he Pendleton Bird Club’s official list of Umatilla County birds stands at 304 species. Nearly 250 species (82% of the total) are recorded in Umatilla County annually as breeding species, transient species, and/or winter visitors or year-round residents. Some of these species are very common (e.g., Cliff Swallow, Red-winged Blackbird, and Canada Goose), others are rare (e.g., Red-eyed Vireo, Great Gray Owl, and American Three-toed Woodpecker), but most are somewhere between common and rare (e.g., Red-naped Sapsucker, Chukar, and Cassin’s Vireo). The remaining 54 species are very rare (not seen every year) or are "vagrants" (recorded only once or a few times ever).

Since all of the regularly occurring species are already on the county list, when we add a new species, such as the recent additions of White-winged Dove and Ruby-throated Hummingbird, they are usually vagrants to our area. These vagrant species are more common in other regions of North America, and one or a few individual birds have "accidentally" wandered into Umatilla County, which is well outside.... Full Story