The National Audubon Christmas Bird Count (CBC) began in 1900 as a way to count rather than kill birds. 2021 marks the 122th National Audubon CBC. For UMBA it is our 48^th CBC.  26 participants rallied to tally the avian species and their numbers on a cloudy, cool and increasingly windy day. 2 folks called in the count from their bird feeder again this year. We invite more folks to send me their bird feeder lists on CBC day!  We sure hope that more people will be able to join us next year! Covid once again kept our participant numbers down. Happy holidays to all of you!

For the birds!

Nora Gray

 

We spied 57 species on Count Day (December 18th this year) and 4 during Count Week (3 days prior to and 3 days after Count Day).

Species followed by a number = a Count Day sighting + number counted.  CW = Count Week species, but we can’t count the numbers seen outside of Count Day.

Not surprisingly, Canada Geese topped the chart: 15,327, followed by Mallards: 2093.  Bald Eagles were active and seen everywhere.  A frozen river and duck hunting season can provide an attractive amount of food items for a Bald Eagle.  Bald Eagles will consume large numbers of injured waterfowl – we hope that hunters are using lead-free shot.  The lone Junco was seen in a horse corral (an odd place for a junco).  Most of the Cackling Geese were in one flock found by Wayne Phillips and his counting crew.  Some years few or no Common Redpolls and Rough-legged Hawks are seen.  This year was a good year for both species.

 

Cackling Geese: 174                Tundra Swan:  2                      Northern Pintail: 1

Canvasback:  2                        Redhead: 42                            Ring-necked Duck: 4

Lesser Scaup: 22                     Bufflehead: 416                      Common Goldeneye: 1499

Barrow’s Goldeneye: 61         Hooded Merganser: 9             Red-Breasted Merganser: CW

Ruddy Duck: 8                         Gray Partridge (Hun): 3           Sharp-tailed Grouse: 13

Wild Turkey: 184                     Pied-billed Grebe: 1                Eared Grebe: CW

Bald Eagle:  55                        Northern Harrier: 8                Sharp-shinned Hawk: 1

Red-tailed hawk: 5                  Harlan’s Hawk: 2                     Rough-legged Hawk: 44

Golden Eagle: 4                       American Kestrel: 2                Merlin: 2

Prairie Falcon: 2                      American Coot: 552                Ring-billed Gull: CW

Rock Pigeon: 991                    Eurasian-collared Dove: 258   Mourning Dove: 1

Great Horned Owl: 1               Belted Kingfisher: 1                 Downy Woodpecker: 8

No. Flicker(unkn.sp): 23          No. Red-shafted Flicker: 26    Northern Shrike: 3

Black-billed Magpie: 248        American Crow: 43                 Common Raven: 10

Horned Lark: 112                    Black-cap.Chickadee: 155       Red-breasted Nuthatch: 4

White-breasted Nuthatch: 1   Brown Creeper: 1                    Townsend’s Solitaire: 1

American Robin: 8                  European Starling: 804           Bohemian Waxwing: CW

American Tree Sparrow: 32    Dark-eyed (Slate)Junco: 1       House Finch: 473

Common Redpoll: 37              American Goldfinch: 31          House Sparrow: 1825

Chipping Sparrow: 3               American White Pelican: CW    Common Merganser: 9

Ring-necked Pheasant: 118    Song Sparrow: CW                  Unknown Duck sp.: 1

Unknown Buteo sp.: 4             Unknown Falcon sp.: 1

 

New birds are becoming quiet and are harder to find normally in July.  They can just plain disappear to get relief from the heat like we had in July.  The new birds dropped off considerably.  Five of the 6 new birds were spotted on the field trip to the Sluice Boxes.  Perhaps most surprising was the American Kestrel.  I didn’t see my first one until July 10^th.  A Northern Waterthrush, the Red-naped Sapsucker, Cordilleran Flycatcher and a Warbling Vireo rounded out the new sightings.  Later in the month a Peregrine Falcon at Benton Lake completed the new birds for the month.  The river level at West Bank Park was fluctuating the whole month.  Some days there was a lot of mud bar exposure and others none at all. On low days the gulls would gather on the mud flats along with American Avocets, Killdeer and an occasional sandpiper.  One evening there were more than 40 Killdeer racing about – some days they all want to say something at the same time.  The interesting days are when they are silent and after I am finished counting, I am amazed that so many Killdeer can be so quiet.  Spotted Sandpipers seemed to have been successful again this year.  At times there are groups of 4 or 5.  Gull numbers and proportions change through out the month.  This year the predominant gull was California – they even hatched some young ones in the area of West Bank Park.  When the Franklin’s Gulls started to show up the California Gull numbers started to dip.  Shortly after Ring-billed Gulls were showing up.  Most years Ring-billed Gulls were the predominant gull.  By the end of July the California Gulls were in the minority.

