One small gaggle of geese is chased off the boat dock by another gaggle of geese at Wallace Pond in Toledo in this February 2014 file photo.
For the second straight year the nation-wide Christmas Bird Count will include a circle in Lewis County. On Friday bird watchers of all stripes will convene in order to scour the soggy countryside for birds that will be entered into the Audubon’s long-running database.
However, because the Christmas Bird Count serves as an official census participants must register in order to have their sightings tallied. The Lewis County counting circle will get started at 8 a.m. on Friday and organizers are asking people to take care of their registration prior to that Rendezvous at the Centralia Christian Church.
The Christmas Bird Count is conducted across North America between Dec. 14 and Jan. 5. Having been established by the National Audubon Society in 1900, the CBC is the longest running citizen science bird count north of the equator.
The Willapa Hills Audubon Society sponsors a count near the Long Beach Peninsula and Willapa Bay, while the Black Hills Audubon Society has helped to organize a count that typically centers around the south end of Olympia and Tumwater. Another count is held each year along the Lower Columbia River with the edges of the circle touching both Rainier and Longview.
Up until last year any locals hoping to participate in the CBC had to hit the road to indulge their twitching tendencies. That’s when Dalton Spencer rose to the occasion.
Spencer, 18, is a senior at Adna High School as well as the Lewis County CBC coordinator. He said that as soon as he realized there wasn’t a counting circle in the immediate area he set out to remedy the situation.
Spencer organized last year’s count and compiled all of the results and he’s back for round two this year. He said that about 20 people participated in his Lewis County count last year and he’s already got about 30 people signed up for this go round.
“Believe it or not I have never done a Christmas Bird Count outside of Lewis County. I didn't even know about it until September,” noted Spencer. “It was such a big success getting people coming down into the county.”
Spencer said that although there are plenty of birds to be seen around Lewis County the area has long been a blind spot in the in the large-scale effort to account for avian happenings around North America.
“I call it the black hole of birding,” explained Spencer. “There’s so few birders in Lewis County that rarities are few and far between. But they are here. It’s definitely a part of the flyway and it's definitely a place to overwinter. It’s just that we don’t have enough people looking... With my Christmas Bird Count effort I’m trying to fix that.”
Although he is the coordinator for Lewis County, Spencer is very much a fledgling birder in his own rite, so he understands that some people might be intimidated by the wild world of bird noting.
“I started birding about four years ago when my dad and I were out duck hunting, ironically. It’s actually the first memory I have of shooting mallards, and wigeons and shovelers and realizing that there’s all sorts of different ducks. Not all ducks are the same ducks and not all birds are just the same birds. From there on out no bird has ever looked the same to me,” said Spencer.
While he has learned a lot about Washington’s native ducks and its vast array of migratory visitors on the wing over the last four years, Spencer says he remains loyal to ducks and geese as his favorite variety of fowl. He plans to spend Friday traipsing the sprawling TransAlta property in Centralia with his grandfather who has special access privileges.
Spencer noted that he’s created a rubric full of the birds that are commonly seen in the area in order to help greenhorn bird counters in their efforts. He says that no matter how much experience, or lack thereof, that a person has their eyes and ears will be welcome at the Lewis County CBC. He even provided suggestions for rookie bird watchers.
“Bring a pair of binoculars if you’ve got them. If not, bring an open mind and a willingness to brave all weather and an eagerness to learn and see what’s around,” said Spencer. “Even if you want to stay at home and count birds in your yard or at the feeder, that information would be very helpful to us. There are multiple ways for people to get involved.
The Lewis County CBC circle is 15 miles in diameter and includes the TransAlta property, Pleasant Valley, Centralia-Alpha Road, the Discovery Trail and Fort Borst Park, among other areas. There will be about a dozen counting groups covering nine specific areas within the circle. The Black Hills Audubon Society is sponsoring the effort.
Birders will flock to Centralia Christian Church at 8 a.m. on Friday in order to get the Lewis County CBC started. Spencer stressed that all registration should be taken care of prior to that start time so that the groups can be balanced properly. There is no cost to participate.
Centralia Christian Church is located at 1215 West Main St. Counting groups will disperse from the church around 8:15 a.m. on Friday and are slated to return around 4:30 p.m.
To register for the Lewis County CBC contact Spencer by email at offthehookflyshop@yahoo.com, or by phone at 360-520-7890.
Looking Down the Road
The Lewis County Christmas Bird Count is not the only counting effort left in Southwest Washington and CBC rules do not put a cap on the number of counting circles a person can join.
Sixty miles to the south the Lower Columbia River Christmas Bird Count will be held on New Years Day. That counting circle will span the Columbia River and will include plenty of prime waterfowl convergence areas, among other avian hangouts.
According to a comment on the Audubon website the Oregon half of the counting circle will include most of the decommissioned Trojan Nuclear Power Plant, the city of Rainier, and out west toward Alston. The Washington side of the bird count circle will include Willow Grove, Lexington as well as the cities of Longview and Kelso, and of course, Lake Sacajawea.
The Lower Columbia CBC is organized by Bob Reistroffer. For additional information or to register to participate in the counting effort email Reistroffer at breistrof@aol.com
A complete map of Christmas Bird Count circles and associated contact information can be found online at https://tinyurl.com/y8apfpum.
