Monday, December 18, 2017

Lewis County Birds - by the numbers

I have many goals for 2018 in Lewis County, but the species goals will be the central goal that moves all of the others along.  A nice reachable goal will be 150 species for the year, just as a start.  Only three people have hit this mark before for a year, about twenty people have life lists that long.  175?  Only one person has done more than that in Lewis for a year:  Dave Hayden with 180 in 2010.   Nearly a dozen people have life lists over the 175 mark.  Life lists of 200 brings that down to 5 people!  With 275 birds on the county list, that's actually a pretty impressive feat.

I looked at this list pretty thoroughly, and I think that Kevin and I can do this.  We plan to keep the birding to only times when we can both make it to Lewis, but might have to be flexible on that point if a good chase comes up!

The list above has all of the birds that have been seen.  Included next to each is a code, which I'll explain here.

Code 1 birds:  88
Wilson's Warbler (Code1) - Chehalis Discovery Trail

Code 1 birds are the common birds that should be difficult to miss, given how much we plan to be birding the county.  These are your American Crows, Rock Pigeons, Mallards and American Robins.  There are few counties with so few birds in this category!   We should be able to clean up this group of birds fairly easily, although some will not arrive until they breed in the spring and summer.

Code 2 birds: 42
Wood Duck (Code 2) - Goodrich Road 

The list of code 2 birds is not a list that would accidentally get completed over the course of a year.  A person needs to try to find a Hermit Warbler, an American Dipper, a Greater Yellowlegs, or a Virginia Rail.  You just don't need to try all that hard.  Many of the Code 2 birds will show up over the course of looking for other species, but it's worth paying attention to them as we move along, especially with ones that have a small window when they are around.  Looking back at the Mason County year, I was able to get all but two of the code 2 birds, and even those got recoded to a 3 and 4.  Assuming this list is 95% accurate, I'd guess Kevin and I would fare just about as well.  Together, the 1's and 2's would make 130.

Code 3 birds: 36
Clark's Nutcracker (Code3) - Goat Rocks
Photo from eBird user Thomas Myers

I've hit about 80 percent or so on Code 3 birds in the past, although I'm wondering if Kevin and I might be able to do a little better?  These are birds that are sighted annually, but are difficult to find.  Sometimes they are birds that are very localized (Bank Swallows), not easily accessible (Pine Grosbeak), not numerous (Northern Goshawk), or have a small window when they are actually present (Western Sandpiper).  These birds will really be worth planning for and running after. 

80 percent of 36... uhh... my head tells me it's right about 29 (and yes, I have dealt with fractional birds before.  See Mason County in April/May).  Let's just say we have to hit... 26 of them.  I like throwing that number out there because it leaves 24 "good birds" that we have to find.  That will be birds coded as 4's and 5's and any birds beyond the first 26 code 3's.

Code 4 birds: 46
Northern Shrike (Code 4) - Centralia Steam Plant
Photo from eBird user Joshua Glant

These are birds that have at least 5 historical records over the years.  While some of these simply involve crossing fingers (will a White-tailed Kite make its way into the county this year?), some of them have patterns of occurrence that make it possible to almost think of them as a code 3.  In some ways, I would think of White-tailed Ptarmigan as a code 3, as they are in the county, but just a wee bit inaccessible.  This may be my favorite group of birds to think about.

Code 5 birds: 60 or so
Common Redpoll (Code 5) - Morton fields
Photo from eBird user Jason Vassallo

Code 5 birds must have been seen in the county before, but fewer than five times historically.  The number of birds on this list isn't all that important, but Kevin and I will always be thinking about the birds that could show up at any given time.  There may be a small number of these that are more common than others, but our searches won't necessarily be guided by them.



AND
Spruce Grouse (not on the county list?) - PCT near Walupt Lake
Photo from eBird user Joe Veverka

We looked over the county list and saw a few birds that aren't on the lists from Washington Birder, but do have records in eBird (Brewer's Sparrow and Spruce Grouse), so those may get added in the end.  There are many other birds that aren't on the county list, but seem likely to show up in the county eventually.  Kevin and I came up with our best guesses for ones we might add to the list this year.








We had to pick six for our Fantasy Birdball (I'm sure I'll lay that all out at some point to clarify).  Here's the lists for each of us:

Tim:  Spruce Grouse, Lapland Longspur, American Tree Sparrow, Hooded Oriole, Black-crowned Night-Heron (seen in every county in the state so far except here), and Franklin's Gull.

Kevin:  Chestnut-sided Warbler, Brambling, Black-necked Stilt, Sage Thrasher, Emperor Goose, and Palm Warbler.

Who knows what we'll see!  and that... is part of why we do it!

2 comments:

  1. Tim, I'm excited to make my first appearance in your Blog. I can't wait to see what birds Lewis County will bring you and I also can't wait to meet you.
    Dalton

    ReplyDelete
  2. Dalton! Great to meet you today, and I also can't wait to hear what birds y'all found! Perfect timing to have you organizing the first Christmas Bird Count for the county this year. Thanks for having me and sorry I couldn't stay longer.

    ReplyDelete