End of one year list, beginning of another

With the end of 2019, so too came the end of my first decade tracking my bird year lists. While I traveled a lot throughout the year, I didn't go as far as some years, with just three states/provinces visited (Washington, Oregon, British Columbia). As a result, it's perhaps not surprising that 2019 was a tie for my second lowest year list count at 192 species. I fell short of my goal of reaching 200 species, and also fell just short of my goal of photographing 90% of the species on my year list, registering 88.5% with 170 species photographed.

Dave and my dad have also participated in the annual year list challenge, and my dad again won for the 8th time in the nine years he has participated, aided by some great trips to different regions. 

I added two life birds in 2019: the red knot while hitting the spring shorebird migration in Westport, and the lapland longspur during fall migration right on San Juan Island - a long sought after species for me, and a great photo op to boot!

Lapland longspur: one of my two lifers in 2019, and also one of my favorite bird photos overall for the year

I did manage to tally 144 species in San Juan County for the year, just above my annual average of 140 species, but still well short of the 176 species tallied by Phil! 

Ever since I started the year list challenge, January 1 has become a big day for birding. The last several years have been limited to San Juan Island, which alongside less than optimal weather has made for lower than hoped for Day One totals. This year, I was excited to be able to start the year list north of the border near the Fraser River delta, one of my favorite winter birding areas. On top of that, after a very stormy end to 2019, we got sunshine and no wind to start 2020!

The first and main stop for the day was the Reifel Bird Sanctuary, where despite not getting a super early start we still managed to beat the holiday crowds and tally 43 species at the preserve. The first unexpected find was a very cooperative flock of cedar waxwings.

It was so nice to start off the year with great photo ops of many of the common species; it feels so much better to add sunlit photos to the photo year list rather than dreary gray images!

Two more unforeseen additions were this fox sparrow and a flock of 30 (!!) greater yellowlegs:

About a dozen of us have also been participating in a photo year list challenge for the last three years. in 2019 we added the twist of no "hand of man" in the photos, meaning no birds sitting on wires, with buildings in the background, etc. The 2020 edition of the photo year list is now expanding beyond birds to include all vertebrates, and my first non-avian addition was this eastern gray squirrel. The first mammal I saw was actually a mink, which would have been an awesome addition as it's not guaranteed to make the list this year at all, but sadly he was too fast for me to get the camera up in time!

Mammal #1 for the year: eastern gray squirrel

One of the most hoped-for species at Reifel was the sandhill crane. We got a flyover early on in our visit, and I thought that was going to be it, but thankfully just before we left we came across five of them in just a perfect setting for photos.

After Reifel we made two other stops that were a bit disappointing in their lack of birdiness, and the best species added over the rest of the day indeed came alongside the road and not at one of our stops: a rough-legged hawk. (Yay for the no hand of man rule!)

Sadly after one awesome day it looks like the weather will be turning again, but we've still got a couple days of play before heading back home and to work, so fingers crossed there is still some good birding to be had despite the weather! Day one, though, certainly did not disappoint, with 54 species on the bird year list and 37 species on the vertebrate photo year list.

2010 Forest Grove Christmas Bird Count

We made it down to Portland a couple of days ago, just in time for me to participate in the 111th Christmas Bird Count yesterday with my dad. First thing in the morning we headed out to Forest Grove where we met up with other birders before heading out to our sector. Just like last year, we were assigned to the sector that included Fernhill Wetlands, where we found 61 species during the 2009 count. Of course, our goal this year was to beat that total.

The weather forecast wasn't the greatest and while last year's count started with a beautiful sunrise and sub-freezing temperatures, this year's count started with gray dawn and rain showers. We started at Fernhill wetlands where the first species on the day list included common mergansers, buffllehead, mew gulls, and northern shoveler. As we started making our way around the ponds we added more of the expected species including Canada geese, cackling geese, great blue herons, double-crested cormorants, mallards, and mourning doves.

When we veered away from the main trail back into more of the woodland habitat we found golden-crowned sparrows, a single Eurasian collared-dove, and our only ruby-crowned kinglet of the day. We found a couple of Lincoln's sparrows, which I thought was a great find since it's only the second time I've seen that species (the first time being earlier this year in Haines, Alaska!). We also saw four raptor species including the American kestrel, red-tailed hawk, northern harrier, and bald eagle. Before we finished at the wetlands, we added a fifth, a peregrine falcon.

