eBird continues to gather bird sightings at a rapid pace. With over 1 billion entries, the database is a rich repository of bird data that allows us to explore numbers, species, timing, and distribution of birds around the globe.
Two immediate questions you might have about the birds in North Central Washington are: “Which species have been seen and reported to eBird?”, and “How many species have we seen this year?”
Bird sightings and eBird “ticks” accummulate throughout the year. Many people start a “year list” on January 1st each year to track the number of species they see during the year. eBird allows us to expand that idea by looking at all the species that people report within the NCWAS four-county area. The graph below shows the progression of numbers of species seen during 2021. The data are current as of October 31, 2021. It is fairly easy to see that by the end of January all the “low hanging fruit” sightings are recorded. The numbers swell during Spring migration and now, when the season turns cold and the mirgrants are gone, we see seasonal waterfowl and a few rarities. The total number of species seen in our area in 2020 (270) is shown for comparison. Five more species than in all of 2020 have been reported as of October 31, 2021. How many more will be added? Time will tell.
Starting in 2022 I hope to provide a monthly list that shows the species accumulate during the year. The list of the 275 species seen so far in the NCWAS area in 2021 is below.
| 2021 species as of 10/31/21 |
|---|
| American Avocet |
| American Bittern |
| American Coot |
| American Crow |
| American Dipper |
| American Goldfinch |
| American Kestrel |
| American Pipit |
| American Redstart |
| American Robin |
| American Three-toed Woodpecker |
| American Tree Sparrow |
| American White Pelican |
| American Wigeon |
| Anna’s Hummingbird |
| Ash-throated Flycatcher |
| Baird’s Sandpiper |
| Bald Eagle |
| Band-tailed Pigeon |
| Bank Swallow |
| Barn Owl |
| Barn Swallow |
| Barred Owl |
| Barrow’s Goldeneye |
| Belted Kingfisher |
| Bewick’s Wren |
| Black Swift |
| Black Tern |
| Black-backed Woodpecker |
| Black-bellied Plover |
| Black-billed Magpie |
| Black-capped Chickadee |
| Black-chinned Hummingbird |
| Black-headed Grosbeak |
| Black-necked Stilt |
| Black-throated Gray Warbler |
| Black-throated Sparrow |
| Blue Jay |
| Blue-winged Teal |
| Bobolink |
| Bohemian Waxwing |
| Bonaparte’s Gull |
| Boreal Chickadee |
| Boreal Owl |
| Brewer’s Blackbird |
| Brewer’s Sparrow |
| Broad-winged Hawk |
| Brown Creeper |
| Brown-headed Cowbird |
| Bufflehead |
| Bullock’s Oriole |
| Bushtit |
| Cackling Goose |
| California Gull |
| California Quail |
| California Scrub-Jay |
| Calliope Hummingbird |
| Canada Goose |
| Canada Jay |
| Canvasback |
| Canyon Wren |
| Caspian Tern |
| Cassin’s Finch |
| Cassin’s Vireo |
| Cedar Waxwing |
| Chestnut-backed Chickadee |
| Chipping Sparrow |
| Chukar |
| Cinnamon Teal |
| Clark’s Grebe |
| Clark’s Nutcracker |
| Clay-colored Sparrow |
| Cliff Swallow |
| Common Goldeneye |
| Common Loon |
| Common Merganser |
| Common Nighthawk |
| Common Poorwill |
| Common Raven |
| Common Redpoll |
| Common Tern |
| Common Yellowthroat |
| Cooper’s Hawk |
| Dark-eyed Junco |
| Double-crested Cormorant |
| Downy Woodpecker |
| Dunlin |
| Dusky Flycatcher |
| Dusky Grouse |
| Eared Grebe |
| Eastern Kingbird |
| Eurasian Collared-Dove |
| Eurasian Wigeon |
| European Starling |
| Evening Grosbeak |
| Flammulated Owl |
| Forster’s Tern |
| Fox Sparrow |
| Franklin’s Gull |
| Gadwall |
| Glaucous Gull |
| Glaucous-winged Gull |
| Golden Eagle |
