The goal to photograph 100 bird species in Southwest Washington in a year was met early on Saturday, May 24, as the bushtit, a tiny bird, was photographed in east Clark County.
But now what? There are plenty of birds that I wasn’t able to find, so I believe in order to properly display the avian species diversity that visits or calls the region home, the list shall continue.
I did consider 150 birds for the ambitious journey, but 100 still seemed like a tough goal to achieve when I thought of it at the end of December. The quest started off hot with 24 bird species in the first week of January, nearly a quarter of the way there.
Once the majority of waterfowl and other larger sized birds were photographed, songbirds and other spring migratory avians were arriving, and some were incredibly hard to spot.
As a matter of fact, the list of 100 features the Ross’s goose, photographed on Jan. 23, but was last previously documented on eBird at the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge’s River S Unit in April 2013. Then, on May 18, a shorebird most common to Africa and Eurasia, but also seen on the west coast of North America, found its way to the wildlife refuge. The ruff, a rare sight, was last spotted at the River S Unit in December 2018, and, before that, in May 2007. A couple of others that I have been hoping to catch a glimpse of for the better part of eight years were photographed in May, as well, the Virginia Rail and Sora.
Now the 2025 running total has hit 107 bird species photographed after a couple more visits to the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge and then a trip to the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument. To get to 100, I visited the local hot spot nine times with success, as well as two visits to the Woodland Bottoms area and a visit to the Yacolt Burn State Forest. An excursion to the Long Beach Peninsula and the Hockinson Meadows Community Park and a short jaunt along the Washougal River sealed the deal with the final six species photographed on May 24.
For the next birding trips, obviously the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge will be a destination as 141 bird species were documented on eBird just in the month of May. I also plan a camping trip to the southern flank of Mount St. Helens, maybe even a day trip or camping trip out toward Mount Adams at the Conboy Lake National Wildlife Refuge, which should include a few new birds. A trip back to the coast in September or the fall may even bring over 10 new bird species with a bit of “right place, right time,” luck.
Photographing birds is fun, but documenting the bird species in the region is in the spirit of eBird, a community-driven approach to science, conservation and education. The journey to 100 species photographed is more than just a personal endeavor; it is a call to appreciate the nature that surrounds us, an illustration of the colorful wildlife that can be found right in the backyards of Southwest Washington, and a way to assist the conservation and management of native and migratory avians.