Back on the main path by the bigger lakes were large flocks of waterfowl, and we found a common teal male in with the green-winged teal as well as a trio of canvasback and hundreds of northern pintail. We also spotted one of our two great egrets for the day. Near the edge of the marsh we also spotted the marsh wren that eluded us last year. In the same grassy habitat we spooked a green heron, which turned out to be the only one seen in the whole count area that day. We also found a few ruddy ducks.

Once we had completed the circuit the weather had cleared up and the sun even came out for a while. We took advantage of the better light to get the scope out and scan the lake for species we might have missed in the pre-dawn light of the early morning. This proved fruitful as we found an eared grebe (year bird #226) to add to our grebe list that already included pied-billed grebe, western grebe, and horned grebe all on the same lake. Greg Gillson, one of the count coordinators, also stopped by, and thanks to his expert birding skills we were able to find a pair of immature Thayer's gulls (year bird #227) among the flock of gulls on the lake. I would never have been able to pick them out on my own - immature gulls are a specialty I haven't even begun to master.

By this point we had spent four hours at Fernhill Wetlands and turned up a respectable 51 species, but we still had a lot more territory to cover by car before dusk. Shortly after leaving the wetlands we found the western meadowlarks we had missed earlier, as well as a flock of estimated 900 tundra swans - by far the most I have ever seen in one place! In right with them was a pair of bald eagles, but apparently the swans knew they were too big for the eagles, since they didn't seem nervous in the least. We also found about 40 killdeer in a farm field a little further along.

With all the rain in recent weeks, there was a lot of flooded land to survey, and in one mixed flock of ducks we found a common x Barrow's goldeneye hybrid, something I've never seen before. It had the flat head and small round white patch on the face of a common goldeneye, but the dark sides and back of a Barrow's goldeneye.

After a quick pit-stop in Gaston, we drove a stretch along Highway 47 which turned up more waterfowl, and then more of the rural back roads where we found species like western scrub-jays, Steller's jays, and spotted towhees. One of our most productive stops of the day was when we pulled over to admire and try to estimate the numbers in this flock of thousands of northern pintail.

No easy task! And not made any easier when some of them decided to take flight:

But it was a pretty phenomenal spectacle:

So, how many pintail were there? Your guess is probably about as good as mine, but we recorded an estimate of 6000. Now that I'm looking at my pictures I think this could easily be an underestimate! While the flock was dominated by pintail, there were a few other species mixed in, none of which stood out as well as these Canada geese:

At the same stop, we also saw some black-capped chickadees, our only fox sparrow of the day, and heard a ring-necked pheasant (year bird #228) that called a couple of times in response to some distant thunder.

It was about three in the afternoon at this point, and with the thickening clouds and early sunsets it was already starting to feel like it was getting dark. We doubled back on a road we had already surveyed planning to take one more look at Fernhill Wetlands, but got delayed to examine what we almost dismissed as another American kestrel but turned out to be a merlin. After seeing many kestrels throughout the day, it's streaky chest and overall darkness distinguished it as being somehow "different", which thankfully caused us to pull over and take a closer look.

Back at Fernhill Wetlands, we decided to take one more look for the swamp sparrow that had been seen there the day before. No luck on that species, but we did find the white-crowned sparrows we missed earlier. We first found a couple of immatures mixed in with some golden-crowned sparrows, and I learned that you can tell them apart by the brightness of their beaks, with the white-crowned having bright yellow beaks compared to the golden-crowned. Just in case we had any doubts, we found two adult white-crowned sparrows too. Also on this last short walk of the day we found a Bewick's wren, more glacous-winged gulls than we had seen in the morning, and saw a flock of 15 dunlin that flew overhead.

It was time to head back to reconvene with our fellow birder and come up with our tallies for the day. Here's what our team accomplished:

Hours birded: 8.5

Number of species seen: 67 (compared to 61 last year)

Number of individual birds seen: 11,935 (compared to 4848 last year)

Most number of any one species: 6260 northern pintail

Other impressive species counts: 1930 cackling geese, 960 tundra swans

Miles traveled by car: 47.5

Miles hiked on foot: 4

As a group, we tallied 112 species in our count circle, down slightly from the 117 confirmed for last year's final count, but still above the average.

We beat our personal species count from last year by six species and I added three year birds, which made for a fantastic day's birding, but I was exhausted by the time it was dark outside. I enjoyed a long hot shower and dinner, then went to bed early and had one of the best night's sleep I've had in a long time!

