Running Tally and Needs List

Here we go again!

This will be one of the most interesting years I've done. Most of the time, when I do single counties, they are under-birded counties (as Pacific County is!), but I've never stepped into one where the potential species total is quite so high. Some of the easiest birds are going to be tough (I think. . . although my thoughts going into a year are hit or miss), and some difficult birds are going to be easy. Just. . . in the sense that Pacific County has far more code 4 birds and code 5 birds than your typical under-birded county. Here's the list! And we're going into the 4s and 5s this time. 

Code 1 Birds (90 total)

These are birds that are listed as "Common". I'd hope to find all 90 this year without too much planning.

1. Cackling Goose
2. Canada Goose
3. American Wigeon
4. Mallard
5. Northern Pintail
6. Green-winged Teal
7. Surf Scoter
8. White-winged Scoter
9. Bufflehead
10. Common Merganser
11. Red-breasted Merganser
12. Pied-billed Grebe
13. Horned Grebe
14. Red-necked Grebe
15. Western Grebe
16. Rufous Hummingbird
17. Black-bellied Plover
18. Killdeer
19. Marbled Godwit
20. Black Turnstone
21. Sanderling
22. Dunlin
23. Western Sandpiper
24. Short-billed Dowitcher
25. Wilson's Snipe
26. Spotted Sandpiper (144th most common species - 1.35% of trips)
27. Greater Yellowlegs
28. Common Murre
29. Heermann's Gull
30. Short-billed Gull
31. Ring-billed Gull
32. Western Gull
33. California Gull
34. Glaucous-winged Gull
35. Common Tern (182nd most seen bird - 0.527% of trips)
36. Common Loon
37. Sooty Shearwater
38. Brandt's Cormorant
39. Pelagic Cormorant
40. Double-crested Cormorant
41. Brown Pelican
42. Great Blue Heron
43. Turkey Vulture
44. Bald Eagle
45. Red-tailed Hawk
46. Belted Kingfisher
47. Downy Woodpecker
48. Northern Flicker
49. Western Flycatcher
50. Hutton's Vireo
51. Warbling Vireo
52. Steller's Jay
53. American Crow
54. Common Raven
55. Black-capped Chickadee
56. Chestnut-backed Chickadee
57. Tree Swallow
58. Violet-green Swallow
59. Barn Swallow
60. Bushtit (127th most common species - 2.37% of trips)
61. Ruby-crowned Kinglet
62. Golden-crowned Kinglet
63. Cedar Waxwing
64. Red-breasted Nuthatch
65. Pacific Wren
66. European Starling
67. Swainson's Thrush
68. American Robin
69. Varied Thrush
70. House Sparrow
71. House Finch
72. Purple Finch
73. Red Crossbill
74. Pine Siskin
75. American Goldfinch
76. Fox Sparrow
77. Dark-eyed Junco
78. White-crowned Sparrow
79. Golden-crowned Sparrow
80. Savannah Sparrow
81. Song Sparrow
82. Spotted Towhee
83. Red-winged Blackbird
84. Brown-headed Cowbird
85. Brewer's Blackbird
86. Orange-crowned Warbler
87. Common Yellowthroat
88. Yellow-rumped Warbler
89. Black-throated Gray Warbler
90. Wilson's Warbler

Not much to say here! I should get all 90. As always, it will be interesting to see if the code matches my experience. There are two species I flagged - Bushtit and Spotted Sandpiper. It would not be the first time that Spotted Sandpipers gave me trouble! Bushtit doesn't have me quite as worried. Spotties are one of those birds that are "everywhere... and nowhere...", a description given to me about Ruffed Grouse in Mason County. Everywhere and nowhere birds are the worst.

Common Terns. . . there are many code 3 birds, some code 4 birds, and even a code 5 bird seen more frequently than Common Terns.

Code 2 birds (63 birds)

"Uncommon" is the descriptor here. I tend to phrase it this way: Code 1 birds = hard not to find. Code 2 birds = not hard to find. Code 3 birds = hard to find. I think it means that any Code 2 bird is not hard to miss, potentially, if you're not specifically looking for it. I do not expect to have that experience with Least Sandpipers this year! But do note the puddle ducks on the list. This is a salty county, so I am ready to hunt down some freshwater to find some of those 2's. 

