree by the last driveway on the north side of the road. It is there for anywhere from two to seven minutes. 

Hoping to add this Asian rarity to their life list or big year list or just curious because it's so rare has brought people from around the country to this little dead end road near Woodland. I wish there had been a way to do some kind of head count along with home bases for all these visitors. Left to my own devices I've counted all the posts to eBird (a Cornell University site to share your findings) and found over 450 individual posts and growing. Being aware that some have seen the bird and posted more than once I believe there have been about 425 individuals that have posted. Since it is my estimation that less than half the visitors post to this web site, I believe that we are approaching 1000 birders that have seen this bird, if we haven't already surpassed that figure. This includes visitors from at least 22 states I've been able to document including Hawaii and numerous Atlantic seaboard state.  

Also in February a Black-legged Kittiwake was seen from Gearhart Gardens dining on the smelt run. This was the second ever record for Cowlitz County.

Download the pdf here.

Spring 2020 Whistler is online

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Last Updated: February 27, 2020

The Spring 2020 Whistler is available now.

Read more of its content: 

• President message: Time for Renewal
• Invitation to the Annual Meeting Banquet
• NW Birding Events
• Christmas Bird Count Results
• New Report: Global Warning Affects Birds
• Update on the Children’s Discovery Museum
• WHAS To Make Membership Renewal Changes
• Vaux’s Swift in Rainier, Oregon Review 

2020 Cowlitz County Bird List - January Update

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Last Updated: February 04, 2020

By Russ Koppendrayer

As usual we got the year off to a fast start with the Christmas Bird Count on New Year's Day. No real rarities were found  in January, but we did find three less than annual species that we missed in 2019.

Two male Redheads were at the former Longview Sewage Ponds. Three California Quail were reported from the Woodland Bottoms. This species was formerly more common there, but habitat fragmentation and spring floods in their nesting area have combined to drive their numbers to nearly nothing and making sightings quite rare. Also a Pacific Loon was in the Columbia River near the Kalama Marina. Here's to a fine year of birding in 2020 for all of you.

Download the pdf here.

2019 Cowlitz County Bird List - Final

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Last Updated: January 04, 2020

By Russ Koppendrayer

We wrapped up an exciting year of birding by adding three species to our year list in the last two months. White-winged Scoter, Wild Turkey, and Mountain Chickadee are all code 4 species, meaning there are at least five previous records in Cowlitz County, but they appear less than annually. This brought our year total to 206, bested only by our 2015 record of 207. 

Cassin's Auklet and Lark Sparrow were species seen in the county for the first time and documented on eBird. This brings the number of species documented in Cowlitz to 280. In addition eight code 5 (1-4 previous records) species were recorded, with the most exciting being the Eastern Kingbird pair that were also documented fledging two chicks.

Our big miss was Western Sandpiper which went unrecorded in spite of being an annual visitor.

Download the pdf here.

Winter 2019 Whistler is online

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Last Updated: November 30, 2019

The Winter 2019 Whistler is available now.

Read more of its content: 

• President message: Expanding our Range
• NW Birding Events
• Christmas Bird Count sign up details
• New Report: Global Warning Affects Birds
• The Children’s Discovery Museum has a new home in Longview, WA
• Purple Martin Nest Box Program on the Long Beach Peninsula
• Nomination Form for 2020 Elections
• WHAS To Make Membership Renewal Changes
• Vaux’s Swift in Rainier, Oregon Review

2019 Cowlitz County Bird List - October Update

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Last Updated: November 02, 2019

By Russ Koppendrayer

During the last couple months Cowlitz County was graced with the presence of some species rarely seen here.

The county's third record of Red-necked Phalarope was found at the former Longview Sewage Ponds and remained for at least four days. Our second record of Heermann's Gull was on a sandbar near the mouth of the Kalama River, but flew off shortly after being photographed by the initial observer.

While each of these was a fun find, the star of the period was a Ferruginous Hawk that was regularly seen by numerous people in the Woodland Bottoms during its stay of over two weeks. Not only was this the first ever record of Ferruginous Hawk in Cowlitz County, but this denizen of remote spots of the arid west during summer has only made a handful of appearances in western Washington. Most of those were just fly overs such that this bird was only the second to be photographed in the wetter side of the state.

Download the pdf here.

Rainier Vaux's Swift Observation Results

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Last Updated: November 02, 2019

Video of Vaux's Swift in Rainier Ore

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Last Updated: February 06, 2023

WHAS is actively monitoring the population of Vaux's Swifts by counting the birds as they enter their regular stopping places during the northbound migration in May and the southbound migration in September. 

Check out this video (click on the image)  taken on September 20 by Diane Yorgason-Quinn:

Don’t miss the show at Riverside Community Church, lower parking lot in Rainier, Oregon. The first birds entered the chimney around 7:30pm on September 20th.

2019 Cowlitz County Bird List - August Update

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Last Updated: September 04, 2019

By Russ Koppendrayer

Download the pdf here.