A meassage from Bob Morse:

2006 Grays Harbor CBC Results

42 observers tallied 48,104 birds (131 species) on Saturday, December 23rd
during the Grays Harbor Christmas Bird Count. The weather was unusual it
was quite pleasant with temperatures to 48 degrees and little wind. It was a
great day for a coastal CBC.

The highlights of the day included:
5,777 American Wigeon, four times what we normally get on our CBC.
Mallard counts were also up this year's 1840 is a new count record.
Surf Scoters also hit a new count high (632) as well as Common Goldeneye
(355).
An immature White-tailed Kite spotted by Alex and Brien Meilleur along the
John's River is the first record in almost 20 years. Amazingly, Dianna Moore
had an adult kite in Ocean Shores just a few days later.
Patrick and Ruth Sullivan had a Red-shouldered Hawk for the second year.
Where did all the gulls go? Our gull counts were way down this year.
We only had one alcid, a Common Murre, continuing a disturbing trend of
very few alcids along our coast.
19 Anna's Hummingbirds points to a continuing range expansion of this
species along the coast.
A Harris's Sparrow discovered by Bill Shelmerdine's team at the end of
Elizabeth Street in Westport was a great find and new species for our count.
Large flocks of Pine Siskins included up to 18 Common Redpolls this year.
We only had two owls during count day (Short-eared and Great Horned) but a
Snowy and Barred Owl were seen in Ocean Shores during count week.

This will be the last time I will serve as the compiler for the Grays Harbor
CBC. I am looking for someone (or two co-compliers) to take over for me
after 16 years as compiler for this count. If you are interested in helping
out as the compiler or co-complier for the Grays Harbor Christmas Bird
Count, please give me a call at 360-943-8600 or email me at
rwmorse at comcast.net.

Happy birding,

Bob Morse
Olympia, WA

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