1. Greater White-fronted Goose
2. Brant
3. Wood Duck
4. Northern Shoveler
5. Ring-necked Duck
6. Greater Scaup
7. Lesser Scaup
8. Common Goldeneye
9. Hooded Merganser
10. Ring-necked Pheasant
11. Rock Pigeon
12. Band-tailed Pigeon
13. Eurasian Collared-Dove
14. Vaux's Swift
15. Semipalmated Plover
16. Whimbrel
17. Ruddy Turnstone
18. Red Knot
19. Surfbird
20. Least Sandpiper
21. Pectoral Sandpiper
22. Long-billed Dowitcher
23. Lesser Yellowlegs
24. Parasitic Jaeger
25. Pigeon Guillemot
26. Rhinoceros Auklet
27. Black-legged Kittiwake
28. Bonaparte's Gull
29. Herring Gull
30. Iceland Gull
31. Caspian Tern
32. Red-throated Loon
33. Pacific Loon
34. Black-footed Albatross
35. Fork-tailed Storm Petrel
36. Northern Fulmar
37. Buller's Shearwater
38. Pink-footed Shearwater
39. Great Egret
40. Osprey
41. Northern Harrier
42. Sharp-shinned Hawk
43. Cooper's Hawk
44. Barred Owl
45. Red-breasted Sapsucker
46. Hairy Woodpecker
47. Pileated Woodpecker
48. Merlin
49. Peregrine Falcon
50. Olive-sided Flycatcher
51. Willow Flycatcher
52. California Scrub-Jay
53. Northern Rough-winged Swallow
54. Cliff Swallow
55. Brown Creeper
56. Bewick's Wren
57. Marsh Wren
58. Hermit Thrush
59. Lincoln's Sparrow
60. Yellow Warbler
61. Townsend's Warbler
62. Western Tanager
63. Black-headed Grosbeak

Some of the birds in here that are listed as lower frequency seem to be semi-pelagic birds - things like Parasitic Jaeger, Black-legged Kittiwake. Is semi-pelagic a term? I made it up. They're seen at shore they're seen on pelagic trips. I have never been on a pelagic birding trip in my life. This will be interesting! There will be new storm-petrels, shearwaters, and albatrosses on my life list by year's end!

Pheasant is being scratched from the list. On eBird, it's listed as introduced, so I'll leave it uncounted. 

Yaknow... Hermit Thrush... Lincoln's Sparrow... Merlin and Peregrine Falcon...Cooper's and Sharp-shinned Hawks... These are all ones that may have also given me trouble in the past. I'll keep 'em on my radar!

In a normal one of these years, I might miss one or two of these birds. I'd really like to close out the 2s this time! That would make 153 birds, together with the code 1 birds. 150 for a year is the goal in this decades-long project that is taking me to every county in the state! So, there's some optimism here.

Code 3 birds (62 species)

As noted above - hard to find. 

1. Snow Goose
2. Trumpeter Swan
3. Cinnamon Teal
4. Gadwall
5. Eurasian Wigeon
6. Canvasback
7. Harlequin Duck
8. Black Scoter
9. Ruddy Duck
10. Ruffed Grouse
11. Sooty Grouse
12. Mourning Dove
13. Common Nighthawk
14. Anna's Hummingbird
15. Virginia Rail
16. American Coot
17. Sandhill Crane
18. American Golden-Plover
19. Pacific Golden-Plover
20. Snowy Plover
21. Long-billed Curlew
22. Baird's Sandpiper
23. Semipalmated Sandpiper
24. Wandering Tattler
25. Willet
26. Red-necked Phalarope
27. Red Phalarope
28. South Polar Skua
29. Pomarine Jaeger
30. Long-tailed Jaeger
31. Marbled Murrelet
32. Cassin's Auklet
33. Sabine's Gull
34. Glaucous Gull
35. Arctic Tern
36. Leach's Storm-petrel
37. Short-tailed Shearwater
38. Manx Shearwater
39. American White Pelican
40. American Bittern
41. Green Heron
42. Rough-legged Hawk
43. American Barn Owl
44. Western Screech-Owl
45. Great Horned Owl
46. Northern Pygmy-Owl
47. Northern Saw-whet Owl
48. American Kestrel
49. Western Wood-Pewee
50. Hammond's Flycatcher
51. Northern Shrike
52. Canada Jay
53. Horned Lark
54. Purple Martin
55. American Dipper
56. Western Bluebird
57. American Pipit
58. Evening Grosbeak
59. Lapland Longspur
60. White-throated Sparrow
61. Western Meadowlark
62. MacGillivray's Warbler

There's such an interesting mix of birds here...

