January 1st - Cowlitz Chistmas Bird Count

This year is going to be my “Peregrination”, where I intend to travel the U.S. and Canada to see as many new species of birds as possible.  But, since "Charity Begins At Home", I figured I’d start with some local birding.

I hope to be birding as much as I can this year - within the budget that Marty has set for me - and to raise my ABA Life List to at least 650 from the current 574 species.  Last year, I ended up birding every one of the 365 days; at least I submitted an eBird checklist every day.  I drove 16,905 miles and flew 8,167 miles to get to birding sites.  And then drove 216 miles, walked 720 miles to do my birding and put in 273 miles on boats.  I spent 39 nights away from home, and spent $6,534.  I found 357 species and Seven of these were “Life Birds”:

 1:  Steller's Eider – Seaside, Oregon

 2:  Cape May Warbler - Higbee Beach, Cape May, New Jersey

 3:  Little Stint - Boundary Bay, British Columbia

 4:  Rosy-faced Lovebird – Phoenix, Arizona

 5:  Hepatic Tanager - Oak Creek Canyon, Arizona

 6:  Common Black-Hawk - Oak Creek Canyon, Arizona

 7:  Plumbeous Vireo - Grand Canyon, Arizona

 8:  Golden Pheasant - a ‘released’ hen pheasant showed up at Nisqually Refuge

Plus, I saw two species that I’d only seen in Europe, previously

 9:  White Wagtail - Fall City, Washington

10: Lesser Black-backed Gull – South Cape May Meadows, New Jersey

I was up early, 4:30 a.m., this morning to drive south to Longview to participate in their Cowlitz Christmas Bird Count.  I left the house at 6:30 when the thermometer read 33° F.  The Moon and Venus were shining brightly in the southeast sky, and Jupiter was just above the eastern horizon.  The astronomers tell me that Mercury was also visible, but my view of that Planet was obscured by either the Cascades foothills or a bank of clouds.

Image from earthsky.org

The fog got thick in places as I drove south, and I arrived at the Chevron station just across the Lexington Bridge in Kelso at 7:40 a.m., and bought myself an egg and sausage biscuit sandwich from their ‘deli’ rack for $3.49.  I’ve had better . . .   Bob Reistroffer pulled up in his pickup at 8 a.m., and I followed him up to his place, and loaded my birding gear in his pickup to participate in the Cowlitz CBC.  Bob is the Compiler for the count, and he and I were working the North Washington sector of the Count Circle.

We started by driving up the Clark Creek Road on a 29° morning with fog heavy enough that we couldn’t see across the River.  There was also rime frost forming on tree branches and such, but oddly was in patches that looked like someone had littered with Kleenex.

We continued along the Consolidated Diking Improvement District No. 1’s Ditch and Levee Number 6.

CDID Ditch No. 6

The District owns, operates, and maintains approximately 19 miles of levees that “provide a significant level of protection against flooding from adjacent river systems.”  The levee system is managed as three major segments, and the Ditch 6 West Interior Levee extends from 30th Ave in Longview in a westerly direction and ends at the Main Pump Station / Office complex.  This levee protects Longview from flooding associated with high water in Ditch 6, which intercepts surface water runoff from hill side areas above Longview and routes the water to where it can be pumped to the Columbia River.

We viewed the water and ‘riparian’ habitats from Pacific Way and stopped a number of times to walk along the levee at access points and view the waterfowl.

What?!!?!  My First Ducks of 2019 are Domestic Mallards?

Ah!  Gadwalls and a hen Hooded Merganser!  Much better . . .

The fog seemed to keep the birds holding tight to their cover, and a lot of "pishing" was required to bring them to view.

A Sooty Fox Sparrow came out of the Himalaya Blackberries to give us a brief view

Then, we worked our way through the neighborhoods along Pennsylvania and down to the Ocean Beach Highway, and stopped at John Null Park at 1 p.m. when the fog began to burn off.

This young Red-tailed Hawk basked in the cold, weak sunlight

We were planning to work the wooded hills, but were running out of time, so drove over to Riverside Park

and walked about a mile through the park and along the Cowlitz River dike.

Besides the mammal fauna,

There are a LOT of Eastern Gray Squirrels in this town!

we found this bright yellow Townsend's Warbler to brighten our day

We finished the day, driving through the Tim Wa Estates

The neighborhood promised Robins and Finches

and nearby Lexington neighborhoods until dark, and finished with the last bird of the day being a Pied-billed Grebe on a pond off Solomon Road.  The “Countdown Dinner” was held at Papa Pete’s Pizza in Longview, but the restaurant limited our group to only 90 minutes, so we didn’t get to hear the ‘final’ species count.  Bob and I accounted for 47 species in our section, which was a pretty good way to start the New Year.

Cowlitz CBC - Clark Creek eBird Checklist Here

Cowlitz CBC - CDID Ditch No. 6 eBird Checklist is Here

Cowlitz CBC - Columbia Valley eBird Checklist is Here

Cowlitz CBC - John Null Park eBird Checklist is Here

Cowlitz CBC - Riverside Park eBird Checklist is Here

Cowlitz CBC - Lexington Neighborhood eBird Checklist is Here