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Great Backyard Bird Count Feb 17-20

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Backyard Birdcount Website

The Great Backyard Bird Count is scheduled for Feb 17-20, 2017. This is citizen science at its best. You can view and report birds wherever you are during this weekend. Last year over 5000 people participated around the world and reported over 18 million individual birds. 

Please go to www.gbbc.birdcount.org for information on participation.

Final 2016 Cowlitz County Bird List

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Courtesy of the US FWS

Acorn Woodpecker - Image courtesy of the US FWS

Here is what bird list maintainer Russ Koppendrayer's says of 2016:

We had another fine year with 204 species in the county. We seem to be able to break the 200 species barrier with more regularity in recent years, likely a product of both more birders as well as better reporting. Thanks to all who shared their finds on Tweeters and/or eBird as well as those who contacted me separately. 
 
Our only miss of birds usually seen annually in the county was Long-billed Dowitcher, a shorebird that migrates through both spring and fall. We missed it in the spring, and the really dry summer and fall left us with almost none of its preferred mudflat habitat for possible fall sightings.
 
Highlights from the last two months included an Acorn Woodpecker that visited a feeder in the Goble Creek area for about a week and was seen by numerous birders. This  was the third ever record for the county, and amazingly they are in 2014, 2015, and 2016 all in late fall or winter. Also found was our second ever Palm Warbler that spent a couple days in Willow Grove Park during a snow event, foraging on the ground in snow free spots under trees and near sidewalks.  

Download the pdf file here.

 

Winter 2016 Whistler is online

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The Fall 2016 Whistler is available now.

 

Click to Download the pdf

Read more of its content: 

  • Lake Scajawea Bird Walk and Count
  • WHAS sponsors Arizona field Trip
  • Membership Form
  • NW Bird Events
  • 2016 Christmas Bird Count Details
  • Ongoing Citizen Science at home “Project Feeder Watch”
  • Bring more birds to your home with native plants
  • Coffee 101
  • During this dark season, remember that too much light can be hard on wildlife
  • Programs and Fieldtrips

September/October 2016 Cowlitz County Bird List

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Courtesy of the US FWS

Clark's Nutcracker - Image courtesy of the US FWS

Russ Koppendrayer's says of the last two months:

Only three species added to the list in the last couple months as is typical for this time of year. Also fairly typical was the fact that all three are rare visitors to our area. An amazing ten Clark's Nutcrackers were seen at the Forest Learning Center near the Mt. St. Helens National Monument. This species is common to the Cascade crest near Mt. Adams, but this is only the third record in Cowlitz County. A Brown Pelican was photographed flying rapidly UPSTREAM at Woodland, a species that rarely comes anywhere near this far up the Columbia and is more associated with salt water. Also a third record for Cowlitz was a Pelagic Cormorant photographed swimming in the Columbia at Woodland. As its name suggests this too is a species that rarely gets upstream past the brackish water of the estuary.

Two months left for some more exciting finds, so as usual get out there and do some birding.

Download the pdf file here.

 

Fall 2016 Whistler is online

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The Fall 2016 Whistler is available now.

 

Click to Download the pdf

Read more of its content: 

  • Program: The Natural World Puts on a Show -- Celebrating What's Right With the World
  • Charlotte Persons Retires from the Board
  • Membership Form
  • NW Bird Events
  • Fallen Leaf Nature Library Niche needs new space
  • Cowlitz County Birdlist
  • Murder Mystery
  • Vaux's Swifts are starting to roost in the chimney of Carpet One in Rainier
  • Mary Ellen Covert Remembrance
  • State Fears Extinction of Marbled Murrelets
  • Programs and Fieldtrips

July/August 2016 Cowlitz County Bird List

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Russ Koppendrayer's take:

As is fairly typical of the July - August period we added only a few species, primarily regular species that we had missed earlier and some that we find most years, but also sometimes miss.

Coming up is that late fall and early winter season which can be most productive for vagrants that have never been encountered in the county before or only once or twice. Many times these are young birds that get their migration route a little confused.

Let's get out there and enjoy the movement of the birds.

Download the pdf file here.

 

Bald Eagle will be released at Willow Grove

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For most nature lovers, spotting a bald eagle is a conversation-halting moment. Without fail, everyone falls silent to watch the magnificent bird soar, swoop, or simply reign over a towering tree.

WHEN: Wednesday, August 31st at 12:30 PM, celebratory cake to follow

WHERE: Willow Grove Park, Willow Grove Rd., Longview, WA 98632

Note: the closest parking lot to the release site is the one just after the boat launch parking lot. Please keep your eyes open for signs and volunteers providing directions.

Read more: Bald Eagle will be released at Willow Grove

Vaux's Swifts have been seen in Rainier, OR

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Linda Jennings reported that on Saturday, August 13, 259 Vaux's Swifts roosted in the chimney of Carpet One in Rainier, across highway 30 from the City Hall. And on Monday, August 15, she counted 374 using the chimney.

People wishing to check out this phenomenon for themselves will have the best chance from half an hour before sunset until half an hour after sunset. (The southward migration of the swifts from all over the Northwest usually starts in September, affording us more opportunities to view hundreds of them entering the chimney.) You can park along Highway 30 or along A Street, or in parking lots nearby.

 If you have questions or info to share you may call Darrel Whipple at 503-556-9838, or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.Linda. 

Summer 2016 Whistler is online

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Click to Download the pdfThe Summer 2016 Whistler is available now.

 

Read more of its content: 

  • WHAS has a new Board
  • Hummingbird feeder info
  • Membership Form
  • NW Bird Events
  • Update on the Gourds installed at Indian Jack Slough
  • Update on the Fallen Leave Niche
  • Images of RB Nuthatch and Cormorant
  • WHAS will be at Bob’s Kids day
  • Would-be rescuers should leave young wildlife alone
  • Programs and Fieldtrips

June 2016 Cowlitz County Bird List

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Russ Koppendrayer's says of 2016 so far:

We have reached the half way point in the year with exactly the same number of species as last year at this time when we set a record for the most species seen in the county for a calendar year in the ten years of this project. Last year we did have a phenomenal run of unusual species from mid-October through mid-December to reach that 207 species total. Since we have seen the winter birds and a migration into the breeding season, additions to the 192 species to date will come much slower and I'll be sending updates every two months rather than monthly for the rest of the year as usual.

Download the pdf file here.

 

WA Audubon News