Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas folks! I hope you had a good day and that you can enjoying some time with family and loved ones. It's been a long time since I've posted, it's been a crazy month and I've been running all the place working overtime. But let's do a quick review of the past weeks.

Week 23 -- Dec 2-8
Only 35 observations from 10 species, the first full week of December was slow for the project. Observation of the Week goes to @redband_ for a photo of a juvenile Bald Eagle in Kittitas County, Washington. This species is super common in the Columbian Basin during the winter and I'm a little surprised we don't have more reports.

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/143831969

Week 24 -- Dec 9-15
Week 24 was our worst week throughout the entire project; only 15 observations, yet somehow still maintaining a 10 species count. The Observation of the Week goes to @pcjimi for submitting our first Short-eared Owl observation of the year, spotted in Wallowa County, Oregon. I've tried for this species a couple times this year but so far can't seem to get any luck. But with my Christmas Bird Count coming up this New Year's, I'm going to search pretty hard for one.

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/143831969

Week 25 -- Dec 16-22
We get up numbers back up to reasonable numbers this week, obtaining 58 observations from 14 species. Observation of the Week goes to @shearwater13 for an excellent daytime photo of a Great Horned Owl during what I presume to be the Walla Walla Christmas Bird Count. I have nothing to say about this except it's an amazing photo.

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/144774902

We officially have 7 DAYS LEFT until the project comes to end, and we finish this year's survey. It is important to know that we have not broken the all-time record like I projected. We ended 2021 with 1,281 observations, meaning we are 34 observations behind. Let's end the year with a bang and photograph some hawks, kestrels, eagles, owls, you name it. Thank you all for the help and Happy Holidays!

Publicado el 25 de diciembre de 2022 por birdwhisperer