Tweeters,

The 2009-2010 and historic Christmas bird count numbers would provide
actual numbers for waterfowl and coots. Its on line.

It's not much help with swifts.

Larry Schwitters
Issaquah


On Jan 8, 2010, at 11:09 AM, Hans-Joachim Feddern wrote:

> Burt, Tweeters
>
> I find that numbers are also down here in Twin Lakes. We did have an
> extremely high number of American Wigeon of about 400 -500 in
> October and November. They have now dwindled down to 50 - 60 and
> some days hardly any. Normally we never have more than 1-2 Coots,
> but this winter there 6-7. I do see an increase in Common Mergansers
> with 14 male, 19 females the other day for an all time high. Hooded
> Merganser numbers are quite good, with a 2 to 1 female to male
> average. Mallards are quite high since somebody feeds the corn. On
> the other hand Bufflehead and Ring-Necked Duck numbers appear to be
> lower, Also seem to have less Canada Geese.
> I suspect though, that the re-appearance of at least 3 River Otters
> on one lake, and possibly two more on the other lake, caused some of
> the waterfowl to move to safer locations. Yesterday morning, at
> least one immature and two adult Bald Eagles were eyeballing the
> flock for lunch.
>
> Hans Feddern
> Twin Lakes/Federal Way
>
> On Fri, Jan 8, 2010 at 9:54 AM, Guttman,Burt
> <GuttmanB at evergreen.edu> wrote:
> Are you seeing diminished numbers of water birds? We live on Long
> Lake just outside Lacey, and while we have a lot of Mallards, the
> numbers of other wintering birds are waaaay down. For instance, I
> see perhaps 20 Coots on the lake, whereas in previous years we've
> had 150-200. I went by Capitol Lake in Olympia in preparation for a
> bird walk I'm doing there Saturday morning, and the numbers are
> astonishingly low. There's usually a huge gathering of American
> Wigeons at the south end of the lake, and there were hardly any
> yesterday. The mixed flocks of diving ducks are much thinner than
> usual. I know humans are destroying the world's ecosystems, but if
> these numbers are an indication of how badly we're doing it, we're
> in far greater trouble than I had thought.
>
> Burt Guttman
> The Evergreen State College
> Olympia, WA 98505 guttmanb at evergreen.edu
> Home: 7334 Holmes Island Road S. E., Olympia, 98503
>
>
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