19 participants tallied 104 species on the Forest Grove CBC on January 1. This
is on the low end of the spectrum. The weather was decent, but we had poor
coverage, only sending out 7 teams. Maybe the date was not favorable, but there
are doubts creeping up about future feasibility of this count. Interest in
participation seems to be declining, especially among local birders. A big
thanks to those though who did help out!!! If you have an idea what could be
going wrong here, shoot me an email.
That said, CBC data is always interesting ... And there were some highlights,
the most important one maybe being that Wapato Lake NWR was covered for the
first time I can remember.
Note: Figure in parentheses indicates the number of years the species was seen
out of 28 years if important
6 Greater White-fronted Geese (Wapato, Fernhill) (12)
6 Eurasian Wigeon (all Fernhill, with many calling)
11 Cinnamon Teal (Beal Wetlands) (13)
1 Common Teal (Beal Wetlands) (2)
9318 Ring-necked Ducks (Wapato Lake, Jackson Bottom) - high
456 Canvasback (mostly Wapato Lake) - high
1 Green Heron (Beal Wetlands) (5)
2 Red-shouldered Hawk (Jackson Bottom, Dixon Mill Rd) (10)
4 Virginia Rail (Fernhill) (17)
3 Sora (Fernhill) (6)
1 Spotted Sandpiper (Fernhill) (12)
1 Northern Pygmy-Owl (sector 2 NW of Forest Grove) (15)
1 Barred Owl (Jackson School Woods) (2)
1 Cedar Waxwing (Patton Valley) (10)
3 Orange-crowned Warbler (Fernhill) (5)
5 White-throated Sparrow (various locations)
52 Brown-headed Cowbird (mostly Patton Valley) (16)
Northern Shrike, Thayer's Gull, Swamp Sparrow and Common Yellowthroat were
count week birds. Major misses include Ring-billed Gull and Lesser Goldfinch.
Red-breasted Nuthatch had a poor showing this time, Pine Siskins weren't found
at all. We did not do well with gulls in general. A very cool looking
Red-breasted x Red-naped Sapsucker was found in the Patton Valley.
Please let me know if you have seen something unusual in the area, also
considering that count week stretches until tomorrow (inclusive).
Stefan Schlick
Hillsboro, OR
