Wahkiakum County Journal

This will be the only post for Wahkiakum County Birding and is just a curation of posts from www.southwestwashingtonbirding.blogspot.com that include visits to Wahkiakum County. In 2023, I tried to see 150 species in four different counties in Washington State, including this tiny one! What an amazing year it's been in Wahkiakum, and I'm sitting at 147 species, with one more trip planned in December for the Christmas Bird Count. 

January 2 - Big Winter Day in Wahkiakum County

What an amazing start! 73 species including some real toughies, such as Eurasian Wigeon, Long-billed Dowitcher, and Iceland Gull. 

April 22nd - The Great Escape, Day 4

April 23rd - The Great Escape, Day 5

I clearly waited a while to return to Wahkiakum but made up for it Big Time on this trip, racing up to 115 species in the county before I left. Walking out onto mudflats to see some Whimbrel up close provided one of many highlights. 

May 12th - Cowlitz County, Toutle to Saint Helens

May 13th - Mid-spring Wahkiakum Trip

The first post covers my arrival into Wahkiakum, including the addition of a Great Horned Owl to the list. I found some stupid birds, including Yellow-breasted Chat, Barn Owl, and Western Bluebird. Nice rarities, and a good fill-in with lots of breeding birds to get to 136. I got nice and lost on backroads on this trip. Loved it.

July 25 - A Spotty Bit of Cleanup

Just three birds added, but Common Nighthawk and Cedar Waxwing had a feeling of urgency to them. Again, this trip was way up some backroads. Had to miss Julia Butler on this trip, where I almost certainly could have had Willow Flycatcher. 

October 12th-13th - Putting the Kayak in Wahkiakum

October 14th - Wahk-cow!

Two days to run the list up from 139 to 147. The kayaking was amazing but was just done during weather that was a little too windy to risk heading out to Rice Island for Horned Larks. I picked up Northern Saw-whet Owl, Cooper's Hawk, and Western Meadowlark on the 14th before heading to Cowlitz County. 

In addition to the links above the needs list and running tally can provide a nice snapshot of the year.