Hi Tweeters,

We had a great day on the 37th Yakima Valley Christmas Bird Count on
Dec. 16. The weather was very nice with temps ranging from 20 to 32
with almost no wind.

The preliminary total of species seen is 93, breaking the all-time
record of 92 set last year. Highlights include Eurasian
Collared-Dove and Anna's Hummingbird (both new to the count, seen at
the same house in Selah), Peregrine Falcon, Spotted Sandpiper,
Red-breasted Sapsucker for the third straight year after 34 years of
not seeing one, Mountain Chickadee and Chestnut-backed Chickadee,
White-throated Sparrow, Harris's Sparrow at a feeder in Selah, and
Purple Finch at two locations. Count week birds were four Herring
Gulls on Buchanan Lake along I-82 in Yakima and a Barred Owl today in
Terrace Heights on the east side of Yakima.

This is the year of very few misses. All of the birds cooperated and
our groups of birders did a great job of finding them.

Today I got photos of the Barred Owl and the Red-breasted Sapsucker,
which are in the new photos folder on my website.

Denny Granstrand
Yakima

* Denny Granstrand *
* Yakima, WA *
* dgranstrand at charter.net *
* Denny's bird photos can be seen online at: *
http://granstrand.net/gallery/