I remember when some other birders and I saw our first Great Egret on Sauvie's
Island in the mid-1960s. At the time it was of great interest to the then few
birders in Portland, because as I recall, it was the second record of the
species in northwest Oregon. The first was in 1933 near Swan Island, in
Portland, Mutlnomah County. We had heard that one had been seen in Coos Bay
in the 1960s (by Jim Olson I think). Perhaps Great Egrets were being found
more on the southern coast by then.
Jeff Gilligan
On Mar 19, 2016, at 12:04 PM, Tim Janzen <tjanzen@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Dear Chuck and Bob,
From my perspective, the number of GREAT EGRETS wintering in northwestern
Oregon has dramatically increased over the past 25 years. I just went back
and pulled the Tillamook CBC data for Great Egret going back to 1980.
Between 1980 and 1985 no Great Egrets were reported on that count. Between
1986 and 1989 either one or two Great Egrets were reported each count.
Between 1990 and 1997 an average of 9.1 Great Egrets were reported on that
count per year. Between 1998 and 2003 an average of 17.1 Great Egrets were
reported on that count per year. Between 2004 and 2014 an average of 49.8
Great Egrets were reported on that count per year. I did a similar analysis
for the Portland CBC. Between 1980 and 1991 there was only one Great Egret
seen on the Portland CBC and that was in 1981. Between 1992 and 2000 Great
Egrets were seen on all but one count with a high of 63 in 1997. The average
during that period was 11.8 per year. If you exclude the spike in 1997, the
average during that period was 4.4 per year. Between 2001 and 2014 the
average during that period was 7.7 per year. I also looked at the Sauvie
Island CBC data for Great Egret going back to 1980. Between 1980 and 1990 an
average of 3.9 Great Egrets were reported on that count per year. Between
1991 and 1998 an average of 17.9 Great Egrets were reported on that count per
year. Between 1999 and 2001 an average of 59.3 Great Egrets were reported on
that count per year. Between 2002 and 2005 an average of 155.8 Great Egrets
were reported on that count per year. There is no data for the Sauvie Island
CBC between 2006 and 2014. I suspect that analysis of CBC data for other
counts in northwestern Oregon will show a similar pattern of increasing
numbers of Great Egrets between 1980 and 2014. The CBC data is consistent
with my personal observations over that period of time.
Sincerely,
Tim Janzen