First, you have the birds that may have no business being code 3 birds: Willet and Anna's Hummingbird stick out. Birds that are the 48th and 50th most commonly seen species in the county, respectively. They're like... a nice bit of brain sugar, anyway. "Oh my gosh, I just found a code 3 bird!!"

There's more of the pelagic birds. I can't even tell you the number of birds I typed and said "that'd be a lifer. That'd be another lifer..." It's a lot. 

Owls! People don't go to Pacific County to go owling. I am going to Pacific County to go owling. May not be as many breadcrumbs to follow, but the owls are out there! Barn Owls though... goodness, I have missed them in many years. Western Screech is waaaay down on the frequency list, but it does have some sightings in recent years.

MacGillivray's Warbler is not a code 3 bird. :D I mean... I am sure that it is infrequently seen, but in my head, a lil trip up into the Willapas, go find a clear cut, boom, MacGillivray's. Shaking hands with a Western Bluebird, I'd suppose.

And a small number of these will come down to persistance (grouse) and timing (Sandhill Crane). I wonder if some of them may come by kayak? Who knows!

I'm going for all of them! In a typical year like this, I might get 80 percent of them. I hope I can push that up! 80 percent of them would be 48 birds. 90 percent is more like 54-55. . . OR we can just go with nice round numbers: What if I had a clean 200 species between the code 1, 2, and 3 birds? 

The county year list record? 220. So, two higher-coded birds each month could put me over that tally. And in a county where there are so many higher-coded birds, I think this becomes interesting!

Code 4 birds 

These are birds that are not seen annually, but that have a pattern of occurrence - 5+ observations over the years. 

1. Emperor Goose
2. Tundra Swan
3. Blue-winged Teal
4. Redhead
5. Long-tailed Duck
6. Barrow's Goldeneye
7. Eared Grebe
8. Clark's Grebe
9. Black Swift
10. Sora
11. Black Oystercatcher
12. Bar-tailed Godwit
13. Hudsonian Godwit
14. Ruff
15. Sharp-tailed Sandpiper
16. Stilt Sandpiper
17. Rock Sandpiper
18. Buff-breasted Sandpiper
19. Solitary Sandpiper
20. Wilson's Phalarope
21. Ancient Murrelet
22. Parakeet Auklet
23. Horned Puffin
24. Tufted Puffin
25. Franklin's Gull
26. Elegant Tern
27. Laysan Albatross
28. Short-tailed Albatross
29. Murphy's Petrel
30. Mottled Petrel
31. Flesh-footed Shearwater
32. White-tailed Kite
33. American Goshawk
34. Red-shouldered Hawk
35. Snowy Owl
36. Spotted Owl
37. Short-eared Owl
38. Gyrfalcon
39. Tropical Kingbird
40. Western Kingbird
41. Say's Phoebe
42. Cassin's Vireo
43. Mountain Chickadee
44. Northern House Wren
45. Northern Mockingbird
46. Townsend's Solitaire
47. Snow Bunting
48. Chipping Sparrow
49. Swamp Sparrow
50. Yellow-headed Blackbird
51. Bullock's Oriole
52. Palm Warbler
53. Hermit Warbler

Wowzer, what a list. Again, the House Wren? EZ PZ. It'll be riding on the back of a MacGillivray's Warbler, up in the foothills. Nobody in their right mind would bird up in the Willapas, right? It's not high-elevation birding, per se, and so much of it is being actively logged. So, I'll be popping up there and finding some of these birds. And a Yellow-breasted Chat (down in the Code 5's). :D

13 of these birds are ones I've never seen. Many of those, again, are pelagic birds. Birds where my "planning" will be "go on a pelagic trip or two". Some of them may involve some chasing - should a mockingbird show up, I have no doubts that it would be chased, reported, etc. And others may take planning, patience, persistence, like Short-eared Owls. I have no doubts that there are a couple of them in the county right now, but one has to be looking at the right time!

