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 tallied -
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.


REGION 1: Floras Lake/New River	  
REGION 2: Langlois/Grouslous
REGION 3: Cape Blanco/Sixes River
REGION 4: Elk River
REGION 5: Port Orford/Rocky Point 
	
 
REGION				 1	 2	 3	 4	 5	total 
 
Red-throated Loon		  1		 53	  1 	 29	 84	 
Pacific Loon			 12		  3	  2	  3	 20 
Common Loon			  1					  1 
(loon sp.)			  6	 1		  2	  4	 13 
Pied-billed Grebe			 6			  9	 15 
Horned Grebe			  3				  8	 11 
Red-necked Grebe		  1			  2	 14	 17 
Eared Grebe			  1					  1 
Western Grebe			  8		 33		 55	 96 
Double-crstd. Cormorant		  4		  1	  3	  7	 15 
Brandt's Cormorant				 11			 11
Pelagic Cormorant		  4		 20		 11	 35 
Great Blue Heron		  4	 	  3	  4	  1	 12 
Great Egret			  4			  2		  6
Green Heron								  1 
Tundra Swan			 65			 21		 86
Greater White-fronted Goose			  4	  5		  9					4 
Canada Goose			143		 20		 25	188 
Wood Duck					 	  1	 	  1 
Green-winged Teal		 24		  1	 34		 59   
Mallard				 86	 	 54	182	  8    	330 
Pintail				 25		 	 		 25
Shoveler 			 44			 13		 57
Gadwall				  5		  1	  9		 15
American Wigeon			 20					 20 
Ring-necked Duck		  4		 	 46		 50 
Greater Scaup			120		  6	  1	  2	129
Lesser Scaup			 20					 20
Oldsquaw							  3	  3 
Surf Scoter			  3		 12	  9	120	144 
White-winged Scoter		 		 20	  3	  7	 30 
(scoter species)				 	 40	350	390 
Bufflehead			 51		 36	 39	 18	144	  
Hooded Merganser		  8  			 15	  1	 24 
Common Merganser		  2		  6	 24	 	 32 
Red-breasted Merganser		  2		  8		 	 10 
Ruddy Duck			 15			  2	  2	 19 
Osprey							  1	 	  1 
White-tailed Kite		  7		  9	  1		 17
Bald Eagle			  2		  1			  3
Northern Harrier		  1		  2	  1		  4 
Sharp-shinned Hawk		  1		  1	  4	  3	  9
Cooper's Hawk			  1	  1	  1			  3
Red-shouldered hawk		  7	  1	  4	  3	  1	 16
Red-tailed Hawk			  8	  3	  9	  6	  5	 31 
Rough-legged Hawk			  1	  	  	  	  1
Golden Eagle			  	  	  	  1	  	  1
American Kestrel		  3	  1	  7	  3		 14 
Merlin						  	  1		  1
Peregrine Falcon		  4		  1	  4	  3	 12 
Wild Turkey					 11			 11
Ring-necked Pheasant		  1	  	  	  	  	  1
Ruffed Grouse			  	  	  	  	  1	  1 
California Quail		  3	 12		  8 	 50	 73 
Virginia Rail			  4		 71	  2	  9	 86 
Sora				 		  5		  1	  6 
American Coot			198		  1	  3	  8	194
Black-bellied Plover		  9		  	  1		 10 
Killdeer			977	  2	 53	725	 48	1805 
Black Oystercatcher			 	  7		  2	  9
Greater Yellowlegs		  1		  1			  2
Spotted Sandpiper		  		  		  1	  1 
Black Turnstone			 30		 10		 23	 63 
Surfbird					 		  3	  3 
Sanderling			  7		 		 	  7 
Western Sandpiper		 11			  		 11 
Least Sandpiper			  			 10		 10
Dunlin				 35	  	  	 11	  	 36
dowitcher sp.			  3	  	  	  	  	  3 
Common Snipe			 36		 71	 45	  6	158 
Mew Gull			  3		  4		  4	  8 
Ring-billed Gull		 		  1	  2		  3 
California Gull			 10		 89		 16	115 
Herring Gull					 72		  6	 80 
