The 1998 Port Orford Christmas Bird Count was our most successful ever.
A total of 140 species were tallied in the 15 mile diameter circle centered at Sixes. This broke our old record of 136 species set back in 1981. A combination of good weather on December 26, sandwiched between stormy weather on the 25th and 27th, plus a crew of skilled birders, allowed us to find most of the birds in the area.
The stormy and cold weather of December resulted in much greater numbers of some species being present in the area. For example 330 Mallards along with lesser numbers of most duck species were found. A phenomenal 1800 Killdeer covered the pastures, along with 1600 Robins. Over 3000 Starlings were allied – an alarming increase over the few hundred tallied during most previous CBC’s. By contrast, the ocean was nearly devoid of birds. Small flocks of scoters were too far offshore to identify as to species.
The Coos Bay CBC also recorded a new high with 155 species, 4 short of the State record of 159 set by the Coquille Valley count a few years ago. Can Port Orford challenge these local powerhouses? It’s a long shot, but it could be done. We may have missed as many as 10 species that were probably in the area. In addition, a few more could be found from a boat. The count circle goes out to Orford and Blanco Reefs but we can’t see birds that far from shore. Perhaps we can persuade a commercial fisherman to take an expert pelagic birder out there for a couple of hours on next year’s CBC.