Hello all, the Olympia CBC took place yesterday with very good results
(species #s were good, but overall numbers felt lower than normal for many
species). The morning started off with mist/drizzle that became rain for
much of the circle, but the Nisqually/Lacey areas just got drizzle and then
high winds. Midday and afternoon was great for the downtown area with blue
skies for a few moments. Unfortunately for the Nisqually counters the high
winds kept many of the sparrows hidden and very high tides kept saltmarsh
access minimal here. The count was further hampered by only one boat on the
water instead of the usual two.

Highlights included:
G. White-fronted Goose
1 Egyptian Goose (present since June at the base of Tumwater Falls, neat
looking bird but definitely not ABA-compliant)
2 Long-tailed Ducks (1 on the boat, 1 on the south end of Capitol Lake)
1 Black Scoter (Luhr Beach, 4 were present on Friday; we often miss this
now-rare scoter in the extreme south sound)
2 Glaucous Gulls (Perry Creek)
California Gull (Nisqually Reach)
Herring Gull (multiple locales)
Ruffed Grouse (often missed I believe)
1 Anna's Hummingbird (for some reason Olympia has few of these)
Cedar Waxwing (often missed)
1 Mountain Chickadee (Cooper Point Road at a feeder)
1 Orange-crowned Warbler (West Bay)
1 Harris's Sparrow (Erik Craig's house- see earlier post)
and others that I am probably forgetting.

Nothing earth-shattering, but a few very hard to find winter birds for
Thurston County and a couple of code 5s (Mountain Chickadee, Harris's
Sparrow). Then of course there were the misses: Bonaparte's Gull, Brown
Pelican (the two were seen last week), Redhead (seen lately), American
Pipit, all the owls...but let's not think of those!

Jason Paulios
Jpaulios at earthlink.net
Olympia, WA