<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><font face="Calibri,Bold, serif" size="4">Hello, Tweeters,</font><div><br></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: large;">The 2024 Sequim-Dungeness Christmas Bird Count, held on December 16, 2024, turned out to be a lovely day with light winds and frequent sunbreaks. The lowest temperature was only 36 F, in contrast to the previous year’s 19 F with snow and ice. Gusty winds for owling dropped at dawn and the small-craft advisory in the Strait expired soon after, providing calm seas and excellent visibility for coastal observers and our offshore boat.</span></div><div><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in;"><font face="Arial" size="4">Despite good conditions, we unfortunately tallied the lowest species total on the SDCBC since 1994, with only 136 species. This is well below our 30-year average of 143 species. The count of 65,522 individual birds scored above the 30-year average for the total number of birds. 121 field observers and 22 feeder watchers participated in the count. <o:p></o:p></font></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in;"><font face="Arial" size="4">We saw good numbers of common species, but very few unusual species. Only one really unusual species showed up for the count, the Lesser Black-backed Gull here for at least its fourth winter, an old buddy by now. <o:p></o:p></font></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in;"><font face="Arial" size="4">The most abundant species this year, as usual, was American Wigeon. The other top-ten species included Pine Siskin, Mallard, American Robin, Dunlin, Glaucous-winged-type Gulls (Olympic and Glaucous-winged), Dark-eyed Junco, European Starling, Bufflehead, and Northern Pintail. These ten species made up about 63 percent of all the birds on the count. <o:p></o:p></font></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in;"><font face="Arial" size="4">Four species set all-time record high counts: Common Raven, Chestnut-backed Chickadee, Red-breasted Nuthatch, and Yellow-rumped Warbler. In general, small forest birds like chickadees, nuthatches, creepers, and kinglets all ranked high this year, perhaps because they had excellent survival with mild winter conditions. <o:p></o:p></font></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in;"><font face="Arial" size="4">Species tallying very few individuals this year, any of which could have been missed if counters were not at the right place at the right time, included Tundra Swan, Canvasback, Barrow’s Goldeneye, Ruffed Grouse, Sora, Northern Pygmy-Owl, Short-eared Owl, Northern Saw-whet Owl, California Scrub-Jay, Hermit Thrush, Orange-crowned Warbler, and Townsend Warbler. <o:p></o:p></font></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in;"><font face="Arial" size="4">Several species recorded low numbers compared with their long-term averages. Some examples: Brant scored its lowest count since 2006. Gadwall had their lowest count since 1994. Harlequin Duck, the symbol of Olympic Peninsula Audubon Society, tallied its lowest count since 1979. Barrow’s Goldeneye continued its local decline, with its lowest count since 1989. American Coot, which has been noticeably scarce in the Sequim-Dungeness Valley this entire year, scored its second lowest total since 1978. Last year we tallied 905 Ancient Murrelets, the highest count in the United States. This year, our boat party closely searched offshore for Ancient Murrelets but only found 69, their lowest year since 1996.<o:p></o:p></font></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in;"><font face="Arial" size="4">Lastly, we missed a number of species that we’ve grown accustom to finding in recent years, such as Greater White-fronted Goose, Snow Goose, Wood Duck, Yellow-billed Loon, Black Oystercatcher, Marbled Godwit, and Swamp Sparrow. We looked closely for all these species, but no luck. The geese and shorebirds were present earlier this fall, but departed well before the CBC. We’ve come to think of YB Loon as a reliable species in the offshore waters between Protection Island and Dungeness Spit, last missed in 2010. Even though our intrepid offshore boat party searched that area very closely this year, no YB Loons. </font></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: large;">The full list and summary of the count are at the Olympic Peninsula Audubon website: </span>https://olympicpeninsulaaudubon.org/christmas-bird-count-results</p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: large;">Many thanks to all our counters, and particularly to the property owners, agencies, and Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe who allowed access for counting.</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: large;">Special thanks go to Durkee Richards, our valiant offshore boat owner, and to the Dungeness River Nature Center for hosting our compilation.</span></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: large;">Bob Boekelheide</span></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: large;">Dungeness</span></p></div></body></html>