Hello Tweets,

Today my mother and I participated on the Satsop CBC covering areas in the northeast section of the count circle including the town of Elma,Hwy.12 to Dunlap Rd. and along Carder Rd.,which lies along Vance Creek in Elma. We had a rewarding day species count and weather wise,although driving to Elma during the early morning included snowy conditions west of Olympia along Hwy.8. We encountered a total of 74 species(3,338 individuals)within our CBC route including a 5 species woodpecker day,which seems noteworthy that included 2 Red-breasted Sapsuckers,1 Hairy Woodpecker and 1 Pileated Woodpecker. Our highest number of a certain species went to Dark-eyed Junco with 338 individuals,that were tallied from several locations. Several areas within our route were quiet or produced minimal birdlife,which is probably normal for some areas but other areas we covered produced a greater diversity of species that allowed us to count multiple species at one location. We ended the day after the compilation with our last species of the day,being a calling Northern Saw-whet Owl along Carder Rd.,which made for at least one species of owl for the entire Satsop CBC list. A list of additional noteworthy species within our personal area follows below:

4 Trumpeter Swans
12 Tundra Swans
1 Canvasback
174 Ring-necked Ducks
32 Lesser Scaup
8 Northern Harriers
1 Cooper's Hawk
14 Red-tailed Hawks
4 Am.Kestrels
2 Merlins
1 Ruffed Grouse
5 Virginia Rails(heard only at one location)
127 Black-bellied Plovers
142 Dunlin
4 Wilson's Snipe
40 Mourning Doves
20 Western Scrub Jays
35 Bushtits
3 Hermit Thrushes
70 Am.Pipits
2 Hutton's Vireos
1 Townsend's Warbler(observed during scouting in our area on the 27th,but not encountered on the CBC)
15 Western Meadowlarks
3 Purple Finches
3 Red Crossbills


Good birding,

Ruth and Patrick Sullivan
godwit at worldnet.att.net