Annual Christmas Bird Count held in December

CHELAN – The 34th annual Chelan/Manson Christmas Bird Count, sponsored by National Audubon Society, took place on Saturday, December 17. There were 11 traveling participants, comprised of seven parties covering the 15-mile diameter count circle centered north of the Manson Highway roundabout. Also assisting were three home feeder watchers.
Because of the 8-10 inch snow depth at lower elevations and a depth of up to 30 inches in Union Valley and Purtteman Gulch, we were mostly restricted to traveling by car, but some travel on foot was possible, such as at Beebe Springs Natural Area and Lake Chelan State Park.  It was an overcast but mostly calm day, with temperatures in the low 20’s.
We found 76 bird species, nearly equal to the 34-year average of 77 species in spite of our limited mobility.  Total individual birds tallied were 7,447, which was 24% less than the 34-year average of 9,800, which reflects the downhill trend of birds seen during the past 10 count years.
Species featured as higher than average were: Common Goldeneye (120), Gray Partridge (5), Chukar (42), American Coot (938), Eurasian Collared-Dove (344), Say’s Phoebe (1), American Dipper (7), and Golden-crowned Sparrow (10).  Those species considerably lower than average were: Pied-billed Grebe (3), Horned Grebe (19), Great Blue Heron (3), Canada Goose (760), Canvasback (0), Sharp-shinned Hawk (1), Cooper’s Hawk (4), Golden Eagle (1), Black-capped Chickadee (1), Red-breasted Nuthatch (2), and Song Sparrow (10).
The file photo (left) is that of an Anna’s Hummingbird (female), two of which were at a heated home feeder on Bear Mountain.  Sadly, one of the hummingbirds was found dead under the feeder two days after the count due to increasingly frigid weather.
Anyone desiring full count results can email Steve Easley (seasley@nwi.net).
Also, North American count results reaching back to 1900 are available on Audubon’s website, www.audubon.org.