Wild turkeys in the Tri-Cities? They were among visitors spotted in annual bird count

The volunteers who braved the cold to count birds in the Tri-City area Dec. 30 saw something new in the annual survey — wild turkeys at Sacagawea Park in Pasco.

The birds, which are plentiful farther east in the state, appear to be moving down the Snake River, said Dana Ward, count coordinator for the Lower Columbia Audubon Society.

For more than 50 years, the local Audubon society, with the help of volunteers, has counted birds on a day near Christmas within a 15-mile circle that includes the Tri-Cities.

The data is contributed to the Christmas Bird Count organized by the National Audubon Society to help conservation biologists track trends over decades.

In the latest local count, bird watchers spotted 113 different species of birds and 62,878 individual birds. It was five more species that seen during the previous year’s snowy count.

Here are some of the highlights:

▪  A blue jay was spotted in the count for the first time. The species usually is seen farther east in the state.

▪  One of the most exceptional sightings was a slaty-backed gull, which is more common to Asia and occasionally seen down the Alaskan coast into Washington state.

▪  The bird seen in the largest numbers was the Canada goose, with 14,541 counted on land and water.

▪  No tundra swans were seen this year, which is unusual for the count.

▪  A record number of red-breasted nuthatches, 66, were spotted. Usually fewer than a dozen are seen during the count.

▪  Some participants listened at night for owls and heard a rare northern saw-whet owl and the more common western screech-owl. Volunteers watched for the rare and beautiful snowy owl after one was seen during the week of the count, but none were seen on the count day.

▪  Many raptors were spotted, including 75 bald eagles, 104 red-tailed hawks, 66 American kestrels and three rough-legged hawks.

This story was originally published January 28, 2018 at 4:57 PM with the headline "Wild turkeys in the Tri-Cities? They were among visitors spotted in annual bird count."