Every year thousands of birders across the Western Hemisphere journey out for a day to count birds in an annual Christmas Bird Count. The first of these Christmas Bird Counts was held 120 years ago and has continued since.
The National Audubon Society has taken over the enormous task of coordinating this longest continuing community science project in the world. In Washington alone, there are 46 Christmas Bird Counts. I am wondering if there is interest in a 47th.
Christmas Bird Counts are held within a 15-mile diameter circle. Every bird seen within that circle is counted (even starlings). This data is used to track species and population trends on a continent-wide scale. There are many areas around the state that have never had a Christmas Bird Count and one of those is in our backyard – Scatter Creek. The proposed Scatter Creek Christmas Bird Count would help track populations of the species that winter on one of Washington’s most endangered ecosystems. The South Sound prairies are a shell of what they once were, now relegated to only a few disconnected areas. South Thurston county was once covered in prairie and now much of it is covered in houses, roads, and potential warehouses.
If Black Hills Audubon organized a count in the Scatter Creek-Littlerock-Maytown-Capitol Forest area, would you be interested in joining? If there is enough interest, we will pursue this idea which ultimately helps the birds.
If you would be interested in counting this area, please let me know. Thank you.
Dalton Spencer
offthehookflyshop@nullyahoo.com
Scatter Creek CBC Center: 46.893278,-123.032216
Towns included: Rochester, Grand Mound. Little Rock, Maytown, South Union, Tumwater
Public Areas included: Capitol State Forest, Black Lake, Millersylvania State Park, Mima Mounds Natural Area Preserve, West Rocky Prairie, Glacial Heritage Preserve, Scatter Creek Wildlife Recreation Area, Black River Habitat Management Area, Black River Unit of Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge.
Habitats included: Residential, Farmland, Forest, River, Marsh, small lakes, prairie and ponds.