August would prove to be just as challenging.  Although Yellow Warblers were still around few are singing.  The young birds just “chip”.  So do a lot of other young birds.  The river level still fluctuates.  On one particularly hot evening when the river was low, I went out for a walk because it was breezy and felt better than being stuck inside.  It was an interesting evening.  There were quite a few sandpipers.  Most appeared to be Semi-palmated Sandpipers.  I wished some to be Western but I think they were just juveniles with fresh plumages.  The yellow light due to the smoke can make judging colors difficult.  There were Solitary Sandpipers (one group of three which contradicted their name), Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs, Spotted Sandpipers, Great Blue Heron, American Avocets, and a Black-bellied Plover (number 169). It was more enjoyable because I met two others bird watching that evening.  August 25^th the river was dropping once again and there was shallow water – and more sandpipers.  Holy cow – 16 Stilt Sandpipers (number 170).  They were so obvious with their heavy, long, drooping bill and yellow legs.  They aren’t very large – there were some Lesser Yellowlegs and a Wilson’s Phalarope.  All a very similar size.  It was exciting to see – and they were back the next evening – all 16! And they have continued to the end of the month.  Amazing.  A visit to Giant Springs on the 29th did not result in a Neotropic Cormorant sighting, but a Brown Thrasher (number 171) was spotted lurking through bushes.  (The Neotropic, see page 6, was seen again on August 30th). Several fall warblers (Yellow-rumped, Wilson’s and Orange-crowned) were spotted as well.  Let the fall migration begin.

8 months into the year.  What will the fall warbler migration bring?  Will I find some of those “misses”?  Can I possibly get close to 200 species for Cascade County in one year?  It seems like a stretch at this point.  Stay tuned.  Beth Hill

 

First People’s Buffalo Jump – June 26, 2021

We had 5 people on different parts of our field trip to First People’s Buffalo Jump on June 26^th.  It was sunny and got warm quickly.  We started at the lower prairie dog town on Ulm-Vaughn Road.  Western Meadowlarks were calling here and there.  Horned Larks were also flitting about.  We took the established walking trail through the prairie dog town pausing frequently to scan for Burrowing Owls.  First up was a pair of Long-billed Curlew.  They circled us, calling and complaining. Did they have some young hidden nearby?  With that thought in mind we didn’t linger too long.  The frequent scanning paid off – ONE Burrowing Owl was spotted near a prairie dog hole on the far side of the colony.  A spotting scope was very helpful in locating the small bird.  We looped around uphill hearing the frequent calls of Vesper Sparrows.  As we neared the top we heard the unmistakable call of a Red-tailed Hawk.  It wasn’t long before we spotted it on the cliff face.  It soon took to the air.  We wondered if there was a nest in the cliffs but didn’t see anything obvious.  Violet-green Swallows were enjoying the uplift by the cliff face.  Spotted Towhees were calling from the bushes, but could we find one?  Not yet.  A very plain sparrow called from the top of some grass – a Brewer’s Sparrow!  We went on to see and hear several more.  The Red-tailed Hawk had a mate because soon we had a different hawk soaring overhead.  As we finished this part of the walk a pair of Turkey Vultures skirted the area.  We headed up to the upper prairie dog town to walk the loop on the cliff overlooking the jump site.  Many Rock Wrens live on this face of the cliffs.  We finally spotted a Spotted Towhee and there were more Vesper, grasshopper and Brewer’s Sparrows.  A large flock of birds was flying about – Rock Pigeons!  A Killdeer, Brown-headed Cowbird, Grackle, American Robin and Black-billed Magpie rounded out the bird list.  It was sunny and getting hot.  We called it quits at 11 am satisfied with the challenges and rewards of grassland birding that morning (at least for the author).