Tweeters,

I finished my Grays Harbor BBS route this morning, this is one of the
Montesano counts. The route runs along Wynoochee RD (parallel to the
Wynoochee River for most of the route) north up into the foothills of the
Olympics. The road borders some nice valley farmland with a broadleaf
forest mix, this goes up into some recent clearcuts of Doug-fir mixed with
second growth Doug-fir.

Last year I recorded an amazing number of Swainson Thrush along this route,
and I was hoping that I could duplicate that this year so that I could gauge
my count accuracy. I was more conservative this year, but still ended up
with 116 SWAINSON'S at 44 of the 50 stops on the 25 mile route. This is
only 26 birds less than last year. Other high counts were 71 A. Robins, 52
Song Sparrows, 50 Pac-slope Flycatcher, 38 Willow Flycatcher, 32 Warbling
Vireo, 30 BH Grosbeak, and 28 BT Gray Warbler.

I thought I heard a Nighthawk at one stop but the Grosbeaks were too noisy
for me to confirm. The same for a possible A. Bittern early on that was
drowned out by Swainson's Thrushii. I expect both are on this route though,
maybe next year! Benefits to this route are the lack of the triad:
Starling, Cowbird, House Sparrow and traffic.

Other goodies were: 10 BLUE GROUSE (plus 1 female seen on the way back), 1
O/S Flycatcher, 2 NORTHERN PYGMY-OWL (I was hoping for one this time around,
but two?!), 1 BARN OWL (seen flying around the first farm along the
Wynoochee RD just outside of Montesano, didn't count for BBS since it wasn't
part of the route). Also good numbers of woodpeckers on this stretch of
road.

Remember to sign up for a route next year at
http://www.pwrc.usgs.gov/bbs/participate/ , there were at least 6 vacant
routes available this year according to their map
http://www.pwrc.usgs.gov/bbs/results/routemaps/washington.cfm?StateNumber=89
.

I've arranged the birds seen below with the total number seen or heard
followed by the number of stops where they occurred. Total number of
species seen on route was 53.

Blue Grouse 10 / 9
Green Heron 3 / 2
RT Hawk 1 / 1
BT Pigeon 18 / 15
Barn Owl 1 (Seen before count)
N. Pygmy-Owl 2 / 2 (new to count)
Rufous Hummingbird 18 / 15
RB Sapsucker 4 / 4
Downy Woodpecker 2 / 2
Hairy Woodpecker 5 / 4
Pileated Woodpecker 2 / 2
N. Flicker 3 / 2
Olive-sided Flycatcher 1 / 1
Hammond's Flycatcher 12 / 10
Willow Flycatcher 38 / 23
PS Flycatcher 50 / 34
Cassin's Vireo 1 / 1 (new to the count)
Hutton's Vireo 2 / 2
Warbling Vireo 32 / 24
Steller's Jay 17 / 13
A. Crow 23 / 16
C. Raven 8 / 5
N. Rough-winged Swallow 1 / 1
VG Swallow 4 / 4
Barn Swallow 7 / 4
BC Chickadee 3 / 3
CB Chickadee 4 / 3
RB Nuthatch 2 / 2
Brown Creeper 1 / 1
Bewick's Wren 3 / 3
Winter Wren 20 / 18
GC Kinglet 6 / 4
Swainson's Thrush 116 / 44
A. Robin 71 / 35
Varied Thrush 1 / 1
E. Starling 3 / 2
Cedar Waxwing 9 / 6
OC Warbler 12 / 12
YR "Audubon's" Warbler 1 / 1 (new to count)
BT Gray Warbler 28 / 22
MacGillivray's Warbler 19 / 15
Common Yellowthroat 12 / 10
Wilson's Warbler 26 / 21
Western Tanager 26 / 18
S. Towhee 23 / 19
Savannah Sparrow 7 / 5
Song Sparrow 52 / 36
WC Sparrow 27 / 15
Oregon Junco 11 / 10
BH Grosbeak 30 / 26
BH Cowbird 4 / 3
Purple Finch 1 / 1
A. Goldfinch 12 / 7
Evening Grosbeak 1 / 1

Jason Paulios
Jpaulios at earthlink.net
Olympia, WA