Bird count tallies a record 122 species

This male Anna's Hummingbird was found in John & Nova Lee Knopp's yard in Cathlamet. Unlike the common Rufous Hummingbirds that arrive in February and March and fly south by September, this nonmigratory hummingbird species recently expanded its range into Wahkiakum County, helped by hummingbird feeders such as the Knopps provide. Although a few had been seen earlier, Anna's Hummingbirds first appeared on the Wahkiakum Christmas Bird Count in 2007. A new high count for the circle was set this year with nine found. Andrew Emlen photo.

Submitted by Andrew Emlen

On December 28, 21 volunteers participated in the 15th annual Wahkiakum Christmas Bird Count (CBC).

The Wahkiakum Count is one of over 2000 Christmas Bird Counts, bird censuses which take place throughout the Western Hemisphere between December 14 and January 5 each year. The Christmas Bird Count is the world’s longest-running citizen science survey, having taken place every year since 1900.

The data are compiled into an online database accessible to everyone, and those data are used to monitor the population and distribution of wintering birds. Over 60,000 people throughout the Americas participate.

Examples of uses for CBC data include documentation of declining species as well as helping to provide proof of the recovery of the Bald Eagle, allowing our national bird to be removed from the endangered species list. Local volunteers found 59 Bald Eagles last year and 56 this year, Wahkiakum’s two highest counts for that species.

Each count takes place in a 15-mile diameter circle. The center of the Wahkiakum Count is in Clifton, Oregon, so the area encompassed by the Wahkiakum circle includes Cathlamet, Nassa Point, Beaver Creek, Puget Island, the Julia Butler Hansen Refuge, much of the Skamokawa valleys, most of the Lewis & Clark Wildlife Refuge, and Westport, Brownsmead, Knappa and Clifton on the Oregon side of the Columbia.

Each year the count compiler, Andrew Emlen, recruits and organizes volunteers to count as many birds within the circle as possible in one day, starting with a few people looking for owls before daylight. Each group is assigned a particular area within the circle, one of the safeguards to avoid double-counting.

The volunteers counted 47,692 individual birds of 122 different species within the circle on Friday.

“This was a record number of species for our count,” reported Emlen. “We didn’t find anything really unusual, but we had mild weather and thorough coverage of the area, so we missed very few species that should have been found in the circle.”

The kinds of birds found within the Wahkiakum circle has changed over the years. One example is the Red-shouldered Hawk, the range of which has been moving northward.

“When we first found a Red-shouldered Hawk here in 1999, it was a rarity in Washington. We didn’t find another until 2009. Then last year we found two, and this year six. They are now here year-round and seem to be established.”

Black Phoebe and Northern Mockingbird are other species that will probably become more common as they move north. In 2009, The National Audubon Society’s “Birds and Climate Change: An Analysis of the Christmas Bird Count” found that 177 of the 305 species in the analysis had shifted their ranges to the north over the previous 40 years. This correlated with a rise in January temperatures of nearly five degrees Fahrenheit over the same period.

Other new birds have moved into the area for other reasons. After being introduced to the Bahamas from Europe, the Eurasian Collared-Dove flew on its own to Florida in 1982 and has spread rapidly across the country. Year by year, the doves showed up on Christmas Bird Counts farther and farther northwest. They first appeared on the Wahkiakum count in 2009. Thirty were found on count day this year, most of them on Puget Island, where they are a familiar sight at feeders or sitting on power lines.

The Christmas Bird Count is a good opportunity for those who are interested in birds to help contribute to our knowledge of them. Anyone who would like to help with next year’s count may contact Andrew Emlen at 795-8009. Results of any of the Christmas Bird Counts may be found at http://netapp.audubon.org/cbcobservation/.

A Great Blue Heron hunts along the edge of Birnie Creek in Cathlamet. Andrew Emlen photo