Saturday, October 24, 2015, the Washington Bird Records Committee met at the Slater Museum for its annual meeting. Here's a summary of our results.


39 reports were accepted as valid new records.
3 additional records were accepted as sightings of records previously accepted at an earlier meeting.
24 reports were not accepted
1 decision was tabled for further research


The WBRC accepted one species new to the state list: Red-flanked Bluetail, seen at a private location in spring 2015. In addition, the first record of the Siberian subspecies of American Pipit was accepted, and the first record of the eastern subspecies of Blue-gray Gnatcatcher was accepted.

The state list now stands at 511 species.

The results of this round's votes will eventually be posted on the WOS Website at http://wos.org/records.html, but here's a short list of the decisions from this meeting:

REPORTS ACCEPTED BY THE WBRC:
EMGO-2014-1 Emperor Goose 10/5 - 11/15/14 - Ocean Shores, Grays Harbor County.

BESW-2015-1 "Bewick's" Tundra Swan 1/25/15 - Steigerwald Lake NWR, Clark County.

STAL-2015-2 Short-tailed Albatross 8/15/15 - 1-3 mile north of Tattoosh Island, Clallam County.

MUPE-2015-1 Murphy's Petrel 5/8/15 - 46.0638x-125.2267 , Pacific County.

GRSH-2015-1 Great Shearwater 6/27/15 - Westport Pelagic, Grays Harbor County.

GRSH-2015-2 Great Shearwater 8/15/15 - Westport Pelagic, Grays Harbor County.

BRBO-2014-3 Brown Booby 9/20/14 - Ocean Shores, Grays Harbor County.

BRBO-2015-1 Brown Booby 8/21/15 - Edmonds, Snohomish County [note: Later sightings in the Puget Sound will be evaluated at a later meeting].

BRBO-2015-2 Brown Booby 9/6/15 - Westport Pelagic, Grays Harbor County.

LSAP-2015-1 Lesser Sand-Plover 8/16-22/15 - Ocean Shores, Grays Harbor County.

RNST-2015-1 Red-necked Stint 7/5/15 - Yukon Bay, Kitsap County.

RNST-2015-2 Red-necked Stint 8/7/15 - Sand Point, Olympic National Park, Clallam County.

LBMU-2015-1 Long-billed Murrelet 7/27/15 - Shark Reef Sanctuary, Lopez Island, San Juan County.

SCMU-2014-3 Scripps's Murrelet 9/6/14 - Westport Pelagic, Grays Harbor County.

SCMU-2014-5 Scripps's Murrelet 9/7/14 - Westport Pelagic - chum spot, Grays Harbor County.

GUMU-2015-1 Guadalupe Murrelet 8/1/15 - Grays Canyon, Grays Harbor County.

SCMU/GUMU-2014-6 Scripps's/Guadalupe Murrelet 9/28/14 - Westport Pelagic, Pacific County.

RLKI-2015-1 Red-legged Kittiwake 9/8/15 - Neah Bay, Clallam County.

SBGU-2014-2 Slaty-backed Gull 10/26 - 11/1/2014 - Waatch River Mouth, Clallam County.

WWDO-2015-1 White-winged Dove 5/17-18/15 - Renton, King County.

YBCU-2015-1 Yellow-billed Cuckoo 6/4/15 - Big Valley Trail, Mazama, Okanogan County.

CRCA-2015-1 Crested Caracara 11 June - 5 July 2015 - Skykomish, King County.

BGGN-2014-1 Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 11/7-10/14 - Neah Bay, Clallam County ? accepted as the state?s first record of Eastern subspecies.

RFBL-2015-1 Red-flanked Bluetail 3/26-4/4/15 - Ferndale, Whatcom County- STATE FIRST RECORD.

AMPI-2014-1 "Siberian" American Pipit 11/8-9/2014 - Hobuck Beach, Clallam County ? accepted as the state?s first record of this subspecies. Sight record.

OVEN-2015-1 Ovenbird 6/18/15 - Tieton Marsh, Yakima County.

BAWW-2015-1 Black-and-White Warbler 24 June ? 17 July 2015 - St. Cloud Wayside, Skamania County.

CSWA-2015-1 Chestnut-sided Warbler 6/9/15 - Horn Rapids, Benton County.

CSWA-2015-2 Chestnut-sided Warbler 8/31/15 - Fish Hook Park, Walla Walla County.

CSWA-2015-3 Chestnut-sided Warbler 9/6/15 - Discovery Park, Seattle, King County.

BLPW-2015-2 Blackpoll Warbler 9/5/15 - Potholes North, Grant County.

BLPW-2015-3 Blackpoll Warbler 9/6/15 - Bainbridge Island, Lovgren, Kitsap County.

BTBW-2014-1 Black-throated Blue Warbler 12/20/14 - 4/2/15 - Bothell, Snohomish County.

