2009 CBC Recap

“Black-billed Magpie!”, shouted Christopher and Adrian Hinkle in unison.  With that lightning-fast identification at the Columbia Wastewater Treatment Plant, the Hinkle twins (age 14) won this year’s “Eagle Eye Award” for the best bird of the Portland Christmas Bird Count.  It was the first magpie found on the Portland count since 1972.

The Portland Christmas Bird Count, held Saturday, Jan 2, enjoyed surprisingly good weather and good birding.  142 field observers and 53 feeder watchers tallied a total of 118 species, just two less than last year’s all-time record. 

The Hinkles had tough competition for the best bird from John Deshler, “the Bird Master of Forest Park”, who found two Gray Jays and three Northern Pygmy-owls way out at the NW edge of the count circle.  Other good birds were two Townsend’s Solitaires, six Common Ravens, and the first-ever-for-the-count Eurasian Collared-Doves.  In addition, many species were found in greater numbers than ever before:  50 Bald Eagles, 5 Red-shouldered Hawks, 274 Anna’s Hummingbirds, and an astounding 246 Winter

Wrens, obliterating the old record of 142 found in 1942!  A summary of the entire history of the Portland CBC can be found on the ASoP website at [get URL from Tammi]

On the other hand, several waterfowl species were scarce:  American Wigeon, Northern Pintail, and Green-winged Teal numbers were low.  Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Varied Thrush, and Yellow-rumped Warbler numbers were also below recent averages.  Despite excellent coverage in Forest Park the past few years, sadly, we have not found any Ruffed Grouse, which used to be regular.

I want to thank all the field observers and feeder watchers who contributed to making this year’s Portland CBC a success.  I especially want to thank the area leaders:  John Fitchen, Pat Muller, Lynn Herring, Lori Hennings, Sam Pointer and Char Corkran, who did all the hard work organizing the teams and ensuring that everyone had a good time!

Portland CBC Anna’s Hummingbird counts

Wink Gross, compiler
Portland Christmas Bird Count