WHAS 50th Anniversary Celebration

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Last Updated: July 22, 2025

Save the date: Saturday, September 13, 2025
   
2025 marks the 50th year since the founding of Willapa Hills Audubon in 1975. So, mark your calendars, as we have set aside Saturday, September 13, 2025 as a day of celebration.

We’ll have an afternoon and evening of birding at nearby Julia Butler Hansen Refuge for Columbian White-tailed Deer, a program or two, entertainment from local bird enthusiasts; food, drink and palaver, all at the Skamokawa Paddle Center in downtown Skamokawa.

Stay tuned for more details in the Autumn edition of the Whistler, but in the meantime alert all our old WHAS friends near and far about this event. For more information check out this website in September or contact our president. 

Cowlitz County Bird List - 2025 June Update

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Last Updated: July 06, 2025

By Russ Koppendrayer

We've reached the midpoint of 2025 and now have seen wintering, migrating and breeding birds as well as the resident species. At 190 species on our list it is a fine start with six months to find some species that are regular southbound more so than northbound migrants as well as less usual birds. For some reason I failed to submit an end of May report, so this will be for two months.

Among the twenty species added in May and two in June there were no big rarities. One of the June species was the most unlikely however. A well described White-tailed Kite was reported and accepted on eBird as being seen hovering over the median of I-5 in Kelso. Not only is this patch of appropriate habitat quite small, but this species has become quite unusual in Cowlitz County. Through the 1990s and early 2000s the kites made a range expansion up the Oregon Coastal area and into southwest Washington, becoming fairly common in open habitat areas almost to Olympia. A snowstorm in December of 2008 dumped over a foot over the entire area that lasted for about two weeks. Unable to find food through this blanket, they disappeared from the entire area. Since that time we have had only a couple prior records in the county. 

As new species will be reported much less frequently I will only be updating every two months for the remainder of the year. 

Download the pdf here.

WHAS 2025 Summer Picnic Invitation

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Last Updated: June 07, 2025

Saturday, August 16, 2025, 02:00pm - 05:00pm

Our WHAS picnic is coming up this Saturday, Aug 16, from 2-5 PM at the Turner residence in Rose Valley.  Attendees are asked to bring one covered dish (a salad, entree, dessert or snack) to feed 4 to 6 people. Each person should bring their own plates, cups and tableware.  Ice, water, iced tea, napkins, paper towels, tables and chairs will be provided. We will have tables, chairs and sun protection.  

The Turner residence is about 8 miles up into Rose Valley, elevation 500 feet. To get to the Turner house from Longview take Tennant Way east towards I-5.  Stay in the left lane to head towards Seattle & Kelso Drive.  Then continue in the left lane (towards Kelso Drive) to the roundabout.  Take the first "exit" South (not counting the freeway entrance into the roundabout) on to Highway 99 south.  In one mile take a left on Rose Valley Rd.  After 5.1 miles on winding Rose Valley Road, turn right [slight uphill right] on South Goble Creek Road and wind your way about a mile until you pass a large white barn on the right; then turn right on very steep Zillig Rd.  After 0.4 miles, turn left on Jensen Rd - we'll have a yellow "TURNER" sign on the mailbox.  We are the second driveway on the right.  There should be quite adequate room to park on the pavement

Summer 2025 Whistler is available

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Last Updated: July 22, 2025

The Summer 2025 Whistler is available now.

Read more of its content: 

• WHAS 50th Anniversary Celebration This Fall
• Annual Summer Picnic Invitation
• Membership Form
• NW Birding Events
• Earth Day recap
• Feathered Einsteins: Corvids
• Field trip of St. Rose School to the Children’s Museum
• Swift Camera Drama at Rainier
• Earth day at Children’s Museum
• Reflections on How to Raise a Wild Child: The Art and Science of Falling in Love with Nature

Cowlitz County Bird List - 2025 April Update

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Last Updated: May 05, 2025

By Russ Koppendrayer

Here at the end of April we have new species arriving daily to add to our composite Cowlitz County year list as we near the heart of spring migration. Not a lot of unexpected species during the past month were reported. The most interesting was an American Goshawk that was seen chasing Band-tailed Pigeons around a rural yard near Toutle. A regular breeder in the forests on the east slopes of the Cascade Mountains, it is much more uncommon on our side. Records in Cowlitz County seem to occur every few years and have included birds in winter as well as possible breeding birds in June. While a few Goshawks are known to overwinter, most do migrate south. Our April individual was likely a returning migrant that stopped to try for a meal as it passed through. 
Enjoy the on going migration and good birding to all.

