Subject: Fw: [Tweeters] 2005 Grays Harbor (west county) CBC Report
Date: Jan 6 19:11:25 2006
From: Ruth and/or Patrick Sullivan - godwit at worldnet.att.net


To: All 2005 Grays Harbor Christmas Bird Count Area Coordinators,
----- Original Message -----
From: Ruth and/or Patrick Sullivan
To: Dianna Moore ; Tweeters
Sent: Friday, January 06, 2006 5:30 PM
Subject: Re: [Tweeters] 2005 Grays Harbor (west county) CBC Report


Hello Dianna,and Tweeters,

We really appreciate for Bob Morse for compiling our count so fast with a detailed report and also for Dianna Moore to put the tally on to Tweeters less than one week.As always we found this extremely nice of Bob to consider every birder giving praise to all the birders who was on the count.Indeed it was a good count,as I looked at other count's from Grays Harbor,this is the second highest since 1992.It as a very good count as also the weather was not to good.


Cheers Ruth Sullivan
----- Original Message -----
From: Dianna Moore
To: Tweeters
Sent: Friday, January 06, 2006 12:08 PM
Subject: [Tweeters] 2005 Grays Harbor (west county) CBC Report


Hi Tweets.Bob Morse asked me to forward this:





Grays Harbor Christmas Bird Count Results,



The 2005 Grays Harbor CBC, conducted on January 2, 2006 was a great success. Although the day started with rain, by mid-afternoon the sun was shining which brought out some of the birds recovering from the series of storms over the prior week. The tide in the afternoon was very high making it a challenge to find shorebirds but produced lots of raptors.



The most amazing highlight of the count was the 641 Red Phalaropes - a high for our count. This species was seen in all count areas with one exception. 337 were counted at the south tip of Ocean Shores along with 50 dead birds.



We saw a total of 138 species with 38,835 birds counted by 50 observers in 17 parties. Although the species total was less than last year's record breaking 149, our total species count was 5th highest in our 34 years of conducting the local CBC.



Other highlights of our CBC were:



? A Clark's Grebe observed by Chris Chappell at Bottle Beach.

? In the afternoon, the raptors were having a field day hunting the flooded fields. We recorded 55 Bald Eagles, 51 Red-tailed Hawks, 8 American Kestrels, and 18 Merlins - all new highs for our CBC.

? 43 Virginia Rails were heard or seen - again a new count high for our CBC.

? 328 Least Sandpipers was a recent high count - but did not break the record of 857 seen in 1976.

? The only Glaucous Gull for the day was well photographed by Patrick Sullivan at the Hoquiam Sewer Treatment Plant.

? In the first time in some years we did not see any alcids attesting to the difficult times these birds have had off our coast in 2005.

? 16 Snowy Owls is the largest number of this species we have seen in 8 years. Seeing an additional 5 species of owls was good considering the early morning rain.

? 24 Anna's Hummingbirds is a huge jump in this species for our CBC. Last year we had 11 Anna's and before that it was less than a handful each year. It is nice to see the expansion of their territory.

? Rose DuBois and Ruth and Patrick Sullivan added a number of count period birds with Ruffed Grouse, White-tailed Kite, Brown-headed Cowbird, Common Murre, and Cedar Waxwing.



I want to thank all of the participants for a successful CBC. We had a number of new counters this year and I hope they will return next year.





Bob Morse



Forwarded by Dianna Moore

Ocean Shores, Wa.

dlmoor2 at coastaccess.com





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