| Golden-crowned Kinglet |
| Golden-crowned Sparrow |
| Grasshopper Sparrow |
| Gray Catbird |
| Gray Flycatcher |
| Gray Partridge |
| Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch |
| Great Blue Heron |
| Great Egret |
| Great Horned Owl |
| Greater Sage-Grouse |
| Greater Scaup |
| Greater White-fronted Goose |
| Greater Yellowlegs |
| Green-winged Teal |
| Hairy Woodpecker |
| Hammond’s Flycatcher |
| Harlequin Duck |
| Harris’s Sparrow |
| Hermit Thrush |
| Herring Gull |
| Hooded Merganser |
| Horned Grebe |
| Horned Lark |
| House Finch |
| House Sparrow |
| House Wren |
| Iceland Gull |
| Killdeer |
| Lapland Longspur |
| Lark Sparrow |
| Lazuli Bunting |
| Least Flycatcher |
| Least Sandpiper |
| Lesser Goldfinch |
| Lesser Scaup |
| Lesser Yellowlegs |
| Lewis’s Woodpecker |
| Lincoln’s Sparrow |
| Loggerhead Shrike |
| Long-billed Curlew |
| Long-billed Dowitcher |
| Long-eared Owl |
| Long-tailed Duck |
| MacGillivray’s Warbler |
| Mallard |
| Marsh Wren |
| Merlin |
| Mountain Bluebird |
| Mountain Chickadee |
| Mourning Dove |
| Nashville Warbler |
| Northern Flicker |
| Northern Goshawk |
| Northern Harrier |
| Northern Mockingbird |
| Northern Pintail |
| Northern Pygmy-Owl |
| Northern Rough-winged Swallow |
| Northern Saw-whet Owl |
| Northern Shoveler |
| Northern Shrike |
| Northern Waterthrush |
| Olive-sided Flycatcher |
| Orange-crowned Warbler |
| Osprey |
| Pacific Loon |
| Pacific Wren |
| Pacific-slope Flycatcher |
| Parasitic Jaeger |
| Pectoral Sandpiper |
| Peregrine Falcon |
| Pied-billed Grebe |
| Pileated Woodpecker |
| Pine Grosbeak |
| Pine Siskin |
| Prairie Falcon |
| Purple Finch |
| Pygmy Nuthatch |
| Red Crossbill |
| Red-breasted Merganser |
| Red-breasted Nuthatch |
| Red-breasted Sapsucker |
| Red-eyed Vireo |
| Redhead |
| Red-naped Sapsucker |
| Red-necked Grebe |
| Red-necked Phalarope |
| Red-shouldered Hawk |
| Red-tailed Hawk |
| Red-winged Blackbird |
| Ring-billed Gull |
| Ring-necked Duck |
| Ring-necked Pheasant |
| Rock Wren |
| Rough-legged Hawk |
| Ruby-crowned Kinglet |
| Ruddy Duck |
| Ruffed Grouse |
| Rufous Hummingbird |
| Rusty Blackbird |
| Sabine’s Gull |
| Sage Thrasher |
| Sagebrush Sparrow |
| Sanderling |
| Sandhill Crane |
| Savannah Sparrow |
| Say’s Phoebe |
| Semipalmated Plover |
| Semipalmated Sandpiper |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk |
| Sharp-tailed Grouse |
| Short-billed Gull |
| Short-eared Owl |
| Snow Bunting |
| Snow Goose |
| Snowy Owl |
| Solitary Sandpiper |
| Song Sparrow |
| Sooty Grouse |
| Sora |
| Spotted Sandpiper |
| Spotted Towhee |
| Spruce Grouse |
| Steller’s Jay |
| Stilt Sandpiper |
| Surf Scoter |
| Swainson’s Hawk |
| Swainson’s Thrush |
| Swamp Sparrow |
| Townsend’s Solitaire |
| Townsend’s Warbler |
| Tree Swallow |
| Trumpeter Swan |
| Tundra Swan |
| Turkey Vulture |
| Varied Thrush |
| Vaux’s Swift |
| Veery |
| Vesper Sparrow |
| Violet-green Swallow |
| Virginia Rail |
| Warbling Vireo |
| Western Bluebird |
| Western Grebe |
| Western Kingbird |
| Western Meadowlark |
| Western Sandpiper |
| Western Screech-Owl |
| Western Tanager |
| Western Wood-Pewee |
| Whimbrel |
| White-breasted Nuthatch |
| White-crowned Sparrow |
| White-headed Woodpecker |
| White-tailed Ptarmigan |
| White-throated Sparrow |
| White-throated Swift |
| White-winged Crossbill |
| White-winged Scoter |
| Wild Turkey |
| Williamson’s Sapsucker |
| Willow Flycatcher |
| Wilson’s Phalarope |
| Wilson’s Snipe |
| Wilson’s Warbler |
| Wood Duck |
| Yellow Warbler |
| Yellow-billed Loon |
| Yellow-breasted Chat |
| Yellow-headed Blackbird |
| Yellow-rumped Warbler |