Subject: [Tweeters] Cle Elum CBC results
Date: Dec 20 10:29:20 2013
From: Michael Hobbs - birdmarymoor at frontier.com
We held the 8th annual Cle Elum CBC on Monday, December 16. The weather was downright scary-weird, with temps up to the low 40?s and an almost complete lack of snow. This allowed access to virtually all roads, though the consensus was that birds were pretty much completely absent from higher elevations despite the excellent weather. Possibly the preceding deep freeze sent birds packing.
We had almost no thrushes (a grand total of 3 American Robins), no waxwings, and only four species of finch (Red Crossbill, House Finch, American Goldfinch, and Evening Grosbeak). Despite that, our species count was above average. Our total number of birds seen was distinctly lower than average, however.
We added 4 species to the all-time Cle Elum CBC list: Greater White-fronted Goose, Tundra Swan, Barn Owl, and White-throated Sparrow.
The day started with unusually successful owling: Western Screech-Owl seen well, several Great Horned Owls heard, Barn Owl, Northern Saw-whet Owl, and a couple of birds that were glimpsed and went down as owl sp.
High counts included:
Canada Goose 369, more than double the previous high
Mallard 188 ? first time over 150
Pied-billed Grebe 2 ? only third time species has been seen
D.-c. Cormorant 1 ? only second time species recorded
Northern Harrier 16 ? previous high 2, only seen three times prev.
Belted Kingfisher 10 ? previous high 6
Brown Creeper 13 ? previous high 7
Pacific Wren 32 ? previous high 17
Lows and misses included:
Wild Turkey 52 - previous low 78
Cooper?s Hawk 1 - ties previous low
Rock Pigeon 61 ? previous low 74
American Crow 49 ? previous low 51
Common Raven 90 ? previous low 93
Varied Thrush First time missed
Cedar Waxwing Missed for only 2nd time
G.-c. Sparrow 2 ? previous low 3
Cassin?s Finch Missed for only 2nd time
Pine Siskin Missed for only 2nd time
House Sparrow 79 ? previous low 122
So overall, there were 4 new species and 12 other high counts, while there were about the same number of lows/misses.
We ended up with 70 species, two more than our average, plus a count week bird (Sooty Grouse) to bring the total+cw to 71 (average). The number of birds seen was 3241, almost 400 below average.
We had 20 people out counting birds; 13 from Western Washington and 7 from E. WA. Thanks to all!
== Michael Hobbs
== www.marymoor.org/birding.htm
== BirdMarymoor at frontier.com