Cowlitz County Bird List - 2025 September Update

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Breeding Parasitic jaeger (light morph) - Image courtesy of Andreas Trepte/Wikimedia

By Russ Koppendrayer

Attached is the Cowlitz Year List updated through the end of September. This report is my first ever to include three months. We experienced a fairly slow July and August when we added four species, all of which we expect to find in that time frame in most years. 

But that changed in the middle of September when a Parasitic Jaeger was found at Sportsman Club Road. True to its nature of making its living by harassing terns and gulls to get them to drop their food, it was in hot pursuit of a couple gulls. Occasionally found along the Columbia River in fall migration, it seemed like an overdue addition to our Cowlitz bird list. A few days later a Sanderling made an appearance in the Woodland Bottoms.  Still less than annual, we've been finding this species more regularly in recent years.

On the penultimate day in September a Rusty Blackbird was found in the massive mixed species blackbird and starling flock dining on the spilled grain at the elevator at the mouth of the Kalama River.This was the fifth record for this species in Cowlitz County. Then on the final day of the month a Pectoral Sandpiper was located at Canal Road. While we find juvenile birds of this species during most fall migrations, this was a first for Canal Road. The incredibly dry summer has dried most more typical locations we find Pectorals, it also untypically produced mud flats at Canal Road in September and increased the number of shorebirds seen there. 

Here's hoping for an exciting last three birding months to 2025 in Cowlitz County.

Download the pdf here.

 

Fall 2025 Whistler is available

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Click to Download the pdf

The Fall 2025 Whistler is available now.

Read more of its content: 

  • Happy Birthday! WHAS celebrates 50th years
  • Membership Form
  • NW Birding Events
  • Photo Impression from Recent WHAS Events
  • Wilson’s Warbler: Charismatic Flirt
  • Vaux's Swifts Viewing in Rainier, Ore
  • WHAS History is a Legacy of Civic Engagement and Love of Natur

See the Fall Migration of Vaux's Swifts in Rainier Ore

Details

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/), best view the camera around sunset or sunrise.

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 southward migration of the swifts starts at the end of August, affording us more opportunities to view thousands of them entering the chimney. You can watch them 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 County Bird List - 2025 June Update

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White-tailed Kite - Image courtesy of wikimedia

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.

 

Summer 2025 Whistler is available

Details

Click to Download the pdf

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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Pair of American Goshawk

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

Details

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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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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Franklin's Gull - Image courtesy of Wikimedia

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

Details

Click to Download the pdf

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

Upcoming Events

Oct 25;
WHAS Regular Board Meeting
Dec 28;
Cowlitz Columbia CBC

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