Excellent weather on December 27th contributed to the second highest species total on the annual KAS Port Orford CBC. Our local (Coos & Curry County) crew managed to find 127 species of birds, second only to our record total of 136 found with the help of a contingent of Willamette Valley birders. Some of the more noteworthy sightings were several Brown Pelicans who should be in sunny Mexico by now, a Turkey Vulture (ditto), and an Osprey (possibly the same individual who wintered here last year. We were astounded to see the huge increase in the European Starling population, from 256 last year to 4,757 this year. Think I’ll look up Colin’s Starling Stroganoff recipe.
It’s clear that we need more local birders to adequately cover the 15 mile diameter count circle. Ideally, we should have a crew of at least a dozen local people who collectively are adept at identifying, at a glance, most of the birds normally found here in the winter. If there’s sufficient interest, I’d like to begin helping a group of dedicated folks learn to identify the local birds. Perhaps an evening meeting followed by a field trip once a month would work.