Hi Tweeters & Inland NW Birders -

An updated version of the 2015 County Yearlist Project is up and available at Washington Birder. We've received updates from all but four of the 39 counties as of the end of April. Thanks to everyone who has contributed by sending county compilers their sightings &/or posting on ebird.

An end-of-April cut off for produces a lot of variability in the lists -- there is so much that is coming in right around the first of May that the precise totals for each county are pretty insignificant -- one week earlier or later could make the difference for a dozen or more species , easily.
Nevertheless, here's a bit of year-on-year comparing!

As of the end of April 2015 2014, 329 species had been tallied -- that's well above last year's total of 318, but not as high as two years ago. Western WA, at 288 species was ten above last year's 278, and Eastern WA's 259 is right on last year's pace.

Though I haven't looked at the specifics, perhaps the higher totals are a reflection of a slightly earlier spring migration bringing birds in just inside the cut-off, rather than any overall sign of a year with more diversity of birds. We'll see in a couple months when the reporting mark comes during a quieter time.

25 of the 39 counties have higher totals reported this year than they did at this point last year.
Yakima county, with 221 species reported, is well ahead of the other counties, with Clallam, King, & Grays Harbor next in line and the only other counties to have crossed the 200 mark by the end of april.

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 2015 county yearlist & the list of county compilers contact info:
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
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