North Kitsap Port Gamble CBC Results - 117 Species/15,940 birds counted
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Top Three Species >>>
1. Pine Siskin 2. American Wigeon 3. Bonaparte's Gull |
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Wild, wet, windy weather didn’t stop the 2020 North Kitsap Port Gamble Christmas Bird Count! On Saturday January 2nd, eleven Stillwaters volunteer birders donned their rain gear and headed out with binoculars and spotting scopes to monitor their subsection of the NKPG CBC circle: Kingston & Indianola. Under Covid-19 protocols, teams were limited to 2-3 people who couldn’t share optics which made the day much different from past CBCs.
Our sightings included a gorgeous flotilla of 142 Common Mergansers by the Kingston Marina Boat Ramp and 4 Brown Creepers in the woods at the Kingston Village Green Community Park. Gulls as always were our greatest ID challenge, but our counts included these gull species: Western; Glaucous-winged; Glaucous-winged x Western hybrid; Mew; Ring-billed. Click here to view a gull identification chart. Our lists were submitted to Jennifer Standish, the NKGB CBC compiler (Thanks for all your help, Jennifer!) before being included in the complete circle count. This year we submitted our field lists on eBird. For those of you who have eBird accounts you can check out NKPG CBC Jan 2 species counts by clicking on hot spots around Appletree Cove or at Indianola. |
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Songbirds are getting sick and dying across Washington
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Washington wildlife officials are warning people that finches around the state are dying of a disease that has appeared in multiple counties, according to a news release from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.
The department has received reports about sick or dead songbirds at backyard feeders. Wildlife officials are recommending that people temporarily stop feeding wild birds or to do more to maintain their feeders. Reports say that finches and other songbirds are likely dying of salmonellosis, “caused by the salmonella bacteria." |
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Sitka spruce seedlings to be planted February 6th & 7th
Volunteers needed!
This February, we need volunteers to help plant seedling Sitka spruce along the edge of the Kingston Salt Marsh on the north side of the W. Kingston Bridge.
Staff and volunteers have been observing a large die-off of Sitka spruce along the edges of the salt marsh for several years now and it appears the trees are “drowning” due to an increase in standing water suffocating their roots. We are working to document the extent of the problem by measuring the size (age) and condition of both live and dead spruce, the levels of soil saturation throughout the year, and the salinity of the water in the surface and soil in problem areas. The Army Corps of Engineers predicted that tidal inundation (saltwater) would expand in the marsh after culvert removal. However, freshwater plants like bulrushes and cattails have been encroaching from the marsh edges, suggesting an increase in freshwater instead. In addition to studying adult trees to understand the reasons for the die-off, we are setting up an “experiment” involving planting 120 Sitka spruce seedlings inland around the marsh edge (made possible by generous donations from Sitka Spruce Project supporters). Trees dying and falling into the marsh are an important source of nutrients for the plants and animals there, and the survival of young trees at various distances from the edge may help determine whether the salt marsh is expanding since the culvert removals in addition to replacing an important resource along the (new?) marsh edge.
We would like volunteers to work in small teams or pairs (all masked with social distancing) to plant seedlings on weekend afternoons for two-three hours starting February 6th and 7th and continuing the following weekend, if need be. (Tide heights may allow us to access the lower parts of the marsh more easily on the 13th and 14th, anyway.) Dress for the weather – we’ll work in the rain as long as it isn’t too windy – and if you need boots, we may have some to lend in your size.
To volunteer, please contact Monitoring/Program Director, Melissa Fleming, at melissa@stillwatersenvironmentalcenter.org or text her at 360-337-0432. Thank you!
Staff and volunteers have been observing a large die-off of Sitka spruce along the edges of the salt marsh for several years now and it appears the trees are “drowning” due to an increase in standing water suffocating their roots. We are working to document the extent of the problem by measuring the size (age) and condition of both live and dead spruce, the levels of soil saturation throughout the year, and the salinity of the water in the surface and soil in problem areas. The Army Corps of Engineers predicted that tidal inundation (saltwater) would expand in the marsh after culvert removal. However, freshwater plants like bulrushes and cattails have been encroaching from the marsh edges, suggesting an increase in freshwater instead. In addition to studying adult trees to understand the reasons for the die-off, we are setting up an “experiment” involving planting 120 Sitka spruce seedlings inland around the marsh edge (made possible by generous donations from Sitka Spruce Project supporters). Trees dying and falling into the marsh are an important source of nutrients for the plants and animals there, and the survival of young trees at various distances from the edge may help determine whether the salt marsh is expanding since the culvert removals in addition to replacing an important resource along the (new?) marsh edge.
We would like volunteers to work in small teams or pairs (all masked with social distancing) to plant seedlings on weekend afternoons for two-three hours starting February 6th and 7th and continuing the following weekend, if need be. (Tide heights may allow us to access the lower parts of the marsh more easily on the 13th and 14th, anyway.) Dress for the weather – we’ll work in the rain as long as it isn’t too windy – and if you need boots, we may have some to lend in your size.
To volunteer, please contact Monitoring/Program Director, Melissa Fleming, at melissa@stillwatersenvironmentalcenter.org or text her at 360-337-0432. Thank you!
Thank you to CREOi - Conservation, Research and Education Opportunities International
A grant renewal from Conservation, Research and Education Opportunities International (CREOi) supports our research documenting how changes in hydrology since the culvert removals (which restored natural tidal exchange and creek flow to the estuary) are affecting native and invasive plant communities in the salt marsh
on Carpenter Creek.
on Carpenter Creek.
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