Hi Tweets:
I finally finished the tally for our CBC from the 29th. 36 of us endured
pretty awful conditions to count a total of 132 species with 36,582 birds
showing up. We had gusty winds all day long, with intermittent
hail/intermittent sunshine...more hail than sun on some of us. What a great
bunch of dedicated birders!

Those of you who were around in 2008 will recall how appalled I was at a
high count of 52 Brown Pelicans; Wednesday's total was 520, 470 of which
were found in Westport! That's really disturbing to me, and a clear signal
of how important is this annual census of birds.

Other birds of note:
*Ruth Sullivan, Jim Pruske and Lonnie Somers had a Canvasback, 3 Redheads,
the only Ruddy Ducks (3), the only Rough-legged Hawk, two Virginia Rails,
and the only Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers (1 ea).
*Bruce LaBar's group found the female King Eider in her usual spot in the
pilings off the base of Damon Point (her second CBC showing), 13 Pacific
Loons, two Thayer's Gulls, and a Lincoln's Sparrow.
*Bill Tweit's Westport group also covered Area 9...left uncovered due to not
enough people. Their "reward" was a record number of pelicans, the only
Red-necked and Eared Grebes, two Harlequins, a Rock Sandpiper, a Bonaparte's
Gull, a Glaucous Gull, 4 Glaucous-winged X Herring Gulls, 10 Red Crossbills,
and the only Pine Siskins and Am. Goldfinches (2 ea).
*Hermit Thrushes were big this year, with a total of 26, as were the 141
Varied Thrushes.
*The only owl during the count itself was found by the Edgars and their
guests behind their house on the bay side of Ocean Shores...a Great Horned
Owl. The other two owls were during the count period, with a Short-eared Owl
seen by Jude Armstrong over her neighbor's house in Hoquiam on Tues. the
28th, and a Barred Owl in my front yard on the 30th.

Thanks to all who participated; you truly went above and beyond the call of
duty, but you all looked very satisfied with a job well done. I really
appreciate your efforts and as usual, I had a ball!
Dianna Moore/compiler
Ocean Shores, Wa.
dlmoor2 at coastaccess. com