Prompted by Craig Corder's e-mail to Tweeters last January recounting his
and Judy's year of birding in Benton County in 1998, I suggested to Andy
Stepniewski that we concentrate our birding in 2000 on Yakima County. I
invited the members of the Yakima Valley Audubon Society to join us. I
hoped to impart upon the people in our chapter the importance of writing
down their bird sightings and the fun of maintaining a life list plus
state and county lists if they were that interested. Six people joined right
away and Ellen Quiring Stepniewski did also after she and Andy were married in
June.

We turned the year of birding into a contest, called the Yakima County
Checklist Challenge 2000, to see who could see the most birds in the
county in the year. Of course, it is easy to see that not everyone would be
able to keep up with Andy and me, so I assigned a handicap to each participant,
similar to a handicap that an amateur golfer has. The handicap was based
on the total number of birds each person had seen in Yakima County prior to
2000. The handicaps ranged from half a bird a month for me to twelve
birds a month for one of our beginning birders.

As in an amateur golf tournament, there were two divisions: the scratch
division and the handicap division. The scratch division was just the
total number of birds seen. The handicap division was the total of the number
of birds seen plus the handicap.

Ellen presented a problem when it came time to establish her handicap.
She had birded only a few times in Yakima County before 2000 so she should
have been given quite a high handicap. I devised a formula for her handicap
based on the number of years she had been birding, the type of binoculars
she used and the people (Andy) with whom she birded. The formula gave her
a handicap of five birds a month, which was lowered within a month or so to
three and a half. Later, Ellen and I dropped our handicaps and joined
Andy in the scratch division.

I made a chart on a piece of poster board to list the progress of all of
the contestants. All of our YVAS chapter meetings included a brief update
of the contest. I am not sure how the contest was viewed by our members,
but everyone listened politely.

The birding throughout the year was fast and furious. There was lots of
cooperation between the primary contestants. Andy and I have birded
together regularly throughout the years but never as much as this year and
nearly every time it was in Yakima County. There was also much moaning
and groaning when one of us received a phone call from the other reporting
with yet another good bird sighting.

We had many great bird sightings throughout the year and the knowledge of
birds in Yakima County was expanded quite a bit, too. In January, Andy and
Ellen found the Arctic Loon at Priest Rapids, the first for Washington
state, which I was able to see several times, also. A Blue Jay at a
feeder in the Tampico area west of Yakima, a Great Egret at a pond north of
Selah and a White-throated Sparrow at my feeding station in our local arboretum,
all at the first of January, helped to fill in some difficult ticks for
Yakima County.

The lead switched back and forth through the spring and summer as we both
cleaned up on our county regulars. I got Bushtits on the migration count,
which Andy sweated over until he and Ellen found them in November. We
both missed a Black-bellied Plover and a golden plover in May. An Indigo
Bunting, a new species for Yakima County, found in July was also missed
though we tried two times for it. An American Redstart on Konnewak Pass
southeast of Yakima didn't stay long enough to chase. I got a glimpse a
Black Swift in August just east of the Chinook Pass summit which Andy and
Ellen were able to confirm several days later. Andy's discovery of a Black
Tern near the Toppenish NWR was a hard blow for me since it is one of my
favorite birds and was gone when I got there the next morning. I hit back,
though, with Gray-crowned Rosy Finches on Mt. Adams midway through my climb
in September.

The real coup came in August when Andy and Ellen photographed two Spruce
Grouse broods on White's Ridge west of Yakima. I tried for them six times
but dipped. Another highlight was a wonderful October evening trip to try
for Boreal Owls near Darling Mountain. We not only found them but got an
incredible three-minute look at one in the spotlight.

As fall progressed, so did Andy's lead: two birds in September, four by
the end of October, five after November. After missing Stilt Sandpiper,
Band-tailed Pigeon, Flammulated Owl and White-winged Crossbill, I was
doomed to a second place finish. I began to worry that Ellen, despite of a very
late start, was going to pass me.

October did bring two new species to the Yakima County list. Andy and I
discovered an immature Black-legged Kittiwake and a Thayer's Gull at Priest
Rapids on October 15. Two new species to the county list in one day was
unbelievable! Later in October Andy was alerted to an incredible
congregation of over four hundred gulls of four species at the west end of
Rimrock Lake, attracted by the spawning land-locked salmon. A Harris's
Sparrow at the feeder at the arboretum and a Bonaparte's Gull at a lake
along our greenway provided a great finish to October.

All three of us worked hard to find birds that we ended up missing.
Gyrfalcon, Swamp Sparrow and American Tree Sparrow all eluded us despite
many hours of searching. Four Broad-winged Hawks flew over Andy's office,
were seen and well described by his brother, but were gone within minutes.

A Yellow-billed Loon at Priest Rapids on Dec. 30, seen with Andy, Ellen and
jay Desgroslier, gave me my last bird of the year for a final total of 250.
Andy and Ellen picked up rosy finches in the late afternoon of New Year's
Eve which
brought Andy to 255 and Ellen to 241. Ten birds were seen in Yakima County in
2000 that Andy, Ellen and I did not see. I had one that Andy didn't find which
brought the county total for the year to 266 species. That included all
five of North America's loons.

The other participants have not checked in with their final totals
yet. It looks like the winner should end up with about 170 species plus
96 handicap points bringing his total to close to 270. Prizes for the winner
of each category will be awarded at our chapter meeting later this month.

In a year of intense Yakima County birding, Andy added six to his
county list bringing his total to 273. I added twelve making a total of
269. Ellen, of course, topped us both with an incredible addition of
approximately 220 because of her limited birding in the county before
2000. Quite importantly, four new species were added to the Yakima County
list during 2000 - Arctic Loon, Thayer's Gull, Black-legged Kittiwake and
Indigo Bunting - due in part to our concentrated effort in the county. We
also had the second or third county sightings of several other species.

All in all, it was a wonderful year of birding. Andy thinks it was his most
memorable year of birding ever. I agree whole-heartedly. Staying close
to home also saved many miles of wear and tear on Andy's car.

Denny Granstrand
Yakima, WA


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* Denny Granstrand *
* Yakima, WA *
* osprey at nwinfo.net *
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