On December 28, 2011, 33 people spent the day counting birds in Bowen's various habitats and on the water surrounding us. The morning was mild and partly sunny and the sea calm, especially on the west side, but the afternoon became progressively wetter, windier and foggy, forcing some teams to finish early due to lack of visibility. The total number of birds counted was larger than last year, due to the enormous number of Surf Scoters. On land, the number of different species was up slightly but numbers of each were down, except for Anna's Hummingbirds whose numbers have increased in recent years.
Teams reporting back to the post-count gathering commented that the land was quiet and almost dead in the afternoon. That was puzzling because the morning's good weather should have brought the birds out of hiding onto warmer slopes facing the sun where they like to gather in loose mixed flocks to forage for food.
Partly as a result of the bird ID workshop on November 26, there were eight new volunteers. Despite this, three areas went uncovered and other areas could have used more help. I didn't mind doing my area by myself but most people have more fun as a team. Only two teams watched their feeders, compared to the usual four or five.
The table of results below gives you an idea of how many species there are to be seen in winter. Thank you so much to everyone who makes this part of their holiday fun more eyes and ears equal more birds recorded.
Pam Dicer
Table of Results for 2011 Christmas Bird Count
Species
Seen Dec.28/11
Count Week Birds
Mallard
18
0
Ring-necked Duck
8
0
Surf Scoter
11,250
0
White-winged Scoter
11
0
Bufflehead
22
0
Common Goldeneye
11
0
Barrow's Goldeneye
174
0
Hooded Merganser
9
0
Common Merganser
6
0
Red-breasted Merganser
2
0
American Coot
5
0
Pacific Loon
1
0
Common Loon
5
0
Loon spp. (possible Yellow-billed loon)
1
0
Pied-billed Grebe
1
0
Horned Grebe
10
0
Red-necked Grebe
2
0
Western Grebe
4
0
Double-crested Cormorant
10
0
Pelagic Cormorant
8
0
Cormorant spp.
1
0
Great Blue Heron (Blue form)
5
0
Bald Eagle Adult
31
0
Bald Eagle Immature
9
0
Northern Goshawk
0
1
Cooper's Hawk
1
0
Sharp-shinned Hawk
0
1
Accipiter spp.(possible Northern Goshawk)
1
0
Red-tailed Hawk
1
0
American Kestrel
1
0
Merlin
0
2
Falcon sp. (possible Peregrine)
1
0
Black Oystercatcher
0
4
Surfbird
65
0
Mew Gull
27
0
Herring Gull
3
0
Thayer's Gull
2
0
Glaucous-winged Gull
196
0
Gull spp.
242
0
Common Murre
8
0
Marbled Murrelet
16
0
Rhinoceros Auklet
1
0
Barred Owl
1
0
Anna's Hummingbird
15
0
Belted Kingfisher
0
1
Red-breasted Sapsucker
1
0
Downy Woodpecker
2
0
Hairy Woodpecker
2
0
Northern (Red-shafted) Flicker
64
0
Pileated Woodpecker
1
0
Steller's Jay
22
0
Northwestern Crow
73
0
Common Raven
47
0
Black-capped Chickadee
72
0
Chestnut-backed Chickadee
92
0
Chickadee spp.
4
0
Bushtit
20
0
Red-breasted Nuthatch
13
0
Brown Creeper
1
0
Bewick's Wren
9
0
Winter Wren
46
0
Golden-crowned Kinglet
118
0
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
6
0
American Robin
10
0
Varied Thrush
4
0
Thrush spp.
1
0
European Starling
27
0
Spotted Towhee
90
0
Fox Sparrow
23
0
Song Sparrow
31
0
Golden-crowned Sparrow
3
0
Sparrow spp.
1
0
Dark-eyed (Oregon) Junco
277
0
Purple Finch (M)
0
1
House Finch
3
0
Pine Siskin
1225
0
TOTAL
14473
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