[Tweeters] Port Townsend CBC final numbers

[Steve Hampton]

Tweeters,

Our bird numbers are in from the Port Townsend CBC -- a record 124 species,
driven in part by large numbers of alcids (with record highs for COMU and
ANMU).

We're still waiting on one precinct for area coverage data, but we've
already surpassed our high for # of participants (whoo-hoo!) and # of party
hours.

Here's a preliminary summary:

The 46th Port Townsend Christmas Bird Count, held on December 16, 2023, was
record-setting in several respects. A flat calm foggy morning turned into a
flat calm sunny afternoon, making for excellent birding conditions,
especially on the water. Traveling by foot, car, boat, bike, and
paddleboard, we ultimately tallied 124 species. This surpasses the old
record, set last year, by two. We also counted 24,659 individual birds,
another record.

There were 74 participants, including feeder watchers, surpassing the old
record by one. Together, we put in over 140 party hours, smashing the old
record of 125 set last year.

We added one new species for the count in the form of two Pygmy Nuthatches.
This species has been irrupting from the interior since this fall. A single
bird found in October in North Beach was relocated on the count day – and
it had a friend. Two Herring x Glaucous-winged Gull hybrids, identified
from the boat, were also new for the count, though probably occur regularly.

Other noteworthy sightings included a Tundra Swan among the Trumpeters, 16
Eurasian Wigeon at Beausite Lake, a Western Gull from the boat, a
Yellow-billed Loon in Discovery Bay, continuing Canada Jays at Gibbs Lake,
a Barn Owl over the Port Townsend Golf Park, an American Dipper at the base
of Discovery Bay, five Western Meadowlarks at Pt Wilson, and an
Orange-crowned Warbler along the Tollefson Trail (two additional OCWA have
been found in PT since the count).

Record high counts were set for 17 species (plus our hybrid gull).  These
were:

Greater Yellowlegs (23 > 10)
Common Murre (2853 > 2635)
Ancient Murrelet (501 > 442)
Bonaparte’s Gull (273 > 239)
Western x Glaucous-winged (aka “Olympic”) Gulls (938 > 761) and the
aggregate count of Olympic and Glaucous-winged combined was near a record
Eurasian Collared-Dove (57 > 53)
Great Horned Owl (2 > 1)
Anna’s Hummingbird (171 > 130) – this number was zero as recently as 2004
Downy Woodpecker (24 > 19)
Hairy Woodpecker (22 > 19)
Northern Flicker (118 > 107)
American Kestrel (6 > 5)
Black-capped Chickadee (259 > 254)
Red-breasted Nuthatch (96 > 90)
Golden-crowned Sparrow (336 > 164)
Spotted Towhee (237 > 216)
Western Meadowlark (5 > 4)
House Finch (448 > 422)

As you can see by the close margins, and factoring in our record coverage,
many of these records will disappear when adjusted to birds per party hour.
Nevertheless, these are robust numbers, especially for the alcids. We also
counted 153 Marbled Murrelets, just off the record of 180 set in 2009.

Two species tied previous high counts: Sharp-shinned Hawk (7) and American
Dipper (1). There were no record low counts, but zeros for Black Scoter,
Eared Grebe, Hermit Thrush, and Red Crossbill were notable misses.

In addition to the 124 species, we just missed two more, Lincoln’s Sparrow
and Band-tailed Pigeon. These will go down as “count week” birds, as they
were seen within three days of the count in either direction.

Thanks to all the area leaders and participants! Next year we plan to
return to old times and finish the day with the comradery of a potluck,
replete with tall tales of adventure and birds!


-- 
Steve Hampton
Port Townsend, WA  (qatáy)
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