ENHS Nature Trails March 2002 Article 2

Christmas Bird Count 2002
by Herb Wisner

Sometimes Puck gets into computers and mixes things up a bit, but instead of becoming exasperated with him, we're just going to publish the account of December 2001's annual Christmas Bird Count this month and hope you enjoyed rereading the year 2000's notes last month.

Because of the continuing mild weather and the recent presence of warblers that ought not to be here, we were hoping for an interesting count on December 30. And we got it. One of the warblers disappeared but two made an appearance on the right day--a Nashville Warbler (one previous visit in 1986) and a MacGillivrays Warbler (never showed before). Before the count a black-throated green warbler had been keeping company with the Nashville. This is almost strictly an eastern, summertime species so what could we expect? On the subject of warblers the regular winter ones did show--Townsend?s and Yellow-rumped. No Orange Crowneds however, an omission we hold them responsible for. If we start at the beginning of the check list, a Pacific Loon was seen for only the second time in the last 25 years. (Note: the on-line report form for the CBC includes a column which tells us the maximum number and year seen for every species ever reported in the last 25 years for each CBC circle, a very helpful feature.) We had a record high number of Pied-billed Grebes, beating our past record by 38. High counts were also noted for Buffledheads, Hooded Mergansers, Bald Eagles, Red-tailed Hawks, Merlins, Greater Yellowlegs, Short-eared Owls, Anna?s Hummingbirds, Lewis?s Woodpeckers, Golden-crowned and Ruby-crowned Kinglets, Western Scrub Jays, Western Bluebirds, White-throated Sparrows, Slate-colored form of the Dark-eyed Junco, Housesparrows and House Finches. Impressive huh? An unfortunate occurrence was the apparent kidnapping of the 2 White Pelicans that have been keeping company at Fern Ridge Reservoir for several years by a larger group of that ilk that dropped in for a time last summer. We thought about putting out an all points bulletin but weren?t sure it would do any good because of the lack of DNA samples of the kidnapees. Cormorants continue to be in good supply, especially along the Willamette River. Great Blue Herons were way down in numbers for some reason and the only Green Heron reported came after count day. At least a sample of Turkey Vultures still think it's possible to make a living here in the winter time without even patrolling I-5. The same could be said of the 2 Ospreys, though they, of course, don't pursue carrion to any extent. Though not a record number, there were plenty of Tundra Swans but water fowl numbers were generally considerably fewer than usual, perhaps a product of mild weather not encouraging them to come this far south yet. Raptors did well with just about all expectable species showing up, even to the lone Peregrine that is always iffy. No Goshawks however, but we can't really trust them anyway, a statement supported by lots of birds that are menu items for Goshawks. California Quail are showing in rather skimpy numbers for some reason--perhaps a victim of the visit but don't stay campaign? Coots are sometimes equated as the avian equivalent of cockroaches, candidates for taking over the world. Our count won't give much support to that comment. Their numbers were only about one seventh of the highest ever. Shorebirds were not in particularly impressive numbers except for the Yellowlegs. It can't be spoken of as having large numbers unless you consider that we haven't had any before so it alone is infinitely more than ever. I don't comment much on gulls because I don't do them except for the unidentified category. There may be other counters in that do likewise because the number reported by species or otherwise was not impressive. It is fortunate that we have several counters willing to brave whatever elements there are to tally owls! The results were good--all species we count on were present. All woodpeckers but Lewis's were below usual numbers, Acorn?s and Sapsuckers especially so. In the so-called song bird category, there isn't much to say. The Dipper was a good find (under the I-5 bridge), the kinglets and bluebirds have already been mentioned. The Solitaire is one we don't count on as a regular, Hermit Thrushes are nice to find (close to the record of 28), Robins very numerous as were Wrentits. Townsend?s Warblers are lovely to look at. It's nice to have Spotted Towhees back as a distinct species. It seemed like singing Song Sparrows were everywhere and House Finches obviously were as pointed out above. Next Year? Join us on December 29th.

Herb Wisner

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