January 1st - The Cowlitz-Columbia Christmas Bird Count

Happy New Year!

Welcome to the 2023 blog. For orientation purposes, it may be wise to take a peek at the "Bad Math" page linked at right. In summary, I'm going to be birding in the Southwestern corner of Washington state -Cowlitz, Clark, Skamania, and Wahkiakum counties in 2023. The driving goal will be to see 150 species of birds in each of the counties by the time the ball drops for 2024. As described in Bad Math, some counties will be easier than others, and I have a general feeling that I can reach the goal, but honestly, we'll just have to see. I'm not an AT ALL COSTS kind of person, so we'll see if a balanced, chase-free approach can get me there. 

I actually hit the sack around 10 on New Year's Eve and woke up with my alarm at 3:15. For perspective, I live in Renton, Washington, and the nearest of the four counties for me is Cowlitz County. Google seems to think that I can get to Cowlitz County in an hour and forty-five minutes. With sunrise around 8, one might wonder. . . why?!?!

1. I had not finished packing.

2. I was headed to the Christmas Bird Count, and was assigned to West Longview, which adds time. 

3. Civil twilight is a fine time to bird, and that was closer to 7:20. 

4. Owls!

I love at least giving it a try. Adding owls to the tally for a Christmas Bird Count (and to a year tally) is a fun thing. January hasn't been great to me, when it comes to owls, but that's never really stopped me from getting out there and trying! Especially when daylight hours are so short, I love getting out there earlier, rather than later. I've heard it said, "We show up late to places we don't want to be." It would seem. . . disrespectful towards Cowlitz not to get there early on Jan 1 and look for owls!

So, these were the circumstances that led to me standing in a cemetery at 6:30ish New Year's Day 2023. 

photo by Branches of History on FindAGrave.com

Mount Solo was a new location for me. I'd not heard of it, and it sure isn't all that tall (550 feet), but throughout my driving day, it gave me a nice geographical anchor. For the moment, a tree-covered hill surrounded by farmland seemed like a good enough place for an owl to roost. There was no wind to speak of when I started calling, first for the little guys (Northern Saw-whet Owl, Northern Pygmy-Owl), and then larger ones (Great Horned Owl, Barred Owl). 

We dream of having interesting birds on our list as our FOY (first of year) bird. And what did I get? A Mallard (1)! Note the parentheticals. I'll be using them throughout the blogs to track the running tally for whatever county I'm in. Cowlitz. We're in Cowlitz. Only 149 birds left to find! Wooo!

Willow Grove Road

I knew this road would give me most of the birds I'd find for the day, and the farmland had the potential for Great Horned Owl, Barn Owl, or maybe even Short-eared Owls. I drove the perimeter, stopping and calling when the roads looked safe, and the habitat looked good. Nothing came of that but twilight, and eventually the first sunrise of the year - an event hidden deeply by the gray skies. The southeast corner, where the road leads into Willow Grove, is where I began.

Birds came quickly enough as I stood next to my car, pulled off at a safe spot (not always easy to find on this road!). Double-crested Cormorant (2), and Belted Kingfishers (3) in the channel, Song Sparrows (4), Dark-eyed Juncos (5), Spotted Towhees (6), and Anna's Hummingbird (7) in the brush. 

Early on, I also heard this Black Phoebe (8), a nice bird for the county: 

European Starlings (9) were not hard to find and tried to get me to add Killdeer to the list several times over, with their uncanny imitations. Bald Eagles (10) and Common Ravens (11) called from Fisher Island, which I was happy to find was part of Cowlitz County, and not Oregon. This is always a consideration when driving along a river at the edge of a county! Also seen and heard from this spot: American Robin (12), Ruby-crowned Kinglet (13), Golden-crowned Sparrow (14), Fox Sparrow (15), House Sparrow (16), California Scrub-Jay (17), Black-capped Chickadee (18), and Northern Flicker (19). 

Double-crested Cormorant

The channel had more ducks, including Buffleheads (20), American Wigeon (21), and both scaup species - Greater Scaup (22) in a pack of a dozen, and a pair of Lesser Scaup (23). Gulls passed overhead, but . . . gulls in flight are a work in progress for me! Especially in the fog, I just added them to my CBC list as "gull (sp.)". Great Egret (24) and Downy Woodpecker (25) were the last additions from Fisher Island.

The sun continued to try to peek out as I worked the loop clockwise. My next major pull-off actually allowed me to park and get some walking in. That can be a major struggle on these trips. In just trying to add species, it can become tempting to make stops fast, hop in the car, drive to the next stop, rinse, lather, repeat. But I like long walks on the beach.

From a dock near the boat launch bathrooms, I watched a flock of Brewer's Blackbirds (26) and House Finches (27) in a tree, when a small dark falcon whizzed past, within a few feet of my head. Merlin (28)! The tree quickly emptied of birds, as it chased them off to the other side of the trees.

