Greeting All,

I have spent a fair amount of time birding Grant County. I started
birding the county in 1985. From that year through 1989 I saw no Bewick's
Wrens there. On 23 May 1990 I was very surprised to find a single singing
bird at
the Columbia NWR. From 1990 through 1996 I found them to be scarce in the
county.
In 1997, I did a Big Year in Grant County and found that they had increased
in number...being found at Northrup Canyon, Lower Crab Cr Rd and
Sun Lakes State Park and other sites.
In 2001/2002, I found them to be quite widespread and even more numerous
than
before in that county.
In Grant County I believe they have been increasing since 1990, starting out
very slowly. Since 1990 it looks like there have been several surges when
the population noticeably increased.
Further, I checked the Audubon Society's CBC web site for Bewick's Wren in
the Moses Lake count circle from 1989 to 2001. They have been recorded in
only three years:one in 1997, three in 1999 and 2 in 2000.
The CBC site was fairly easy to use.
http://www.audubon.org/bird/cbc/

Dave Beaudette
Wenatchee,WA
drtbrdr at earthlink.net


-----Original Message-----
From: Denny Granstrand <osprey at nwinfo.net>
To: tweeters at u.washington.edu <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Date: Wednesday, October 23, 2002 7:39 PM
Subject: Re: Bewick's Wrens in Eastern Washington


>Hi Tweeters,
>
>This message came from Dennis Paulson recently:
>
>>He also said that BEWICK'S WRENS bred in the same place this summer, that
>>he heard several singing and saw juveniles, last sighting about a month
>>ago. They were reported north to the nearby Columbia National Wildlife
>>Refuge in the Washington Breeding Bird Atlas. This is two western
>>Washington birds that are colonizing the east side, probably because of
>>anthropogenic alterations of the ambience.
>
>When I moved back to Yakima in 1978, there seemed to be quite a few
Bewick's
>Wrens around. I looked on the spreadsheet for the entire Yakima Valley CBC
>(1972-2001) to check on Bewick's Wrens.
>
>The CBC data showed them to be quite numerous from 1972-1980, with the low
>number in that period being 3 and the high being 21 (three years in a row),
>and the average just over 13. They were virtually absent from 1981-1994,
>with two seen in 1984 and one in 1990. From 1995 to 2001 they were seen
>every year with 4 being the low total and 19 the high, with the average
>being just over 10.
>
>We will have to rely on Dennis to explain this odd trend in Bewick's Wrens
>wintering in the Yakima Valley.
>
>Denny Granstrand
>Yakima, WA.
>
>* * * * * * * * * * *
>* Denny Granstrand *
>* Yakima, WA *
>* osprey at nwinfo.net *
>* * * * * * * * * * *
>
>
>
>