Thayer’s Gull					  3			  3 
Western Gull			 33	 	107	 38	118	296 
(w X gw gull)					 		  7	  7 
Glaucous-winged Gull		  8		 35	  3	  9	 55
Black-legged Kittiwake		  		  	  	  1	  1 
(gull sp.)			 36		 33	 20	  3	 92
Common Murre			  	  	 	 	 40	 40
Marbled Murrelet		  1				  5	  6 
Ancient Murrelet						 39	 39
(Alcid sp.)					  5			  5 
Mourning Dove							  8	  8
Barn Owl						  1		  1
Western Screech Owl				  1			  1 
Great-horned Owl		  1		 			  1
Northern Pygmy Owl		  1 					  1
Anna's Hummingbird		  1		   	  3	 22	 26 
Allen's Hummingbird						  2	  2
Belted Kingfisher		  2	  1	  2	  5	  1	 11	 
Downy Woodpecker		  8	  1		  2	  1	 12 
Hairy Woodpecker		  5			  1	  2	  8 
Northern Flicker		 54	  8	 22	 50	 12	146
Pileated Woodpecker				  1	  4	  2	  7 
Black Phoebe			  6	  1	  1	 10	  4	 22
Horned Lark							  1	  1	 
Steller's Jay			 25	  6	 11	 84	 69	195
Western Scrub Jay				  2	  1		  3 
American Crow			 86	 50		 58	  8	202	 
Common Raven			 45		 18	 20	  4	 87 
Black-capped Chickadee		 98		  1	  6	 29	130 
Chestnut-backed Chickadee	 41	  7	 16	 37	 29	130 
Red-breasted Nuthatch		 14		  7	  2  	  5	 28 
Bewick’s Wren			  3					  3	 
Winter Wren			 13	  6	 10	 16	 16	 61 
Marsh Wren			 11		 38	  9	  6	 64 
American Dipper						  1		  1 
Golden-crowned Kinglet		 83	  1	 16	 70	 51	221 
Ruby-crowned Kinglet		 32	  4	  3	 59	 17	115
Western Bluebird			  5		  6		 11	 
Hermit Thrush			 66	  8	 	 36	 43	153 
American Robin			532	 50	163	573	252	1570 
Varied Thrush			 57	 13	 30	125	162	387 
Wrentit				 23		  7	  4	 19	 53 
American Pipit			  3		  5	 38		 46 
Northern Shrike			  2		  2			  4 
European Starling		1252	 20	 25	1218	530	3045
Hutton's Vireo			  1			  3		  4 
Orange-crowned Warbler		  1					  1
Yellow-rumped Warbler		 24	  4	  6	  9	 13	 56 
Townsend's Warbler		  1		  1	  3	  1	  6 
Palm Warbler						  1		  1
Spotted Towhee			 21	  3	  4	 28	 39	 95 
Savannah Sparrow		  1		  3			  4 
Fox Sparrow			 53	  3	 28	 93	113	290 
Song Sparrow			118	  4	121	 67	 66	376 
Lincoln’s Sparrow		  7	  1	  4	  1	  1	 14 
Swamp Sparrow			  2		  1			  3 
White-throated Sparrow  	  1	  1			  4	  6 
Golden-crowned Sparrow		 13	 25	 14	 23	 35	110 
White-crowned Sparrow		 31		 67	 87	140	325 
Dark-eyed Junco			155	 37	 63	356	361	972
Lapland Longspur		 10					 10 
Red-winged Blackbird		 86			 20	  8	114 
Western Meadowlark		 50		 46	 17	  3	116 
Brewer's Blackbird		  6		 50	 12	123	189 
Purple Finch						  8	  4	 12 
House Finch			 15	  3	 		 45	 63
Red Crossbill			 34		 13	  6		 53	 
Pine Siskin			 11	 25	  2	 16	103	157
American Goldfinch		  1			  1		  2
Evening Grosbeak		  2		  2		  1	  5 
House Sparrow				  3		  1	 13 	 17 
 
 
Total Species:  140 
Total Individuals:  15,237 
 
Species seen Count Week, but not Count Day: 
	Black Scoter, Common Goldeneye, Mountain Quail.

Note:  Almost no birds were seen on the ocean