This wasn't the most productive stop, but I was able to get some nice flyovers, including Cackling Goose (29), Canada Goose (30), American Goldfinch (31), and American Pipit (32). The Killdeer (33) was more of a flyby than a flyover.

Back out on the road, American Kestrel (34) was an easy bird to pick up several times over as I scanned the fields. There had been good birds seen here over the last few weeks, including Snow Geese, swans, and Red-Shouldered Hawks. Every bunch of Cackling Geese was inspected, and the upper branches of trees, but those birds did not seem to want to show up. 

Other birds were picked up along the way, including American Crow (35), Common Goldeneye (36), and Red-tailed Hawk (37). Rounding the bend to the north half of the peninsula, the water birds became more numerous, including more cormorants, and ducks mentioned above, as well as Pied-billed Grebe (38), Common Merganser (39), and a pair of Red-winged Blackbirds (40).

One of the kestrels I passed seemed awfully big. . . and tucked into a tree, rather than on a wire. . . so I stopped to get a better look:

Red-shouldered Hawk! (41)

These gorgeous birds are only infrequently seen up in King County, so I'd forgotten just how much smaller they are than a Red-tailed Hawk. I got to hear them vocalizing as well, which would surely help as I birded this corner of the state. From Oregon southward, these birds are far more common, but in Washington, the counties I am visiting this year (with the exception of Skamania) have them annually, and in fairly predictable areas. 

Bushtits (42), Bewick's Wren (43), Gadwall (44), and Ring-billed Gulls (45) were added to the day/year list. As I type that, I realize that I forgot to note a Glaucous-winged Gull (46), and Great Blue Heron (47) from the Willow Grove Boat Launch. Adding them out of order here, rather than renumbering every bird in the text. I pray you forgive that decision! :)

Having finished my loop, I returned to the Boat Launch. I found a picnic table to boil up some water for coffee and lunch. Even the short drive down to the park and back led to a few more birds on the list: White-crowned Sparrow (48), Cooper's Hawk (49), Mourning Dove (50), and Eurasian Collared-Dove (51).

California Scrub-Jay

Cooper's Hawk

Eurasian Collared-Doves, but even more fun
that a house appears to be floating in the sky.

Barlow Point Road

This was interesting for me. Based on the map, I assumed that this was a road that would give views of the Columbia. Instead, it was more farmland, edged on the south by a tree-covered rise between the road and the river. I started new tallies for the CBC, adding more sparrows, and another Red-shouldered Hawk. At one point, as I was watching a feeder, a gentleman met me on the road. 

"Must be doing the bird count?" he asked. 

We had a nice chat about birding in general, and about the birds on the road. He chuckled as he talked about the lines of cars that had come down to take a look at the "White-shouldered Kite". I knew this was a mix of White-tailed Kite (a species that has not been here in a few years) and Red-shouldered Hawk; 15 years ago, I thought that starlings were baby crows, so I'm pretty forgiving with that stuff. 

As I *always* do in these years, I made it a point to ask him if he knew of any barns that might have a Barn Owl. 

"Well, this one right here," he told me, pointing to the one smack-dab in front of us. "But the owner passed recently. I don't know who owns it now, but I haven't seen the owl as much lately." I made a note of it anyway and lifted my binoculars as we talked to see a few Yellow-rumped Warblers (52) flitting around in a tree. We said our good-days, and I started driving North to new spots in my assigned area. 

Longview Sewage Ponds

Okay, for full transparency, these were not in my assigned area. But I had texted Russ (THE Cowlitz County guy) for help in finding Altrusa Park, which I thought I was covering. He let me know that the Park was already being covered. "But have you hit the sewage ponds yet?"

I had not thought that the ponds were part of my area, so I was pretty excited to get this news. From all accounts, it was chock full of ducks, including some Canvasbacks, which are a code 3 bird. I skedaddled up the road and found the ponds, scanning them from the west side. 

Canada Geese were on the pond, as well as dozens of Ruddy Ducks (53) and a few Northern Shovelers (54).

Ruddy Ducks

There are actually like. . . a half-dozen ponds here, and not all of them are easily viewed from the obvious pullout where I'd parked. A hundred meters up, and I was able to find quite a few Double-crested Cormorants, a Hooded Merganser (55), and this American Kestrel. 

I'm no critter expert, so I don't know what it caught here.

A car pulled up, and two people started to scan through the Ruddy Ducks. Suspicious, I went over and checked. They were indeed part of the CBC and were covering the ponds. We quickly compared some notes, and they pointed me to a strip along the south side of the ponds where I could see some of the other areas better. 

