Please send information about wildlife sightings to our Wildlife Sightings Chair.
To see some recent Washington State bird sightings go to the Tweeters list. To subscribe to Washington State Tweeters or to get more info about Tweeters visit WA Tweeters.
Another year with a nice start, mostly due to a fine Christmas Bird Count on New Years Day. The headliner was the second ever record of Rusty Blackbird for Cowlitz County found on 52nd Ave in west Longview. A Sora found the same day on Washburn Road was very unusual for winter. Keep those reports coming.
You find our bird lists here.
On December 27, during his daily walk around Lake Sacajawea in Longview, John Green found a dead Bald Eagle at the edge of the lake. It is illegal to collect wild birds, per the Federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918, so he did not touch the bird, determined to find the proper action to take.
Upon arriving home, he called Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, who were not interested (maybe not their jurisdiction) and recommended to call Portland Audubon. Audubon gave him the number for the Federal Fish and Wildlife office. These folks have committed to picking up the bird, which upon their direction was stored in a plastic bag in his freezer. They advised that there is a demand for Native American ceremonial use and the feathers will be donated after a necropsy is performed to determine cause of death.
It has been determined that the eagle died in a collision with a motor vehicle probably in flight over the Washington Way bridge.
The Christmas Bird Count (CBC) is citizen-science at its best and this year's will be the 114th. You can help with this effort, whether you have ever gone bird watching or not. You will have the opportunity to meet new people with interests in birds, or spend time with friends from previous years. Again this year WHAS sponsors the following CBC's:
This is your chance to help collect the information which will direct decisions in the future, decisions which will affect how much natural beauty, including birds, remains for future generations.
Bring your binoculars if you have some, boots, warm clothes and a lunch, and join us for a day outside, looking closely at some of Nature's most interesting creatures, sharing the day with people who have similar interests.
On September 20th Audubon Society of Portland’s wildlife rehab clinic released a male adult Bald Eagle at noon at Willow Grove Park.
The injured eagle had been picked up in the Abernathy Creek watershed suffering from lead poisoning caused by ingesting dead animals that had been shot. Vets repaired broken tail feathers using feathers from four other eagles in a process called “imping.”
About 20 people were able to watch the release, despite short notice. Several WHAS people attended, including Tom Finn, Bob Reistroffer and Darrel Whipple.
The year is at the half way point and all the breeding migrants have arrived, so this is a good time to see where we stand. I did a quick check of the 2012 list at the end of June and we have one more species on this years count. Amazing how similar that number is from year to year. Additions will be really slow for the remainder of the year, but they will mostly be species seen less than annually in the county.
Info about bird counts
| Aug 14; WHAS Annual Picnic |
| Sep 10-11; Puget Sound Bird Fest |
| Sep 23-25; Wings over Willapa Festival |
| Oct 08; Board Meeting |