 

Forest Grove Christmas Bird Count

Today my dad and I participated in the 110th annual Christmas Bird Count in Forest Grove (about 25 miles west of Portland). It was a clear, sunny day, but very crisp with the wind chill dropping the temperatures well below freezing. After meeting up with some other volunteers at 7 AM, we headed out just before sunrise. Our sector included Fern Hill Wetlands, so we started there. Here's a view overlooking the main lake just before the sun came up. The flock of waterfowl silhouetted at the far end of the pond turned out to be mostly tundra swans.

We spent a little over three hours hiking around the wetlands and saw most of the expected waterfowl such as large groups northern shovelers; hundreds upon hundreds of northern pintail, Canada geese, and cackling geese; and flocks of mallards, green-winged teal, and common mergansers. We picked up three gull species (mew, glaucous-winged, and ring-billed), three shorebirds (killdeer, dunlin, long-billed dowitcher) and three raptors (bald eagle, red-tailed hawk, American kestrel). The American kestrel was perched on a telephone pole eating a large rat, and it was impressive that it was even able to fly carrying such large prey! In addition to lots of other common species, some highlights included about 30 western meadowlarks and a small flock of yellow-rumped warblers.

By the time we finished our hike we had tallied a respectable 40 species, but all the best finds of the day were yet to come. The first was just across the road where we spotted a single lesser goldfinch. Later on while surveying a pond full of gadwall, I discovered a lone male blue-winged teal. In one lake in addition to tundra swans and northern pintail were several dozen trumpeter swans. I also found a northern shrike perched on the top of some brambles out in the middle of farm country.

My dad scopes out some birds in the reservoir below, where we found our first ring-necked ducks, a ruddy duck, some bufflehead, and a few double-crested cormorants.

Our view from our lunch stop, where we picnicked on cheese and crackers while overlooking the valley below. Once we descended, we found a fox sparrow in some scrub with golden-crowned sparrows and dark-eyed juncos.

While Canada geese were everywhere, we found one flock of about 15 that were the dusky Canada goose subspecies, the smallest of all Canada goose subpopulations. Currently, the dusky population numbers are at record lows (an estimated 6000-7000), which has led to more protection for this particular race. Much of this population overwinters here in the Willamette Valley when they're not at their Alaskan breeding grounds, so local birders like to look for them.Many duskies have been tagged, and about five of the birds in the small flock we saw had red tags around their necks.

European starlings were of course ubiquitous, but this flock had found a rare unfrozen puddle and were taking advantage of the bathing opportunity, splashing water everywhere!

One of the dozen American kestrels we saw throughout the day - the only one who sat still long enough to have his picture taken

The Christmas Bird Count isn't just about counting how many species you see, but how many individuals of every species. I was the tallier for my team, a job which I enjoyed. As a result, I was thinking about all kinds of numbers, so here's a summary of my CBC stats...

Hours birded: 9.5
Number of species seen: 61
Number of individual birds counted: 4848
Most number of any one species: 1768 northern pintail
Miles traveled by car: 60
Miles hiked on foot: 4

At the end of the day we reconvened with other birders to hear about their sightings and see how many species were collectively seen in our 15-mile diameter circle. Overall, the unofficial count was 121 species - not bad at all! Some sightings I'm jealous of include a very rare for this time of year hooded oriole, a long-eared owl, and a flock of common redpolls. Of course the barn owl, blue grouse, and red crossbills some teams were expected to find and did would have been nice too! But, I can't complain. We contributed three unique species to the list that no other team saw - the trumpeter swan, blue-winged teal, and northern shrike.

I'm always impressed with the long daily patch species lists Warren reports over on his blog. You may remember that my dad and I often do "Big Days", usually in the spring or summer, when there's as much as 7 hours more daylight than we had today. Our record is about 90 species in a day, and we usually travel over much greater distances trying to visit a wide variety of habitats. Considering all this, it was pretty spectacular to see 61 species in a day in a relatively small geographic area, especially in December.

Big Day: Birds, Flowers, Amphibians, Mammals, Insects....

Every year my dad and I try to do a "Big Day" of birding, where we try to visit as many habitats and see as many species as possible in a day. Our record is something like 90 species in 14 hours. Today was somewhat of a mini Big Day, with "just" 9 hours of birding, and a focus on more than just the birds.

On our drive to our first destination we picked up a respectable eight species: song sparrow, red-tailed hawk, American crow, European starling, rock pigeon, barn swallow, Brewer's blackbird, and American robin.