TBFS-2015-1 "Thick-billed" Fox Sparrow 6/21/2015, 6/25/15 - Snowden Rd., above White Salmon, Klickitat County

.RFSP-2015-2 "Red" Fox Sparrow 4/13/15 - Diablo, Whatcom County.

INBU-2015-1 Indigo Bunting 6/13/15 - West Sequim, Clallam County.

INBU-2015-2 Indigo Bunting 8/28/15 - Sprague, Lincoln County.

DICK-2015-1 Dickcissel 6/3-8/15 - Hardy Canyon, Yakima County.

OROR-2015-1 Orchard Oriole 2/16 - 3/25/15 - Ocean City, Grays Harbor County.



REPORTS ACCEPTED AS CONTINUING SIGHTINGS OF RECORDS ALREADY ACCEPTED:

Slaty-backed Gull continuing from fall 2014 through May 2015, then returning in August 2015 - Tacoma, Pierce County. Accepted as a continuing record of SBGU-2013-1, present in the same location at least since 2013.

Eastern Wood-Pewee 7/30-8/19/15 - Lind Coulee Trail's End Farm, Grant County ? Accepted as a continuing record of EAWP-2013-1, present in 2013 and 2014 at the same location.

Black-and-White Warbler 3/2/15 - Spokane, Spokane County ? Accepted as a continuing record of BAWW-2014-5, previously accepted from the same location.



REPORTS NOT ACCEPTED:

ARLO-2015-4 Arctic Loon, 3/23/15 - Vashon Island, King County.

STAL-2015-1 Short-tailed Albatross, 5/8/15 - Off Waatch point, Clallam County.

SNEG-2014-2 Snowy Egret, 12/29/14 - Puget Island, Wahkiakum County.

SPRE-2015-1 Spotted Redshank, 7/16/15 - Nisqually NWR, Thurston County.

TBMU-2015-2 Thick-billed Murre, 5/8/15 - "The Straits" off Port Angeles, Clallam County.

SCMU-2014-4 Scripps's Murrelet, 2, 9/7/14 - Westport Pelagic - just on canyon edge, Grays Harbor County.

BHGU-2014-1 Black-headed Gull, 10/19/14 - Everett, Snohomish County.

BHGU-2015-1 Black-headed Gull, 1/3/15 in WA, 1/2-11/15 in OR - McNary Dam, Benton County. Identification not in question, but not accepted as being observed in Washington.

LETE-1976-1 Least Tern, 5/31/76 - Cape Disappointment, Pacific County. Identification not in question, but not accepted as being observed in Washington.

WWDO-2015-2 White-winged Dove, all summer, 2015 - Spanaway, Pierce County.

ALFL-2015-1 Alder Flycatcher, 6/19/15 - Icicle Creek, Leavenworth, Chelan County.

BTAC-2015-1 Black-throated Accentor, 6/5/15 - Issaquah, King County.

BWWA-2012-2 Blue-winged Warbler, multiple, 5/31/12 - Clarkston Heights, Asotin County.

BAWW-2015-2 Black-and-White Warbler, 6/25/15 - Vashon Island, King County.

BAWW-2015-3 Black-and-White Warbler, 8/2/15 - North Potholes, Grant County.

BAWW-2015-4 Black-and-white Warbler, 8/25/15 - Cle Elum, Kittitas County.

BAWW-2015-5 Black-and-White Warbler, 9/7/15 - Magnuson Park, Seattle, King County.

BLPW-2014-1 Blackpoll Warbler, 9/21/14 - Washtucna, Adams County.

BLPW-2014-2 Blackpoll Warbler, 9/2/14 - Ferndale, Whatcom County.

BLPW-2015-1 Blackpoll Warbler, 5/24/15 - Calispell Lake, Pend Oreille County.

YTWA-2015-1 Yellow-throated Warbler, 6/20/15 - Headgates, Asotin Creek, Asotin County.

RFSP-2015-1 "Red" Fox Sparrow, 2/14-16/15 - Bingen, Klickitat County.

SCTA-2015-1 Scarlet Tanager, multiple, 3/3/15 - Lakewood, Pierce County.

COGR-2015-1 Common Grackle, 6/14/15 - Toppenish NWR, Yakima County.



TABLED REPORTS TO BE CONSIDERED FURTHER AT A LATER MEETING:

TBFS-2005-1 "Thick-billed" Fox Sparrow 2/26/05 - Ebey Island, Snohomish County ? TABLED for further consideration.




In other WBRC news, Steve Mlodinow rotated off the committee at the conclusion of this meeting. Bill Tweit has re-joined the WBRC as Steve's replacement.

Updates to the state list, review list and master checklist on line will be completed before long and posted.



I welcome any questions about the status of past decisions or any new report submissions,

Matt Bartels
Secretary, WBRC
Seattle, WA