Leavenworth Christmas Bird Count UPDATE

Please note the change of date for the Leavenworth Christmas Bird Count.

Leavenworth Christmas Bird Count: Sunday, December 18. Contact Karen Haire karenhaire@nwi.net or Gretchen Rohde, gretchenrohde@me.com. CBC counters will get together at Barn Beach Reserve to warm up and share bird stories and enjoy a potluck dinner at 4:30 p.m. Barn Beach will be open at 3:30 to plug in slow cookers, etc.

Christmas Bird Counts in NCW

In our four-county region of North Central Washington there are at least seven Christmas Bird Counts for birders of all skill levels to enjoy. This is an entirely volunteer-driven citizen science effort. Your rewards for getting up early include seeing and learning about the wintering birds of our area, camaraderie with other birders over coffee and throughout the potentially, cold day, and usually a warm meal when darkness falls to share sightings and stories! And if you love to go owling, or just want to learn more about owls, there are usually some hardy folks who will be up in the very early morning cold and darkness looking and listening for owls! How much more fun can a person have in December and early January?

Want to know more? Here are the local counts with information to help you get involved with them.

Leavenworth: December 17.
Contact Karen Haire karenhaire@nwi.net or Gretchen Rohde, gretchenrohde@me.com. CBC counters will get together at Barn Beach Reserve to warm up and share bird stories and enjoy a potluck dinner at 4:30 p.m.

Bridgeport: December 17.
Contact Meredith Spencer merdave@homenetnw.net or 686-7551. Meet at 7:00 a.m. at the Brewster McDonalds. Afterwards, enjoy a lasagna potluck at Mike and Leslie’s house at 1530 Douglas Avenue in Bridgeport.

Twisp: December 18.

Contact Leahe Swayze. leahe@methownet.com or 997-2549. Meet at the Hoot Owl Café at 123 North Glover Street in Twisp. Those who would like to eat breakfast should arrive by 6:30 a.m. (they have a good menu selection), while those who are ready to count should arrive by 7 a.m. A potluck dinner, followed by count tally, will be held at 5:30 p.m. at 521 Burgar Street. (corner of Burgar Street & Peters Road), Twisp. Leahe will provide soup — something with beans.

Grand Coulee: December 21

Contact David St. George. dstgeorge@TNC.ORG Participants will meet at Flo’s Café, 316 Spokane Way, Grand Coulee at 7 a.m. They will break up into four to six groups to cover a diverse variety of habitats from the large reservoirs, pine/fir woods, sagebrush, agricultural lands and small towns that make up the count circle. Maps and field sheets will be provided. Meet again at 4:30 p.m. at Pepper Jacks Bar & Grill, 113 Midway Avenue in Grand Coulee to compile the day’s numbers.

Chelan: December 29

Contact Steve Easley. seasley@nwi.net The plans for the Chelan CBC are identical to the past few years: Meet at 7:00 a.m. at the Apple Cup Cafe - 804 East Woodin Avenue - for breakfast and to receive assignments. At 4:45 p.m meet in the banquet room of the Apple Cup Cafe for dinner and to share results of the count. Keep in mind that whoever covers the lake in front of Campbell’s Lodge will have to ignore the swans - they’re plastic!

Wenatchee: January 1

Contact Dan Stephens. dstephens@wvc.edu or 782-4890 or 679-4706. The 50th Wenatchee CBC will be Saturday January 1st. Following the count birders will meet at the Nature Conservancy Office for a Chili feed. Please contact Dan before the count to be assigned a group and area.

Omak/Okanogan: January 2

Contact Heather Findlay heather@eaglesun.net 429-8167 or Gordon Kent at 422-6116 The count will start off at Todd and Heather’s house at 2050 James Avenue in Okanogan at 6:45 a.m. Birders may see various woodpeckers, Red Crossbills, perhaps Pygmy, White- and or Red-Breasted Nuthatches, grebes and maybe Chukars, Horned Larks and Snow Buntings. Counters are welcome to join for all or part of the day. For the diehards, when Gordon is finally dragged away from his spotting scope, when it begins to get dark, around 4:30 or so, it’s back to Todd and Heather’s for a chili feed and tallying up lists and sharing some stories from a fun day of birding!

Editor’s note: I really would LOVE to have some photos and stories from the Christmas Bird Counts to share with our Wild Phlox readers. Please keep that in mind as you enjoy your cold day of counting birds for Citizen Science!

Birding by boat

One of my favorite ways to bird is from my kayak. Patterson Lake in Okanogan County is an excellent choice for birding by boat. It has a posted speed limit for motorized craft and that limit is generally followed. Many people powered boats can be seen there as well, including other kayaks, canoes, sculls and row boats. If you don't have a boat, you may be able to rent one from Sun Mountain's Patterson Lake cabins.

young Black-headed Grosbeak

I put my boat in the water at the WDFW launch on the east side of the lake. This site requires a Discover Pass or WDFW parking permit issued with a hunting or fishing license. On weekday mornings it is never crowded. Weekends may be a different story.

This morning, after the busy Labor Day weekend, I nearly had the place to myself. The water was glassy, the sky - bluebird blue and the sun was warm. Summer weather in September. Birds know fall is coming and migration was evident. Few swallows remain of the summer swarms. White-crowned Sparrows have arrived. There was a big flock of Yellow-rumped Warblers. I did not see any Ospreys.

Canada Geese

Small birds near the lake shore seem to be less wary of a boat than of a person on foot or bicycle. By letting my boat drift slowly, I could get good views of tiny species that generally provide only a passing glimpse.

Mountain Chickadee

Here is my list of 28 species seen this morning:

Canada Goose 

Mallard 
Hooded Merganser 
Common Merganser 
Great Blue Heron 
Bald Eagle 
Red-tailed Hawk 
Spotted Sandpiper 
Belted Kingfisher 
Downy Woodpecker 
Northern Flicker 
Common Raven 
Violet-green Swallow 
Barn Swallow 
Black-capped Chickadee 
Mountain Chickadee 
Red-breasted Nuthatch 
White-breasted Nuthatch 
Pygmy Nuthatch 
American Robin 
Gray Catbird 
Yellow-rumped Warbler 
Townsend's Warbler 
Spotted Towhee 
White-crowned Sparrow 
Dark-eyed Junco 
Black-headed Grosbeak 
American Goldfinch 

June 20th bird walk

Only two of us turned out for the bird walk on Monday of this week. It was probably the nicest morning of the year, weather-wise. Perfect for a walk. We decided to go to the MVSTA Suspension Bridge parking area on the Community Trail and walk down valley towards the cottonwood forest in hopes of seeing some Redstarts and other specialties of that habitat. Neither one of us is good with calls of vireos and redstarts so it made hunting them down pretty difficult. The river is still running very high and there were no American Dippers in sight.

One of our choicest views was that of the Lady-slipper Orchid in a big patch next to the trail. Wild roses were also numerous and fragrant.

Here is our list of bird species.

Turkey Vulture - seen while driving

American Kestrel - seen while driving

Mourning Dove

Black Swift - seen while driving

Rufous Hummingbird

Northern Flicker

Western Wood-Pewee

Unidentified Empidonax

Common Raven

Violet-green Swallow

Black-capped Chickadee

Red-breasted Nuthatch

Veery

Swainson's Thrush

American Robin

Gray Catbird

Cedar Waxwing

Yellow Warbler

Spotted Towhee

Chipping Sparrow

Song Sparrow

Dark-eyed Junco

Black-headed Grosbeak

Red-winged Blackbird

Cassin's Finch

Pine Siskin