Our first stop was just outside of Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge in Washington. Other birders had reported Lazuli buntings in the meadow there, and sure enough, I was able to hear them. The only way they made our day list is because someone else had already reported them and we had played the Lazuli bunting call so I knew what to listen for. Otherwise, they easily would have been dismissed as a sparrow or finch call, and we never saw the bird. At this same meadow we also heard our first Swainson's thrushes of the day, a Pacific-slope flycatcher, a western scrub-jay, and we also saw a Steller's jay harassing a hawk to the point that it flew off its perch.

Right next to where we parked our car to listen for Lazuli buntings was an ant colony:

The meadow was also filled with wildflowers like oxeye daisies, St. John's wort, clovers, and these purple thistles that some American goldfinches were feasting on (Cirsium sp.):

Down at the entrance to the refuge itself we heard and saw some recently fledged Bullock's orioles, heard our first savannah sparrows. As we started on the auto-tour loop that takes you through the wetlands and forested areas of the refuge, we picked up two more swallow species (violet-green and rough-winged), and saw families of mallards, pied-billed grebes, and American coot. Common yellowthroats could be heard singing, great blue herons foraged in the shallows, a turkey vulture soared overhead, and both red-winged and yellow-headed blackbirds perched in the cattail marsh. We also heard the winnowing of airborne common snipe.

Nearby we noticed this western painted turtle that was out of the water basking in this odd pose with its rear legs fully extended:

At the edge of the cattail marsh my dad noticed these plants, which thanks to paging through my field guides I immediately recognized as Arrowhead (also known as Wapato, or Sagittaria latifolia):

We stopped to get out at the blind that overlooks the largest lake along the auto tour route. The six American white pelicans - a rarity for the refuge - stood out like a sore thumb against the brown and green background of the marsh. There were also several dozen Canada geese, many gadwall, a small handful of northern shovlers, and an American kestrel perched in a nearby tree. We almost missed this barn swallow on her nest in the blind, and only noticed her just as we turned around to leave:

We drove through the rest of the refuge with the windows down despite the swarms of mosquitos that were everywhere. Amazingly, they seem to have mostly avoided me in favor of feeding on my dads arms and feet. As we drove through the woods along a stream, we saw a white-breasted nuthatch, our first tree swallows of the day, and a cinnamon teal. In one small marshy area I was lucky enough to spot the normally elusive American bittern walking across an open waterway, at one point apparently swimming through the deepest part of the water. While watching it through binoculars we also saw a nutria swimming the other direction behind the bittenr. Finally, as we crossed the bridge to leave the refuge, we spotted a few cliff swallows, making it a respectable five swallow species day.

We've often talked about birding both wetlands and the coast in the same Big Day, but today was the first time we actually did it. We drove out to Happy Camp beach on the Oregon Coast to conduct a COASST survey for beached birds on my dad's stretch of beach, while looking for live birds at the same time. While walking along the beach we heard a common raven, orange-crowned warblers, white-crowned sparrows, House sparrows, and a spotted towhee. We didn't find any beached birds, but we did see about a dozen of these huge jellyfish:

From his beach we also added the pigeon guillemot, pelagic cormorant, Western gull, glaucous-winged gull, and Caspian tern to our list, as well as 10 or so harbor seals. We then headed closer to the rocks in the photo below to scan them with his scope. Through the scope we could see tens of thousands of common murres and a few dozen brown pelicans (the first time either of us has seen two pelican species in one day). We were also surprised to see small flock of black scoters, and wondered what they are still doing in the area this time of year. The base of the rocks were also covered with a couple hundred sea lions. Just as we pulled out of the small town of Oceanside, we saw a juvenile bald eagle cruising overhead.

The next stop was Cape Meares lighthouse, where we know a pair of peregrine falcons has nested in the past. On our way down the trail we heard a singing winter wren. It didn't take my dad much time to locate the falcon nest on the nearby cliffs, and through the scope we could see both of the falcons preening and stretching their wings near the nest.

We drove along Tillamook Bay before heading inland again, and were rewarded with a few more species for the day list. We saw a few double-crested cormorants, heard a belted kingfisher, and saw a juvenile brown-headed cowbird. On our drive back through the coast range we stopped along the Wilson River in hopes of picking up an American dipper. We didn't, but I did see a spotted sandpiper and a mourning dove to add to the list.

Our last stop of the day was at Killin Wetlands near Banks, Oregon. We heard several more American bitterns here. We were hoping a sora or Virginia rail would help us break 60 species for the day; we didn't hear either of these rails but did see a wood duck family and hear some marsh wrens to bring us to 60 species. As an added bonus, on our way out of Banks we saw a pair of Eurasian collared doves, only the second time I've seen this species.

All in all, a great day's birding, and a decent day list of 61 bird species!