Killdeer foraging on the mudflats.

The last few days have been very exciting. Birding galore is the operative word these days. The Christmas Bird Count was held on Dec. 16 and the Coastal Shorebird Survey was held on Dec. 17. To be sure, these have been exciting days. The weather was exquisite for each of these counts. Sunshine blue skies and warm temperatures. The Christmas Bird Count is an annual event held all over the world. Its purpose is to assess the population trends and distribution of birds. This year’s annual count began on Dec. 14 and runs until Jan. 5, 2024. The official name of our area count is the Leadbetter Circle Count.

Susan Stauffer and I counted birds from the Oysterville Road and Sandridge stop sign up to Leadbetter State Park. Included in our count was Hines marsh at the end of the Martha Jordan trail. The sun rose at about 7:50 a.m. It was then that the count began for us. The car was packed with signs on the car windows to indicate what we were up to in case a passerby wondered why we were parked on the shoulder of Stackpole Road or why we were cruising through the Oysterville cemetery stopping and looking around with binoculars.

Our equipment consisted of binoculars, a scope, clipboard, pencil, and paperwork. And not forget our faithful companion Samantha who sits in the back seat with eyes wide. No barking — just concentration on looking for birds. She is a service dog like no other.

In total, we observed 36 species. As expected, waterfowl and shorebirds headed our list of observations. Dunlin, least sandpipers, northern pintail, green winged teal, mallards bufflehead, great blue herons, black-bellied plover and great blue herons were the top nine species in terms of the number of individual birds counted. The next most numerous individuals of the species seen tallied seven or eight birds each including ruby-crowned kinglets, song sparrows, varied thrush, dark eye juncos and greater yellow legs. A few raptors were on the hunt. A bald eagle, northern harrier and a red-tailed hawk showed up to be counted. They were lying in wait for a weakened bird they could snag for their breakfast.

Dec. 17 was just as exciting as the day of the Christmas Bird count. On that day we were surveying shorebirds in a coastal environment. We were part of “The Pacific Flyway Shorebird Survey” and have been for a few years. “The surveys are designed to obtain data on annual variation, long term trends, and habitat associations of wintering birds shorebirds in coastal estuaries.” Data are collected from sites across the Pacific Coast of the Americas. (Point Blue Conservation Science, Area-Search Protocol, 2023).

The coastal shorebirds survey took us to Chinook. The territory stretched along the shoreline from the Chinook harbor to Fort Columbia. Once again, the weather co-operated. It was balmy and sunny. The tide was coming in, so it brought many of the shorebirds closer to shore making it easier to count and identify birds. Once again, Dunlin topped the list, followed by killdeer, greater yellowlegs, and spotted sandpipers. In addition to counting shorebirds, the task was also to count raptors in the area. Three bald eagles, and two red-tailed hawks were on the hunt. The red-tailed hawks were sitting in the trees. The eagles were either perched on the pilings out in the water or in the trees along the shoreline.

Another exciting adventure is on its way. When the tide is right, we will conduct a survey of wintering raptors on the Peninsula. More good weather is on the horizon. This year’s event which happens from December to February is the 20th anniversary of the study sponsored by East Hills Audubon. We can hardly wait. This will be another exciting event for birders in many of the western states including us. This is citizen science in action. The data collected from all the bird surveys provide information that is invaluable for the conservation of birds, the protection of their habitat and increasing our knowledge of avian behavior. Happy birding!