Hi Tweeters & Inland-NW-Birders -

An updated version of the 2013 county year list project is up at Washington Birder. We've received updates from almost all the counties with details through the end of June. County compilers, especially for the under-birded counties, would appreciate receiving reports of any birds seen in their counties.

To me, last year felt as if there were more rarities popping up every couple weeks -- at least more regularly than this year. That said, our totals this year are very similar
This year at the mid-way point, we've tallied 369 species [vs 370 last year]; Eastern WA has tallied 308 species [well up from last year's 299], and Western WA has tallied 325 species [vs 331 last year]

37 counties have tallied over 150 species so far, and more than 23 are over 200 for the year -

20 counties are running higher totals than they were last year. Interestingly, 13 counties are within 5 species of their total from last year at this point -- to my mind, a roughly stable total might indicate that the tally is doing a better job at capturing an accurate picture of what is being seen


If you'd like to take a look at where things stand, the list and many other interesting files are at the Washington Birder website:

http://www.wabirder.com/


A direct link to the 2012 county yearlist & the list of county compilers, including a growing number of direct links to individual county year lists with more details and more frequent updates:

http://www.wabirder.com/county_yearlist.html


Thanks to all the compilers and all those pitching in to sketch a picture of another year's birds in WA.


Matt Bartels
Seattle, WA