From the south, I picked up American Coot (56), and Canvasback (57). I tried to find a Eurasian Wigeon in the American Wigeons but came up empty. A Black Phoebe called here as well - there were quite a few that I came across during the three days!

North and West

Coal Creek Road runs north and west from the ponds, eventually hitting Harmony Road. This got me into some more coniferous goodness, and I was able to pick up a few forest birds, namely Pacific Wren (58), Golden-crowned Kinglet (59), and Chestnut-backed Chickadee (60). These birds were nearly the only ones I found on this little jaunt. The biggest obstacle was the noise from Harmony Creek, which was quite full and moving fast. I pulled off at several spots, trying to find an American Dipper. It seemed to me like they'd love the rapids! But none were found. 

"You should check the ponds on Highway 4."

I will never know if there was a Tufted Duck here.
But I am alive, so there's that.

And I'm *just* earnest enough, that I thought about slowing to look at the 200 ducks in these ponds. But the traffic breathing down my neck and the lack of pull-offs made this a pass. Hard pass. 

Birds of the Great Miscellany

The focus was lower as I worked on wrapping up the count. I drove Mount Solo Road, pulling off every once in a while, because "Oh my gawd, it's an egret!!"

We just don't get them in King County with any kind of regularity, but by the end of the afternoon, it had become abundantly clear that these are pretty common birds in Cowlitz. In the process, I did find another couple of species of ducks: Green-winged Teal (61), and Ring-necked Duck (62). So many of the sloughs and ponds held these species, more Great Egrets, and more Gadwall. 

I finished the birding day and gassed up at Fred Meyer. Rock Pigeon (63) was the last bird of the day for me. I took a quick nap in the car, then went to Stuffy's II in Longview for a little post-count get-together. 

Stuffy's II

I don't know that I ever found out where Stuffy's I was, but the sequel was a nice place to plug the laptop in and do some work before people arrived. I poked at emails, filled out eBird lists, and had a fine cup of bean soup - perfect after a January day outside.

People trickled in, and I finally spotted Russ, packed up my things and joined the group at a couple of tables. 

How fun to sit down with other birders. We talked excitedly about some of the highlights of the day. Not everyone on the count attended, but we still had people from 4-5 different areas, including some from across the river in Oregon. 

I got some good information about some of the birds I did/didn't find along the way: 

American Dippers - none for the whole group, and likely because the rivers are too rapid with the snowmelt right now. 

Barn Owl - Barlow Point is exactly where Russ had gone on New Year's Eve Morning. . . did I get that right. . . yes. . . to try for Barn Owls. He had eclipsed his own Cowlitz County year list record with 199 species for the year, and the Barn Owl would have made it 200. I have to say, the smile on his face - the love he has for just getting out there and birding, is inspiring. You occasionally come across some people who do the numbers, and who get pretty upset when they miss a bird or realize that they'll have to head back to a place on another trip. Russ has a sense of humor about all of it that transcends any of that silliness. 

American Pipit - the one I had at Willow Grove was the first one found for this particular count. Fun! Russ had these the previous week in that area, so they weren't unexpected. They're just so often identified first by call, and not everyone really birds by ear. 

Brandt's Cormorant was part of the discussion as well! This was a new county bird that another birder had found on the riverfront at Kalama. From what I've gathered, there have been more smelt upriver in the Columbia this winter, so some species like Brandt's Cormorant (which are more often found in the saltwater) have been pushing their way inland to follow the fish. 

After a little more chatter and a little food, Becky read off the list of species, with each group signaling if they'd seen it during the day. Again, we didn't have all groups present, but even so the total was nearly 100 species!

We got in line at the register to pay up, and I spotted a mug. In addition to the Very Serious Pursuit of having a 150 year list in every county in Washington, I have the Way More Serious Quest to gather up a mug from all 39 counties. This seemed like a fine mug to take, given what a wonderful day it had been in Cowlitz County. 

Eventually, I do want to display all of those mugs. I had thought that they really needed a state map to hang on (obviously). I discussed this with a friend who dabbles in woodworking projects. The thought came to us - why not make this map out of wood, with different pieces of wood for each county coming *from* that county. 

Mason County, and wood from 
Still Waters Farm

So, I have a growing mug collection. . . Wahkiakum Eagle Days, Ritzville Grain Co-op, Bickleton Presbyterian Church, and many others. Wood-wise, I feel like I'm off to a good start as well, with oak from Klickitat County, Blue-stain Lodgepole Pine from Mason, Apple from Union Hill Cider in Douglas County. We've been cutting them in to rounds, and I've finally started to touch saw to wood. 

It's going to be a while!

With mug in hand, and feeling completely exhausted, I hopped in the car and drove to Cathlamet in Wahkiakum County, ready to do a full day of birding there on the 2nd. 

Day one in the books!