Hi all,
As Paul knows, I've had mixed feelings about this project of trying to plug
holes in
the eBird map, especially in and around CBC season when many counts (especially
east of the Cascades) could use more volunteers.
My suggestion to Paul privately has been that it could be better to encourage
eBird
users to visit CBC circles that are lacking in reports outside of the CBC
season. I doubt
that we learn much new from a few widely scattered eBird checklists just a few
days
before the CBC season. However counts focused within established CBC circles,
two
to four weeks before/after the CBC season, might shed light on how well CBC
data
represent bird populations over a longer stretch of winter.
About the Antone CBC which Paul referred to, the circle is actually mainly
(87%) in
Wheeler County, and all but two counts have been during the period Dec
14th-22nd.
This winter's count would have be the 19th year of data (I'm working on some
ideas
to reschedule, but it will probably need to be after New Year).
So we actually have quite a lot of data on southern Wheeler County in
mid-December,
just from this one count.
Prairie Falcon and Mountain Bluebird are both regular in Wheeler County in
December
(recorded on at least half of our counts). Cedar Waxwings are less regular
(only found
on about 1 in 4 counts). Red-breasted Sapsucker is rare, found just once on the
Antone
CBC (two miles over the line into Grant County but within 8 miles of where
Donna
Lusthoff found one in se. Wheeler Co. in the 1990s).
Besides the Antone CBC, there have also been a few resident
birders/ornithologists
who've kept an eye on birds in Wheeler County year-round, including December.
Brian Sharp lived on Stone Cabin Rd. just outside Fossil. Brian was (maybe
still is?) a
member of Western Field Ornithologists, reported notable sightings regularly to
WFO
and North American Birds, and even published a few articles on the local
avifauna.
He recorded the first known Western (California) Scrub-Jay during October 1995
through March 1996.
More recently (early 2000s), Mark Berryman was the resident habitat manager for
the
Warm Springs Tribes' Pine Creek Preserve near Clarno. He hiked extensively in
the
area south of there (some of it now designated wilderness) and was the first to
record
Pinyon Jays in the county.
I seem to recall, a young fellow by the name of Paul Sullivan also did a stint
or two
as an interpreter at the Painted Hills, and reported his finds to Oregon Birds.
In the
early/mid 2000s we also had a resident ranger at Painted Hills, Jennifer
DeLuca,
keeping an eye on birds through the winter before she moved into Fossil.
In the mid-1990s Donna Lusthoff and a few friends (Dave Anderson et al.) took
an
interest in Wheeler County and visited multiple times in every month of the
year. Donna
made connections with a couple of ranching families who would let her know if
they saw
something interesting (including the first county record for Great Egret).
Craig and Judy Corder (formerly based in Umatilla) also birded the county
extensively
for several years around the same time. Later on Steve Shunk and I, while
setting up
the Antone CBC in 1999-2000, made several scouting trips in late Nov/early Dec.
On
one of those early December trips I detoured up into the Ochocos and found a
Boreal
Owl calling at one of Donna's old spots, which prompted a visit by the Bend
Birding Club
the next night.
The more noteworthy finds by these various people were generally recorded in
Oregon
Birds and/or North American Birds. Some of the more common birds made it into
the
BirdNotes database ( [ http://www.birdnotes.net/ ;| www.birdnotes.net ] ) and
can still be accessed there. And of course,
everything recorded for the Antone CBC is in the Audubon CBC database,
aggregated
for a circle with center point in Wheeler County.
I know Paul would prefer to have all of those data in eBird and perhaps they
will be
someday. But meanwhile, it's good to remember that not everything that's been
recorded is necessarily in eBird. Just because there's an apparent gap in eBird
doesn't
necessarily mean there's a lack of data regarding winter bird distributions in
the region.
Again, it would be better to try to coordinate efforts like this with the
long-running CBC
effort, especially in a season when several compilers have reported being short
on
volunteers for upcoming counts.
Joel
P.S. Here's a quick list of birds that have been recorded in Wheeler County for
December, in the eBird database. This doesn't include all of the CBC data.
Canada Goose (Branta canadensis)
Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos)
Common Merganser (Mergus merganser)
Chukar (Alectoris chukar)
Wild Turkey (Meleagris gallopavo)
Mountain Quail (Oreortyx pictus)
California Quail (Callipepla californica)
Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias)
Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus)
Northern Harrier (Circus cyaneus)
Sharp-shinned Hawk (Accipiter striatus)
Cooper's Hawk (Accipiter cooperii)
Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis)
Rough-legged Hawk (Buteo lagopus)
Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetos)
American Kestrel (Falco sparverius)
Merlin (Falco columbarius)
Prairie Falcon (Falco mexicanus)
Virginia Rail (Rallus limicola)
Killdeer (Charadrius vociferus)
Common Snipe (Gallinago gallinago) [now Wilson's Snipe]
Western Screech-Owl (Otus kennicottii)
Great Horned Owl (Bubo virginianus)
Northern Pygmy-Owl (Glaucidium gnoma)
Long-eared Owl (Asio otus)
Short-eared Owl (Asio flammeus)
Boreal Owl (Aegolius funereus)
Northern Saw-whet Owl (Aegolius acadicus)
Belted Kingfisher (Ceryle alcyon)
Hairy Woodpecker (Picoides villosus)
Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus)
Northern Shrike (Lanius excubitor)
Steller's Jay (Cyanocitta stelleri)
Western Scrub-Jay (Aphelocoma californica) [now California Scrub-Jay]
Clark's Nutcracker (Nucifraga columbiana)
Black-billed Magpie (Pica pica)
American Crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos)
Common Raven (Corvus corax)
Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapillus)
Mountain Chickadee (Poecile gambeli)
Bushtit (Psaltriparus minimus)
Red-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta canadensis)
Pygmy Nuthatch (Sitta pygmaea)
Brown Creeper (Certhia americana)
Canyon Wren (Catherpes mexicanus)
Marsh Wren (Cistothorus palustris)
Golden-crowned Kinglet (Regulus satrapa)
Ruby-crowned Kinglet (Regulus calendula)
Western Bluebird (Sialia mexicana)
Mountain Bluebird (Sialia currucoides)
Townsend's Solitaire (Myadestes townsendi)
American Robin (Turdus migratorius)
European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris)
Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia)
White-crowned Sparrow (Zonotrichia leucophrys)
Dark-eyed Junco (Junco hyemalis)
Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch (Leucosticte tephrocotis)
House Finch (Carpodacus mexicanus)
Red Crossbill (Loxia curvirostra)
Common Redpoll (Carduelis flammea)
Pine Siskin (Carduelis pinus)
American Goldfinch (Carduelis tristis)
Evening Grosbeak (Coccothraustes vespertinus)
--
Joel Geier
Compiler, Antone CBC (2000-present)
