The Washington Ornithological Society was chartered in 1988 to increase knowledge of the birds of Washington and to enhance communication among all persons interested in those birds.
WOS Board Member Jason Fidorra has created a Facebook Groups page to allow for more interaction and participation among WOS members in hopes of engaging a broader public with birds and birding topics in Washington. Thanks to Elaine Chuang, WOS also is now posting many of its monthly meeting presentations on WOS’s YouTube channel, so that people can view them at any time. For more information about WOS’s online offerings beyond this website, go to the WOS Online page.
A King County wildlife ecologist unspools a story of her attempt to figure out whether there were Kingfisher nestlings in a Vashon Island burrow, while heavy machinery for a demolition project was supposed to begin work in a few days. A new board member introduces himself and outlines WOS board goals. Tom Bancroft describes the strong points of Northern Shovelers. Ryan Merrill authors the Washington Field Notes for April – November of 2018, commenting that Trumpeter Swans are much more numerous than they were a decade before. Twenty-eight people submitted guesses as to what will be the next species to go onto Washington’s official checklist. The species with the most votes? Find that and more at Current Newsletter.All messages to the Tweeters listserv during 2020 have been added to WOS’s Tweeters Archive. The archive now contains all messages from 1994 through 2020. The birding listserv is hosted at the University of Washington, which currently keeps only two years worth of messages. WOS agreed several years ago to create and host an archive with all older Tweeters messages. You can search or browse for messages at WOS’s Tweeters Archive.
“Recent reports of sick or dead birds at backyard feeders in King, Kitsap, Skagit, Snohomish, and Thurston counties is prompting the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) to recommend that people temporarily discontinue feeding wild birds or take extra steps to maintain their feeders,” says a press release from the department. You can read the full statement here.
The Washington Bird Records Committee met November 14 and has released its decisions regarding sightings of rare birds as well as the updated state checklist and state review list. Three new birds have been added to the official state checklist: Northern Giant-Petrel, Nazca Booby and Scarlet Tanager. As for the review list, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher and two subspecies have been removed; White-tailed Kite has been added. You can find the summary of all decisions here.
All 12 of WOS’s Washington Birds journals published between 1989 and 2018 can now be read on this website or downloaded. WOS had already placed the four most recent journals online. But WOS President Jennifer Kauffman recently had the eight earlier journals scanned to .pdfs so the complete set of journals could be made available here. Find them at the bottom of the Washington Birds page.
Jacob and Faye
Jacob Miller, a 15-year-old Mason County birder, will receive the Patrick Sullivan Young Birder award for 2020. Miller is a frequent participant on the twice-monthly Theler Wetlands walk co-led by WOS Board Member Faye McAdams Hands and John Riegsecker. When Hands announced the honor on the Thursday September 10 walk, “all participants cheered,” she reports. “We are always very happy to have Jacob’s young ears, eyes, and brain along!” Diane Yorgason-Quinn says, “We would have been several species and many individual birds short without him! He’s amazing. Plus he mastered eBirding a long time ago!”
Go to WOS’s Monthly Meetings page for information on our fabulous monthly meeting programs. WOS members who live outside the Seattle area (or are on the road) can still attend using a computer, tablet or phone. It’s easy!
