On a gusty day that brought kite surfers to Whidbey Island, a team of bird enthusiasts scattered across North and Central Whidbey to count the feathered creatures.
Considering the inclement weather, the results of the Audubon Christmas Bird Count on Dec. 20 blew one organizer away.
Jill Hein, one of the coordinators of the Whidbey Audubon Society’s North count, which covered Coupeville and much of Oak Harbor, was surprised that nearly 23,000 birds were part of a preliminary count despite the windy conditions.
“It was a tough day for counting birds,” Hein said.
Among the interesting discoveries, she said, were 136 oystercatchers counted on the mussel rafts in Penn Cove.
“That’s a lot of oystercatchers to be there at one time,” Hein said.
In total, 22,946 birds were counted by teams that covered 15 square miles over the course of a day — nearly 2,800 more than were tallied last year.
“We had good results, surprisingly,” Hein said.
The Christmas Bird Count, in its 115th year, provides global data on bird populations to help with research and conservation efforts.
South Whidbey will conduct its count Jan. 3 with Goss Lake in Langley serving as the center of a 15-mile diameter search that also will include the western shores of Camano Island.
“A northern goshawk has been reported recently in the Bayview area, and a western scrub jay spotted last month in Clinton,” said Govinda Rosling, coordinator of the South count. “We hope to have these uncommon birds seen and counted on our CBC day.”
The most popular bird found in the North count was the European starling, with 2,296 tallied. That bird was followed by the: glaucous winged gull (2,114), surf scoter (1,782), pine siskin (1,449), northern pintail (1,338), mallard (1,224), dark-eyed junco (960) and American wigeon (804).
There were 104 bald eagles tallied — up from 64 last year. Five were counted near Crockett Lake, where kite surfers spent part of the day.
Also counted among the birds of prey were 64 red-tailed hawks, 13 northern harriers, six owls, six Coopers hawks, five rough-legged hawks and one sharp-shinned hawk. Among the owls were five great horned and one short-eared.
Counters also spotted 55 great blue herons.
