Black Phoebe’s at Julia Butler-Hansen Refuge
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By Jon Heale
Historically an occasional visitor, the Black Phoebe was a rare sight at the Julia Butler-Hansen Refuge for the Columbian White-tailed Deer; there had been a few sightings each year, but no known nests.
In 2014 refuge staff noticed a pair frequenting the covered corner of a tide gate and decided to check it out…a nest! Staff thought there had been a successful first brood, as two to three more Phoebe’s were hanging around throughout late spring-early summer. However, a second clutch of eggs was apparently unsuccessful as they remain in the unattended nest throughout summer.
As I write this (March 13), the Phoebe’s are in the process of building a new nest in the opposite corner of the tide gate. The pair is hard at work gathering blades of grass, stems, and mud. Make a stop into the refuge office and check them out!
They can often be spotted from the Headquarters observation deck, near the tide gate under Steamboat Slough Road.
Proposed Propane Development Faces a Setback In Longview
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This morning, 3/10/15, the Port Commissioners of Longview voted to not renew the lease to Havens Energy to build a propane export facility at Berth 4 in Longview. We applaud their decision and we know it was not an easy choice for them to make. The process for the final vote has been in the works for months with meetings and testimony from industry and the community. In fact, the commissioners listened to testimony from both sides this morning at their meeting. The resulting vote was a victory for all the hard work and efforts of the members of ILWU Local 21, LCSC, CRK, and WHAS members. It is very monumental when labor and everyday citizens can raise concerns regarding safety, economic, environmental, transportation, & siting problems with a project and when our elected officials listen to them seriously.
Spring 2015 Whistler is online
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The Spring 2015 Whistler is available now.
Read more of its content:
- Annual Membership Dinner and Meeting coming March 29
- Larry Schwitters to speak on Vaux’s Swift Migration
- A Message to Our National Members
- Membership Form
- Birding related events
- 2014 CBC Recap
- Midwinter Bald Eagle Survey
- WHAS Bird Box Workshop w. LCSG
- Bald Eagles nest by Lewis & Clark Bridge
- EarthDay Volunteers
- New Ideas on Bird Phylogeny
- Primal Warblings
- A Week in Browns Canyon
- Field Trips and Programs
2014 Cowlitz County bird count recap:
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Here is Russ Koppendrayer's take on 2014:
We finished the last couple months of the 2014 Cowlitz County Bird Count with some nice finds.
The county's first ever Acorn Woodpecker visited a Longview feeder for three days in late November.
Also the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife website had a photo of Snow Bunting taken in December on their Mount Saint Helen's Wildlife Area. Not a source I've ever checked, but I was alerted to it by a friend in Spokane.
This was our eighth year of this project and the averages are beginning to be meaningful. The 197 species in the county this year is above our 191 average but short of the 2011 record of 203.
Wildlife Sightings
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Lake Sacajawea has many of the over-wintering waterfowl now. A Eurasion Wigeon was spotted on 12/2/14 and other waterfowl seen have been Wood Duck, Mallard, Northern Shoveler, Greater and Lesser Scaup, Ring-necked, Common Goldeneye, Bufflehead and even Hooded Merganser. We also have seen many Double-crested Cormorants as well as Pied-billed Grebes. On 12/01/14 a Bald Eagle swooped down and made off with a Gull(did not catch the species) for breakfast.
All this can be seen in our back yard here in Longview just get out, walk the lake and observe. You may even catch a glimpse of one of our resident River Otters.
Winter 2014 Whistler is online
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The Fall 2014 Whistler is available now.
Read more of its content:
- Annual Lake Sacajawea Bird Walk and Social
- Amphibian Egg Mass Surveys
- Membership Form,
- In Memory of Bill Lammi
- CBC information
- Rail and Marine Oil Transportation Hearing
- Online Bird Resources
- "To Do" list from your backyard wildlife family
- 10years no-LNG Anniversary
- Field trips and programs
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Fall 2014 Whistler is online
- Details
The Fall 2014 Whistler is available now.
Read more of its content:
- Rare Sighting of a Brown Thrasher in Pacific County
- Vaux's Swift watching in Rainier,
- The Whistler goes quarterly
- Membership Form,
- WHAS contact information
- Oregon denies permit for coal terminal
- 2014 CBC dates
- Proposed Killing of 25% of Double-Crested Cormorant
- Summer Picnic Impressions
- Birding and Leisure in Southern Arizona
- Bird Watching Australia
- Loving Hummingbirds to Death
- WHAS Fieldtrips and Programs
WHAS opposes Fossil Fuel Export Facilities
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A Resolution to Oppose Fossil Fuel Export Facilities
In Washington and Oregon
Willapa Hills Audubon Society
Passed by Vote of the Board of Directors, June 11, 2014
Whereas: Fossil Fuel Export facilities are proposed at many NW locations including Whatcom County, Grays Harbor County, Coos Bay, at several locations along the Columbia River, and new proposals appear with increasing frequency; and,
Whereas: The increased burning of fossil fuels will lead to increased levels of greenhouse gas in the global environment, pollution, and dangerous climate change; and,
Whereas: The extraction of most newly exportable fossil fuels is most often environmentally unsound, such as mountain-top removal in search of coal, strip coal mining, the fracking process in search of oil and gas, or of poor quality, such as the tar sands oil of Canada; and,
Whereas: The transport of fossil fuels, particularly by rail, is most often dangerous and/or dirty and disruptive, and requires large scale facilities in wetlands and next to ecologically sensitive waterways; and, Whereas: Conservation of United States' fossil fuel resources is a national security and energy independence issue, worthy of detailed debate; and,
Whereas: Conservation of energy in the US is becoming increasingly important; and,
Whereas: Willapa Hills Audubon already opposes several proposed LNG ports along the lower Columbia River, and the proposed coal export facility at Longview, and oil export at Clatskanie; now, then,
Be it Hereby Resolved: Willapa Hills Audubon opposes all export of fossil fuels from NW American ports, (with the possible exception of derivatives of natural gas, which will be determined on a case by case basis), and that this resolution will stand until changed or amended in future.
July - August 2014 Whistler is online
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The July / August 2014 Whistler is available now.
Read more of its content:
- Invitation to the WHAS Annual Picnic for Members and Friends
- Conservation Faces Many Challenges
- Membership Form
- WHAS contact information
- Betty Mayfield 1930-2014
- Osprey Nest near Woodland
- Birding and Leisure in Southern Arizona
- Purple Martins are welcome at Indian Jack Slough
- Summer Birding on the Long Beach Peninsula
- Longview Reynold’s Aluminium Smelter Cleanup
- Loving Hummingbirds to Death
- WHAS Programs and Field Trips;
Osprey nest near Woodland
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There is an active Osprey nest west of Woodland next to the Columbia River in a public access area. Robert VanNatta was able to park beside where he set up the camera outside the dike. He got quite a show that morning as an eagle came by just after these photos were taken, and the Osprey went after the eagle and chased it off.
- First Ever Black-throated Sparrow seen in Woodland
- 2014 Cowlitz County Bird List (January Update)
- May - June 2014 Whistler is online
- WHAS recent Field Trip featured in The Daily News
- 2014 Cowlitz Columbia CBC Recap
- January - February 2014 Whistler is online
- 2014 Leadbetter Point Count Recap
- Dead Eagle found in Longview
- November - December 2013 Whistler is online
- How the NorthWest Weather can affect bird migration