Code 5 birds

Why list them?? I am about as likely to find a brand-new bird to the county as some of the ones on this list. But it helps my brain to type them out - a reminder of what to keep an eye out for. In some cases, they may actually be birds that are increasing in abundance in the county. 

1. Tufted Duck
2. Wild Turkey (??)
3. White-winged Dove
4. Costa's Hummingbird
5. American Avocet
6. Eurasian Dotterel
7. Wilson's Plover
8. Mountain Plover
9. Upland Sandpiper
10. Bristle-thighed Curlew
11. Great Knot
12. Curlew Sandpiper
13. Gray-tailed Tattler
14. Thick-billed Murre
15. Scripp's Murrelet
16. Red-legged Kittiwake
17. Black-headed Gull
18. Lesser Black-backed Gull
19. Slaty-backed Gull
20. Black Tern
21. Forster's Tern
22. Arctic Loon
23. Yellow-billed Loon
24. Wilson's Storm-Petrel
25. Northern Giant-Petrel
26. Hawaiian Petrel
27. Magnificent Frigatebird
28. Cocos Booby
29. Snowy Egret
30. Black-crowned Night-Heron
31. Western Cattle Egret
32. White Ibis
33. White-faced Ibis
34. Golden Eagle
35. Swainson's Hawk
36. Burrowing Owl
37. Long-eared Owl
38. Lewis's Woodpecker
39. Acorn Woodpecker
40. Red-naped Sapsucker
41. Prairie Falcon
42. Eastern Kingbird
43. Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
44. Fork-tailed Flycatcher
45. Gray Flycatcher
46. Dusky Flycatcher
47. Black Phoebe
48. Eastern Phoebe
49. Red-eyed Vireo
50. Loggerhead Shrike
51. Blue Jay
52. Clark's Nutcracker
53. Bank Swallow
54. White-breasted Nuthatch
55. Pygmy Nuthatch
56. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
57. Rock Wren
58. Canyon Wren
59. Gray Catbird
60. Brown Thrasher
61. Sage Thrasher
62. Mountain Bluebird
63. White Wagtail
64. Pine Grosbeak
65. Cassin's Finch
66. Redpoll
67. White-winged Crossbill
68. Lesser Goldfinch
69. Chestnut-collared Longspur
70. Rustic Bunting
71. Black-throated Sparrow
72. Lark Sparrow
73. Lark Bunting
74. Clay-colored Sparrow
75. Brewer's Sparrow
76. American Tree Sparrow
77. Harris's Sparrow
78. Vesper Sparrow
79. LeConte's Sparrow
80. Yellow-breasted Chat
81. Bobolink
82. Orchard Oriole
83. Hooded Oriole 
84. Rusty Blackbird
85. Common Grackle
86. Great-tailed Grackle
87. Ovenbird
88. Northern Waterthrush
89. Black-and-white Warbler
90. Nashville Warbler
91. American Redstart
92. Northern Parula
93. Magnolia Warbler
94. Blackpoll Warbler
95. Black-throated Blue Warbler
96. Summer Tanager
97. Rose-breasted Grosbeak
98. Lazuli Bunting
99. Painted Bunting

Oh... so not even 100 birds? C'mon Pacific County, try a little! What can one even say about this list?? I need to...

Go get the Yellow-breasted Chats that are certainly dotted all over the hillsides now. Maybe. And a Black Phoebe? 

Learn my plovers and stare really hard at them. 

Go on a pelagic or two. 

Sparrows and Warblers - that's like... 20 of the birds on this list. And the implication is that there is probably some sparrow or warbler that is NOT on this list that could show up for the first time - Hooded Warbler? A wildly lost Grasshopper Sparrow? I've got to get dialed in on the sparrow patches of Pacific County, and I likely need to spend a lot of time craning my neck upwards at Leadbetter Point, listening, and trying to get pictures through the leaves.

Over 40 birds in here that I've never seen in the state. I'm very aware of my state list...my life list may include some of these that I've forgotten, from trips to North Carolina, California, or Florida. Should be an interesting year!!