This time of year, I enjoy participating in the Christmas Bird counts, as it helps hone my birding skills, I get to participate in a great hobby with some excellent people, and - every once in a while - get to find some good birds.
All CBCs take place between December 14 and January 5 inclusive. This year Black Hills Audubon once again sponsored a circle in Lewis County on Friday, Dec 20th. A CBC circle is 15 miles across and the boundaries remain the same year after year. Each circle is divided into sub-areas and teams are sent out to count as many birds as are seen and heard.
As a 16 year old, “young birder” Dalton Spencer, organized and complied the numbers for a new Christmas Bird Count in Lewis County, WA. I volunteered, once again, to assist with this - the third - Lewis County CBC, and was pleased to again be partnered with Dalton himself, who is pursuing a degree in the Fish and Wildlife Management program at Montana State.
Our counting efforts this year were a bit truncated by the recent flooding in the Chehalis River Basin. There have been calls from local citizens to “do something” about the recent floods, including a push to dam and dike the river. The river rises, as it has done for thousands of years, and yet the County allows structures to be erected on land that is inundated every few years. As a taxpayer, I don’t understand why the public should have to bail out people who have chosen to build on a known flood plain.
Last year, we had access to the Centralia Coal Mine, which is being phased-out due to economic and operational considerations. This year, the mine was closed to our access, as Dalton’s grandfather had to work to keep pumps going due to the heavy rains and flooding in the Hanagan Valley.
Kept from the “good” parts of the mine, we birded pretty intensively along the County roads and neighborhoods. Keeping out of the high water was a challenge, but we did find a few birds. I think the best of our day was when we stopped to check out a homeowner’s bird feeder along the Bucoda highway. A larger “sparrow” chowing-down the seeds turned out to be a Black-headed Grosbeak!
The bulk of this species is wintering in Mexico in late December, but there are always a few "stragglers" that winter to the north. We were very pleased to tally the bird on the Count.
Dalton sent the following to Tweeters: “… 26 intrepid birders swam through the floodwaters of Lewis County to help count the few birds that were not also swimming alongside us. This marked the 3rd ever Lewis County CBC and it definitely will go down as one of the most memorable for those involved.
“We tallied a total of 92 species on count day and a total of 11 other species for count week. Given the weather conditions, lower numbers were to be expected. This year 16,385 individual birds were count as opposed to last year's 20,087.
“Highlights included a Black Headed Grosbeak coming to a feeder near Bucoda, a Sandhill Crane seen off Big Hanaford Rd, and a Short-Eared Owl seen from Pleasant Valley.
“We had a total of 8 new species for count too. Without including the previously mentioned species we also found California Quail, Ruffed Grouse, Barn Owl, Townsend's Warbler, and Evening Grosbeak.
“The European Starling was once again the most commonly detected species with 3,142 individuals counted. Northern Pintail (1,865) and Green-Winged Teal (1,329) came in second and third respectively.
“The most notable increases amongst the species detected were Trumpeter Swan an increase of almost 1600%. Cedar Waxwing, Green-winged Teal, Wilson's Snipe, Bushtit, and American Pipit were amongst those with the largest increases from last year.
“Hopefully next year the weather is better and the birds are more easily found.
The end of the day is celebrated with a dinner get-together where participants share their sightings and stories, warm beverages and dinner.
There is no limit to how many CBCs one can join so please consider helping out with one next Winter. There is room for beginning and experienced birders and everyone in between. Remember - birding in December is ‘way better than being at the mall in December!!!!
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