WASHINGTON – Riding an 8-foot wingspan, the black-footed albatross feasts on krill and other tiny marine creatures off the Washington coast and then completes a 5,000-mile round-trip journey back home to feed its young in nesting areas near Hawaii.

Rarely seen from shore but well-known to fishermen 20 to 30 miles out in the Pacific Ocean, the birds could become a victim of global warming, as shifting weather patterns affect the upwelling of cold food-rich water off the coast.

Sooty shearwaters, which can migrate 40,000 miles in a year, face the same threat.

Elsewhere in Washington state, the population of Lewis’s woodpeckers is shrinking as streams and other areas deteriorate, and the spread of invasive cheatgrass is threatening the habitat of the greater sage grouse.

The black-footed albatross, the sooty shearwater, Lewis’s woodpecker and the greater sage grouse are among the 49 species in Washington state found on a list of imperiled birds released Wednesday by two leading bird conservation organizations.

More than one in every four bird species found in the continental United States, nearly 190 in total, are on WatchList 2007, compiled by Audubon and the American Bird Conservancy.

“For these birds, the clock is ticking,” said John Flicker, Audubon president.

‘A WAKE-UP CALL’

The main threats are loss of habitat, global warming and invasive species.

“These are not necessarily common birds,” said Bryan Flint, executive director of Tahoma Audubon in Tacoma. “But it’s possible they could be in your backyard. This is a wake-up call.”

Earlier this year, Audubon released a study of endangered songbirds. But the latest list includes everything from falcons to sparrows and pigeons to condors. Some of the birds are on the federal Endangered Species List, while others are not.

Greg Butcher, Audubon’s director of bird conservation, said the Endangered Species List has become “out of date” because of reluctance by the Bush administration to add new species.

“These listings need to be kept free of political manipulation and are best left to the scientists,” Butcher said.

Two of the most controversial birds in Washington, the northern spotted owl and the elusive marbled murrelet, are on the Endangered Species List and the list released Wednesday by the two bird organizations.

For 20 years, the northern spotted owl has been at the center of the debate over logging in the region’s old-growth forests. And the marbled murrelet, one of the least understood species in North America, is both a seabird and a forest bird.

Of the 49 Washington species on the Audubon-American Bird Conservancy list, nine are red-flagged as being in imminent danger of extinction. The rest are yellow-flagged as being in serious decline.

The red-flagged species in Washington are the sooty grouse, the Layson albatross, the black-footed albatross, the short-tailed albatross, the pink-footed shearwater, the rock sandpiper, the spotted owl, Lewis’s woodpecker and the tricolored blackbird.

A LOOK AT THE BIRDS

When it comes to birds in Washington, Don McIvor, Audubon Washington’s science coordinator, is considered an expert.

McIvor called the black-footed albatross an incredible flier that can spend months over the open ocean. Despite its 8-foot wingspan, the bird is barely 3 feet long. In addition to global warming, albatrosses face threats from abandoned drift nets and long-line fisheries in the ocean and from rodents and other animals invading their nesting grounds on offshore islands.

Lewis’s woodpeckers are one of three species named by explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark for themselves, McIvor said. It’s one of the most colorful birds in North America with a dark red face, a grey collar and a pink belly.

“There is a lot of speculation why it is declining, but it could be tied to the decline in the health of riparian areas,” or areas near water, he said.

Another bird on the list, the Rufus hummingbird, is found throughout the state. It winters in Mexico and Central America, and during the spring it heads as far north as Alaska. McIvor said the colorful males are “deadbeat dads” who mate and then leave.

There are two isolated populations of greater sage grouse in the state, one on the Army’s Yakima Firing Range and the nearby Hanford nuclear reservation, and the other east of Wenatchee.

As for the tricolored blackbird, McIvor said its historic range was California’s Central Valley. But in the past 10 to 15 years, it has dispersed to other states because of agricultural pressures. The bird is now found near Walla Walla.

Les Blumenthal: 202-383-0008

lblumenthal@mcclatchydc.com

Birds in peril

Here’s the list of Washington state birds on the Audubon-American Bird Conservancy WatchList 2007. The list, along with photos and some bird calls, also can be found at www.audubon.org or www.abcbirds.org.

Trumpeter swan

Greater sage grouse

Sooty grouse

Mountain quail

Yellow-billed loon

Clark’s grebe

Laysan albatross

Black-footed albatross

Short-tailed albatross

Pink-footed shearwater

Flesh-footed shearwater

Buller’s shearwater

Sooty shearwater

Swainson’s hawk

American golden plover

Snowy plover

Wandering tattler

Long-billed curlew

Bar-tailed godwit

Marbled godwit

Black turnstone

Surfbird

Red knot

Sanderling

Semipalmated sandpiper

Western sandpiper

Rock sandpiper

Stilt sandpiper

Heermann’s gull

Thayer’s gull

Elegant tern

Marbled murrelet

Ancient murrelet

Flammulated owl

Spotted owl

Short-eared owl

Black swift

lliope hummingbird

Lewis’s woodpecker

Williamson’s sapsucker

White-headed woodpecker

Olive-sided flycatcher

Willow flycatcher

Varied thrush

Hermit warbler

Brewer’s sparrow

Sage sparrow

Tricolored blackbird

Rusty blackbird