Precipitous Decline of Marbled Murrelet in Washington – How You Can Help
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The Marbled Murrelet is a robin-sized bird that was listed as threatened in 1992 under the Endangered Species Act. This bird spends most of its life on near-shore waters from northern California to Alaska. It flies inland to breed high in the canopy of old-growth forest within sixty miles of shore.
The NW Forest Plan was created in 1993 to protect breeding habitat for Marbled Murrelet and Northern Spotted Owl. Without this plan there would now be no old-growth forest on state or federal lands; however, private landowners can cut any timber.
This August shocking news was published on the status of Marbled Murrelet after 20 years of the NW Forest Plan. The science report said:
- In Washington State the Plan has not been successful--the population of Marbled Murrelet has declined 48% since 2001.
- This decline in numbers is tied to decline in breeding habitat, mostly due to timber harvest of habitat on nonfederal lands. Marine conditions were not an important factor.
- The decrease in both habitat and numbers is the largest in SW Washington, where there is little federal forested land. To read the full report, go to “MAMU GTR” at the bottom of http://www.reo.gov/monitoring/reports/20yr-report/
At current rates of decline there will be no Marbled Murrelet in SW Washington within 15 years! If the SW Washington population disappears, the northern population of birds in Washington, Canada and Alaska will be genetically isolated from the southern population in Oregon and California. This genetic bottleneck could quickly lead to species extinction. The situation for Marbled Murrelets is critical.
BUT YOU CAN HELP THIS OCTOBER! To find out how, click the read more below.
Read more: Precipitous Decline of Marbled Murrelet in Washington – How You Can Help
August 2015 Cowlitz County Bird List
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Russ Koppendrayer's outlook into the fall:
Fall migration of neotropical species winds down in the first half of September, but we should have some spurts of these birds for a couple of weeks. Shorebird species have about the same time frame, but they can be extremely difficult in Cowlitz during the fall as all the shallow ponds tend to dry up leaving very little appropriate habitat. The former Longview Sewage Treatment Ponds out at the west end of town (Ocean Beach Highway at Coal Creek Rd.) seem to be worth checking however. These have been decommissioned and the edges offer a bit of mud for shorebirds as they dry out in late summer. Be warned that a spotting scope is really needed to thoroughly check this site from the pull-out along Coal Creek Rd and walking along the gated dike.
Download the pdf file here.
Columbia Riverkeeper's new Handford video
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This August marks the 70th anniversary of the devastating bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, during World War II. Hanford produced the plutonium for “Fat Man,” the nuclear bomb dropped on Nagasaki, Japan. Watch Columbia Riverkeeper's newest short film, “Hanford: A Race Against Time” showing how Hanford’s nuclear legacy poses an ever-present threat to the Columbia River and river communities.
Columbia Riverkeepers are also collecting signatures for a petition to President Obama about Hanford cleanup. Go here for more information.
Fall 2015 Whistler is online
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The Fall 2015 Whistler is available now.
Read more of its content:
- Lower Columbia Interpretive Center Bird Exhibit
- Membership Form
- Ridgefield Birdfest and Bluegrass
- Okanogan Trip – Spring 2015
- Unusual American Goldfinches
- Loss of Forest Snags in the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest
- WHAS partners with Lower Columbia School Gardens
- Marbled Murrelet updates
- Audubon Birds and Climate Change Report
- Programs and Fieldtrips
June 2015 Cowlitz County Bird List
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Russ Koppendrayer take on June:
In the last few years with the growing breeding colony of American White Pelicans on Miller Sands Island in the Columbia estuary coupled with the frequent sightings in the Ridgefield and Sauvie Island areas and into some Portland/Vancouver sites, I assumed these were some of the same individuals. It seemed they needed to be passing through along the Columbia here in Cowlitz County as they traveled between locales, but we had only a couple of reports. That changed this year in an interesting way. We've had a number of reports and over half of them are of someone checking out a soaring raptor and noticing a flock of pelicans high above the raptor. When they pass through they are soaring at altitudes where they are not noticed with the naked eye. Keep your eyes skyward in locations near the river for a chance to see this impressive species.
Download the pdf file here.
May 2015 Cowlitz County Bird List
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There are only a handful of records of Swainson's Hawk for Cowlitz County and we can go years between sightings. In early May there was an adult of this species at the south end of the Woodland Bottoms and amazingly a yearling at the same spot in late May.
Possibly more interesting than the rare bird sightings this spring has been the nesting Great Egrets along Kuhnis Road in the Woodland Bottoms. The only previous western Washington nesting records for this species are from the Port of Kalama for a number of years, but not 2014 or 2015. The Great Egrets join the already nesting Great Blue Herons about a month later and build nests above and alongside just as the trees begin to leaf out, making observation a bit difficult. It appears that there are as many as 10 Great Egret nests this year and can best be seen with a scope from a pull out along Dike Road west of Kuhnis Road near the house boats in the Lewis River.
Download the pdf file here.
Summer 2015 Whistler is online
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The Summer 2015 Whistler is available now.
Read more of its content:
- Invitation to the Annual Picnic for Members and Friends on Sunday July 26
- Become the Leader for the Leadbetter Christmas Bird Count
- Membership Form
- Lake Sacajawea - Family Friendly in a BIG way
- Book Review: The Thing with Feathers
- Black Phoebe's at Julia Butler-Hanson Refuge
- Program and Field Trips
April 2015 Cowlitz County Bird List
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In April many of the neotropical migrants were making their return earlier than normal by as much as two weeks. This was most likely due to the lack of any weather systems that would ground the birds on their trip between here and their wintering areas. The most unusual appearance was made by a Sage Thrasher which apparently took a wrong turn on it's way to the shrub-steppe habitats of eastern Washington. The bird put in a one day showing at the Longview Mint Farm where it was seen by at least seven birders. This species seems to be found in one or two western Washington locales each spring, but this was the first ever record for Cowlitz County.
Download the pdf file here.
An Egrets Frustration
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This Egret caught this bull frog several times, but it was too big, and eventually it walked away from it.
Black Phoebe’s at Julia Butler-Hansen Refuge
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By Jon Heale
Historically an occasional visitor, the Black Phoebe was a rare sight at the Julia Butler-Hansen Refuge for the Columbian White-tailed Deer; there had been a few sightings each year, but no known nests.
In 2014 refuge staff noticed a pair frequenting the covered corner of a tide gate and decided to check it out…a nest! Staff thought there had been a successful first brood, as two to three more Phoebe’s were hanging around throughout late spring-early summer. However, a second clutch of eggs was apparently unsuccessful as they remain in the unattended nest throughout summer.
As I write this (March 13), the Phoebe’s are in the process of building a new nest in the opposite corner of the tide gate. The pair is hard at work gathering blades of grass, stems, and mud. Make a stop into the refuge office and check them out!
They can often be spotted from the Headquarters observation deck, near the tide gate under Steamboat Slough Road.
- Proposed Propane Development Faces a Setback In Longview
- Spring 2015 Whistler is online
- 2014 Cowlitz County bird count recap:
- Wildlife Sightings
- Winter 2014 Whistler is online
- Fall 2014 Whistler is online
- WHAS opposes Fossil Fuel Export Facilities
- July - August 2014 Whistler is online
- Osprey nest near Woodland
- First Ever Black-throated Sparrow seen in Woodland