ANACORTES — A long-tailed gray songbird perched on top of a dead tree Saturday, then moved to the crest of an evergreen. This delighted birder Howard Armstrong.

For Armstrong, finding the Townsend’s solitaire in a snag above Burrows Bay in Washington Park made a good day of birding even better.

“If we see it, this will be the only one we’ll get in the county,” Armstrong said.

Finding a hard-to-find bird species during the Audubon Society’s annual Christmas Bird Count is part of the challenge, as well as the fun for Armstrong, a long-time birder and member of the Skagit Audubon Society.

In its 110th year, the annual count may be the longest-running survey by citizen scientists in the world. Tens of thousands of volunteers, including a number from Skagit and Island counties, go out for one day between Dec. 14 and Jan. 5 each year to record every species of bird they see and hear.

Before dawn on Saturday morning, Armstrong and his wife Thais Armstrong, both of Samish Island; and another birder, Roxie Rochat of Camano Island, braved the freezing temperatures to take binoculars and spotting scopes to Green Point in Washington Park.

In years past, the Armstrongs saw thousands of cormorants, murrelet and other waterfowl wing past their scopes. The couple met while birding and have participated in several bird counts.

“This used to be a real critical area,” Thais Armstrong said.

The number of marine birds in Northern Puget Sound has declined by 26 percent since the late 1970s, according to a survey published in 2007 by Western Washington University professor John Bower.

Western grebe and common murres appear to be among the species hardest hit. The population of the grebe species has shrunk by more than 80 percent. The common murre’s population is less than one tenth what it was 30 years ago, according to Bower’s survey.

The decline could be tied to loss of habitat and climate change, according to scientists.

In Washington Park, the Armstrongs watched through scopes toward Decatur and Blakeley islands, calling out the names and numbers of seabird species as the avians winged past.

“Two double-crested cormorants,” said Thais Armstrong, as the sun began to illuminate Rosario Strait.

“Make it 16,” said Howard Armstrong, seeing 14 in his scope.

“Two marbled murrelets,” Thais Armstrong said.

The three birders spotted various gull, loons and cormorant species; several varieties of waterfowl; and an immature bald eagle. They only saw a few Western grebes.

“There’s usually more,” Thais Armstrong said.

They spent about 90 minutes at Green Point before returning to the car to drive and walk parts of the Skyline subdivision looking for birds. In Skyline, they spotted another fun find, the kingfisher.

About mid-morning, Rochat and Thais Armstrong split off from Howard Armstrong. The women looked for birds around the Anacortes Airport, and Howard Armstrong walked the loop road and trails in Washington Park, hearing more birds than he saw.

On one of the trails, below the park’s lookout, he saw the Townsend’s solitaire.

Townsend’s solitaire normally live in the mountains, but in the winter they visit the lowlands of Western Washington to dine on juniper berries, Armstrong said.

The veteran birder’s knowledge paid off that morning. He had taken that particular trail because he knew juniper berries grew there.

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