Cowlitz-Columbia Christmas Bird Count 2020
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NEW YEARS DAY 2021
Friday, January 1, 2021 Cowlitz -Columbia Christmas Bird Count (3CBC) is the first of the New Year. We will be out for an 8 hour period covering a 15 mile diameter circle looking for any birds that will let us see them.
More details will come later.
To sign up, call Bob Reistroffer 360-751-5595 or
This count will be different because of COVID-19. The guidelines are:
- NO in-person compilation gatherings.
- Social distancing and/or masking are required at all times in the field.
- Carpooling may only occur within existing familiar or social “pod” groups.
- Activities must comply with all current state and municipal COVID-19 guidelines.
HOPE YOU CAN PARTICIPATE 1-1-21 !
Wahkiakum CBC 2020
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The Wahkiakum CBC is still on, December 29, 2020.
There are some national standards for the Christmas Bird Count this year due to Covid-19, which we will follow. Participants should not carpool with people other than their own family group or social pod.
There will be no gathering at the end of the day - participants should submit their data via email. As the Wahkiakum count is generally birding outdoors in a sparsely populated area, the chance of transmitting the virus will be low as long as participants mask up and wash hands for purchasing fuel or food, or are otherwise interacting with others.
Those who wish to participate may contact Andrew Emlen at 360-795-8009.
Children’s Discovery Museum: Discovering a Wonderful World
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A special place in Longview is the Children’s Discovery Museum. There, children play with interactive exhibits that are designed for learning. Children of all ages can find something of interest there, from the area designed for babies to the large harmonograph.
Kids can picture themselves boating, shopping at the farm to table market, or as doctors and dentists. Creativity flourishes with exhibits like the Wind Tunnel and with stories,arts, and crafts. Parents and museum volunteers help enrich the experience by interacting with kids in child-centered play. Staff are working on developing new experiences for the children to look forward to, which may soon include a stage and a puppet theater.
The museum has reopened at 1209 Commerce Avenue near the corner with Hemlock Street after having been closed for
over two years during the covid pandemic. It is free to the public, and many children return to it time and again.
Winter Raptor Survey Slide Presentation
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Check out this slide presentation by Jeff Fleischer of East Cascades Audubon, coordinator of the Winter Raptor Survey Project. Several members of Willapa Hills help with survey routes in Cathlamet and Puget Island, Grays River, Naselle and Rainier, OR.
The presentation is packed with information and is a great way to continue birding education during the long winter and while Covid19 keeps us isolated.
2020 Cowlitz County Bird List - October Update
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By Russ Koppendrayer
A couple quite rare species for the county were found in the last couple months along with a number of species that are seen more often, but not annually. Add in a couple finds of species seen annually, and we had a banner late fall season. Our total species to date for 2020 ties our best ever annual total, so any additions in the final two months will be our best ever since the beginning of this project.
The second county record of Marbled Godwit was found in a wetland at Kalama during September. Like the previous record it was a one day wonder and gone by the next day. Also a second record for Cowlitz County was a Broad-winged Hawk found by a hawk watcher that was primarily counting Turkey Vultures migrating along a ridge line just east of I-5 near Woodland. This bird soared along the same wind currents as the vultures. The only previous record was two years ago during fall migration at the same place and found by the same observer. A Brown Pelican was seen resting briefly on a Columbia River sandbar for another rare find. There have been a number of prior records, but this species is far from annual this far from salt water in Washington.
Download the pdf here.
A quarter-million swifts roosted in Rainier!
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Hats off to Carolyn Norred and her crew of volunteers! They documented 270,052 Vaux’s Swift “roostings" at Riverside Community Church in Rainier during the southbound migration. The only roost site to beat Rainier was the McNear Brickyard in San Rafael, CA.
Details are below in Larry Schwitters's summary of the count.
Hummingbirds in Slow Motion
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Have you ever wondered about Hummingbirds?
Here is a video with over 20 amazing facts, it includes slow motion footage of the bird hover and fly backwards in hd. It would make a great short clip for school nature projects.
Vaux's Swifts in Rainier Oregon
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Vaux's Swifts are starting to roost in the Riverside Community Church chimney in Rainier. We already had a few readings getting up to 20,000.
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 from all over the Northwest starts in September, affording us more opportunities to view thousands of them entering the chimney. You can watch them from the lower parking lot accessible from W C St next to Fox Creek.
Larry Schwitters of Vaux’s Happening recently sent out the rankings for the top 14 roost sites on the flyway for the northbound migration. Rainier's Riverside Community Church ranked second or third in all three categories! Southbound migration usually has far larger numbers -- check it out and say hi to Carolyn and Art.
Fall 2020 Whistler is online
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The Fall 2020 Whistler is available now.
Read more of its content:
- President message: Life in the Floodplain
- Christmas Bird Count dates
- Membership Form / Regional Bird Festival info
- Coastal Purple Martin Project Update
- Board Meetings on Zoom - Members Welcome
- 2020 Summer Update for the Cowlitz County Bird List
- Vaux's Swifts are starting to roost in the Riverside Community Church chimney in Rainier
- Finding a Snipe
2020 Cowlitz County Bird List - August Update
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By Russ Koppendrayer
As usual we only added a few species during July and August, having already welcomed all of our migrant nesters previously. But of the four additions this year there were some nice finds. The rarest for the county was the Common Tern. This second ever record for Cowlitz County was found resting on a small sandbar in the Columbia River one afternoon and seen by five birders before the tide flooded its roosting spot and the bird was not seen again. While enjoying this bird one of the onlookers noted that in Cowlitz County the Caspian Tern is the common tern and the Common Tern is the rarer tern.
A couple of Red-necked Phalaropes were found on the former Longview Sewage Ponds providing the fourth record for the county. Found late in the afternoon of August 31st, they squeaked onto this list in the nick of time. Western Sandpipers were seen on numerous days in multiple locations to be added to the year list. Notable mostly because in 2019 we inexplicably missed this normally annual species completely. Nice to have them on the list again.
Download the pdf here.
- 2020 Cowlitz County Bird List - June Update
- 2020 Cowlitz County Bird List - May Update
- Summer 2020 Whistler is online
- Watch the Video of our Program: Exploring the Waters Of The Pacific Northwest
- Program: Exploring the Waters Of The Pacific Northwest
- 2020 Cowlitz County Bird List - April Update
- Kids' Activity Pages
- 2020 Cowlitz County Bird List - March Update
- Member Banquet CANCELED
- 36th Cowlitz-Columbia CBC Results