Download the pdf here.

See the Vaux's Swifts in Rainier Oregon in 2025

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Last Updated: May 17, 2025

Vaux's Swifts are starting to roost in the Riverside Community Church chimney in Rainier. See a live view into the chimney here (https://vauxhappeningor.click2stream.com/)

Folks wishing to check out this phenomenon for themselves will have the best chance from half an hour before sunset until half an hour after sunset. The northward migration of the swifts sarts in May, affording us more opportunities to view thousands of them entering the chimney. You can watch them from the lower parking lot accessible from the corner of W D St and W 3rd St on the north side of Riverside Community Church.

Check it out and say hi to Carolyn, Juni and Terri.

Cowlitz PUD Osprey Cam 2025

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Last Updated: April 06, 2025

The Cowlitz PUD Osprey cam is live again. The first osprey arrived on March 30th for the 2025 season.

Cowlitz PUD provides a free children’s guide (PDF) built around Osprey Migration and Electrical Safety. See the videos on YouTube: Camera one has a view from above, and camera two from the side with the audio. 

Cowlitz County Bird List - 2025 March Update

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Last Updated: April 03, 2025

By Russ Koppendrayer

New species continued to trickle in throughout the month of March as spring migration ramped up. One rare addition to our Cowlitz County year list was a Franklin's Gull found on the log boom at the Kalama Marina. This third ever county record was seen intermittently over a four day period. 

Bringing more excitement was a report of an Eyebrowed Thrush from the Woodland Bottoms. This species is in the same turdus genus as our American Robin, but is a native of Asia. There have been numerous records of them from the islands off Alaska and a few from the Alaskan mainland over the years, but a single record from California is the only one from the lower forty-eight states.  As with all reports of birds this rare, it must be accepted by the Washington Bird Records Committee to be added to the official state bird list. A report has been filed with them, but we may not know the outcome for some time. As this was a single person, sight only report, without photos or additional data submitted it will likely not be taken up until their only in person meeting in October. Not many state first records are accepted of this type as the bar is high to get on the list, but we'll see. Much effort was made by a group of accomplished birders to refind it on the following day without success.

Download the pdf here.

Spring 2025 Whistler is available

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Last Updated: February 28, 2025

The Spring 2025 Whistler is available now.

Read more of its content: 

• Annual Meeting and Banquet
• Program: Snowy Plovers in the Pacific Northwest: On the Road to Recovery
• 2025 Midwinter Bald Eagle Survey Tallies 22
• Membership Form
• NW Birding Events
• Call for Earth Day volunteers
• Christmas Bird Count Updates
• WHAS Name Change Ballot Introduction with Pro and Contra Discussion
• Black-headed Grosbeak: Flashy Songster with a Pallet for Toxic Butterflies

Cowlitz County Bird List - 2025 February Update

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Last Updated: March 06, 2025

By Russ Koppendrayer

Early February saw new species trickle in with the last week being a bit more active on that front. We did not find any species that is particularly rare for Cowlitz County however. The only species that the list shows as less than annual here was Western Screech-owl, and that designation is more likely due to lack of people owling and/or not reporting them. If the pattern here is similar to places in western Washington where good surveys have been ongoing we actually are probably losing Screech-owl density. Where good long term data is available the invasion of Barred Owls has had a significant impact on the prevalence of Western Screech-owls. Anecdotal evidence here seems to bear this out as people who used to have them on or near their property no longer encounter them. 

On the brighter side we did have all three of the very early migrant arrivals before the first of March. Rufous Hummingbird, Turkey Vulture and Tree Swallow all arrived before that date, and many years we seem to need very early March to get one of them. the arrivals should become more numerous as spring continues to delight those of us who pay attention to them.

Download the pdf here.