For our Sequim Christmas Bird Count this past Dec. 14, my five-person team was in place by the end of October. I once again had included former students from my Beginning Birds classes. I seek good team chemistry, which helps make it a fun day, as well as birding skills.

In late November, I

learned that one team member had accepted a better offer. Ultimately she basked in warm Panama while we coped with the cold here.

Also in late November, I received a National Audubon magazine summarizing the results of last year's CBCs nationwide. The timing of this publication clearly is geared to fostering enthusiasm for upcoming CBCs. Highlights included our ranking No. 22 among the hundreds of CBCs in North America in terms of the total number of participants, 134. We trailed Portland, Seattle and Victoria, but they have far more people to draw from.

Unlike our record-setting tally of 150 species in 2007, bad weather in 2008 had held us to 140 - two short of the state leader, Grays Harbor. We led North America in counts of two species of water birds: 500 pigeon guillemots, which are local breeders, and 102 ancient murrelets.



Scouting it out

Suitably inspired, I developed a plan to scout parts of my team's territory prior to the CBC. I allowed for "count week," a period that spans the three days immediately before and after the count day. Species found during count week but not on the count day are excluded from the count but still will be recorded in CBC databases.

My first scouting foray was on Thursday, Dec. 10, one day before count week started. Among the 28 species I found in two-plus hours was a Wilson's snipe - a first-ever find for me in our territory. I accidentally flushed it from a hiding spot along the Dungeness River. I would look there for it many times during count week, never finding it again.

I also found a half dozen white-crowned sparrows, a species I never had seen in our territory this late in the year although they are common during breeding season. Nighttime temperatures dropped well below the freezing point over the weekend and I hoped these sparrows would stay put to be counted on Monday. They did.

Heron sleeps over

On Saturday I dropped by the small fish hatchery in our territory to make sure it would be OK that we scoured their property on Monday and to see if they knew of any unusual birds around. Surprisingly, a green heron had been spending nights at the edge of one of their ponds then departing very early in the morning to feed elsewhere.

On my way home on Saturday, I stopped by Three Crabs, which is outside our territory, to check out shorebirds and gulls. My best find was a least sandpiper, another rarity this time of year. In 30-plus years of the Sequim CBC, a single least sandpiper has been seen in five different years, only three of which were on the count day.

I posted messages about both species on our blog, alerting fellow birders to be on the lookout for them on Monday, the count day. Unfortunately, no one found the green heron during count week or the least sandpiper on count day. No green heron ever has been found on the Sequim CBC, even during count week.



Tops in species spotted

Monday's weather was pleasant once we got past the icy roads of early morning. Highlights of our day included two more firsts for our territory: a small flock of Eurasian collared-doves and a single yellow-headed blackbird among other blackbirds.

Ultimately, my team found 49 species but missed finding eight species on my list compiled while scouting.

At day's end, the Sequim total was 137 species. It grew to 143 within a week, once all reports were turned in and tabulated. It seems likely that this total will lead the state, as Grays Harbor, our usual competitor for top honors, had found only 136 at last report. If you are curious about the details of our count, the full data set is available on our Web site www.olybird.org.

One of our Sequim highlights was a lone sandhill crane (see photo), another first-ever CBC sighting here. Last we knew, the crane is still in the area - in fields north of U.S. Highway 101 near McDonnell Creek. We think it may stay here through the winter. It sometimes is easily visible, even without binoculars. For locations, check recent sightings on our blog, which is accessible through our Web site.



Dave Jackson is series coordinator and Web master. Send comments to him at editor@olybird.org or 683-1355. OPAS meets at 7 p.m. tonight, Jan. 20, at the Dungeness River Audubon Center, 2151 W. Hendrickson Road. Field trip details are on Web site www.olybird.org.