Subject: Seattle CBC
Date: Nov 26 14:09:33 1998
From: Eugene Hunn - hunnhome at accessone.com


Hello all,

The Seattle CBC will be Saturday, January 2, 1999 and everybody's welcome to
help out. The center of the circle is downtown somewhere near Pioneer Square
and extends north to just north of Northgate, just missing most of Carkeek
Park on the Sound but including Sand Point and Mathews Beach on Lake
Washington. On the west we clip the tip of Restoration point on Bainbridge.
On the south the circle touches down at Seola Beach, cuts across south of
Boeing Field where the Duwamish River makes a sharp eastward, then southward
bend, then to Lake Washington south of Rainier Beach Park. We include all of
Mercer Island and on the east a narrow stretch of Newport Beach, Mercer
Slough, downtown Bellevue, Medina, Yarrow Point, and the southern part of
the Kirkland waterfront.

This area is divided into 15 large areas. We have data since 1972 or so
(when Phil Mattocks took over the compilations) broken down by these areas.
However, many are too big to be covered effectively by a single group, so
they have been subdivided in many cases, for a total of over 30 areas. We
need groups in each of these. Though many areas are already "claimed" by
those who have covered them for many years' past, there's always room for
new blood, since most of us like company. The plan this year is to try for
saturation coverage during the prime morning hours, then encourage observers
to "poach" throughout the count circle during the afternoon (if they've
already covered every nook and cranny of their assigned territories).
HOWEVER, keep your counts separate so that we avoid duplication. Birds do
move around and can easily be missed on the first try, so we hope this
strategy will 1) make sure we don't miss anything and 2) let observers rack
up as large a day list as they can.

We also hope to plot as many active bird feeding stations within the circle
as possible and coordinate counts at all feeders. So if you have a feeding
station inside the circle, please get back to me at hunnhome at accessone.com
(or call at 524-8112) or to Hal Opperman at halop at accessone.com.

We also hope to keep track of any staked-out rarities as the big day
approaches and would appreciate everyone's help with that. For example, the
Western Scrub-Jays at the south end of the Arboretum and the several Barred
Owls that have been reported. We also hope to get a very accurate count of
such specialty birds as Peregrines and Bald Eagles, which are easy to over
count as they move about the city. So if you're tracking these birds
individually, keep us up to date (Martin Muller has already volunteered, but
there are more of you raptor fiends out there, I'm sure).

The Seattle CBC usually counts in the neighborhood of 120 species, but we
always seem to miss something. We're hoping this year for 130. With your
help we can do it.

Thanks in advance.

Gene Hunn.