By Bob Wilson, CSCC Volunteer
On New Year’s Eve, a cadre of intrepid birders scattered throughout Portland to count birds. The Christmas Bird Count is a hundred-year tradition, developed in 1900 in reaction to the “Christmas Side Hunt,” a Christmas Day bird killing extravaganza. The first Portland Christmas Count took place in 1926.
This year, the Southeast Portland group, led by Dan Strong, surveyed Oaks Bottom, eastern and western Milwaukie, Mt. Tabor, Eastmoreland and Westmoreland.
Below is a list of the birds found in Eastmoreland and Westmoreland, and should give a pretty good idea of what birds were hanging out in the Crystal Springs Creek watershed on a given day in December.
2011 Portland Christmas Bird Count Results for SE Portland December 31, 2011
(Eastmoreland and Westmoreland neighborhoods)
Cackling Goose (7) Canada Goose (180) Wood Duck (212) Gadwall (60) Eurasian Wigeon (2) American Wigeon (1) Mallard (1) Canvasback (1) Lesser Scaup (5) Bufflehead (26) Hooded Merganser (4) Common Merganser (2) Pied-billed Grebe (7) Double-crested Cormorant (22) Great Blue Heron (5) Bald Eagle (3) Sharp-shinned Hawk (1) Cooper's Hawk (1) Red-tailed Hawk (2) Peregrine Falcon (1) American Coot (3) Killdeer (1) Mew Gull (4) Ring-billed Gull (3) Western Gull (1) Herring Gull (10) Glaucous-winged Gull (62) Western X Glauc.-winged (68) Gull sp. (10) Rock Pigeon (59) Mourning Dove (8) Barred Owl (1) Anna's Hummingbird (11) Belted Kingfisher (2) Total Individuals: 2,521 | Downy Woodpecker (4) Northern Flicker (19) Steller's Jay (13) Western Scrub-Jay (24) American Crow (179) Black-capped Chickadee (53) Chesnut-backed Chickadee (11) Bushtit (44) Red-breasted Nuthatch (10) Brown Creeper (5) Bewick's Wren (2) Golden-crowned Kinglet (80) Ruby-crowned Kinglet (51) American Robin (289) Varied Thrush (12) European Starling (268) Cedar Waxwing (25) Orange-crowned Warbler (1) Yellow-rumped Warbler (7) Audubon's (18) Myrtle (1) Townsend's Warbler (20) Spotted Towhee (1) Fox Sparrow (2) Song Sparrow (73) Golden-crowned Sparrow (11) Dark-eyed Junco (87) Red-winged Blackbird (8) House Finch (17) Pine Siskin (2) Lesser Goldfinch (14) American Goldfinch (22) House Sparrow (15) Barn Swallow (1) Total Species: 90 |