I'm wondering if the early snowfall we had last year is at least part of the reason why we are detecting lower numbers in the montane species this year. Thank you for conducting and sharing your observations. Mikele Painter Lakewood (and a USFS biologist for Pike NF)
On Friday, June 25, 2021 at 1:06:09 PM UTC-6 jxdr...@aol.com wrote: > My Tarryall BBS route (Park County ) was also well down in species this > year 54 versus the usual 65 to 68 .Waterbirds , shorebirds were about > normal , but missing were many ponderosa , spice/ fir species .So no > sapsuckers,Hammond’s flycatcher , Townsends Solitaire , Cassin’s Finch > ,Evening Grosbeak, Red Crossbill ,Hermit Thrush ,nuthatches , Mountain > Chickadee just one Olive-sided Flycatcher. > > Spruce/ fir forest showed increasing beatle dieback . > > Survey run on June 15 . > > John Drummond > Colorado Springs > > > Sent from the all new AOL app for iOS > <https://apps.apple.com/us/app/aol-news-email-weather-video/id646100661> > > > On Friday, June 25, 2021, 11:49 AM, David Suddjian <dsud...@gmail.com> > wrote: > > One of my Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) routes is Guanella Pass, beginning > above Georgetown in Clear Creek and proceeding along the Guanella Pass > Scenic Byway over the pass and down to Grant in Park County, and then up > Park CR 60 to its end in the upper watershed of the North Fork of the South > Platte. BBS routes have 50 stops along a 24.5 mile route, with 3 minute > samples collected at each stop once each year. > > I ran the Guanella Pass BBS route on June 22 this year, normal timing, > with good weather conditions. It was the easiest ever because there were so > few birds! The total species I detected was just 29, the lowest ever for > the route and down from the 5 year avg of 46 species. The total number of > individual birds was just 127, the lowest ever for the route, just 33% of > the 5 year avg of 387 individuals. I detected no species at all on10 stops. > It is highly unusual to record zero species during a 3 min. BBS sample when > weather conditions are reasonable. In fact, barring stops with really loud > water noise, I have *never *had zeros on a BBS stop, but 10 on this > survey?! > > 19 Species that are expected on the route (i.e., found in 3-5 of the last > 5 years) were missed entirely. A number of these misses are species which > were found in every year in recent history, such as Dusky Flycatcher, > Steller's Jay, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Mountain Bluebird, Townesend's > Solitaire, Pine Siskin, and Song Sparrow. Of the 29 species found, 15 > species were found in numbers 50% or less than the recent 5-year avg. This > included all of the species that form the core of the species assemblage of > the route except for Warbling Vireo and Wilson's Warbler, which were the > only core migrant species in near average numbers this year. Spruce-fir > forest and the alpine tundra near the Pass were the habitats that were the > most empty of bird song. > > ** A summary of missed species and those in low numbers is pasted below. > > I haven't looked in detail at my other routes, but of the 4 others I've > aready run all had notable low counts of many landbirds and more than the > normal frequency of "missing" species. > > David Suddjian > Ken Caryl Valley > Littleton, CO > > % of > Species 5 yr avg > Broad-tailed Hummingbird 22% > Red-tailed Hawk Miss > Red-naped Sapsucker Miss > Hammond's Flycatcher Miss > Dusky Flycatcher Miss > Cordilleran Flycatcher 29% > Canada Jay Miss > Steller's Jay Miss > Clark's Nutcracker Miss > Common Raven 22% > Violet-green Swallow 31% > Mountain Chickadee 20% > Red-breasted Nuthatch Miss > House Wren Miss > American Dipper Miss > Golden-crowned Kinglet Miss > Ruby-crowned Kinglet 24% > Mountain Bluebird Miss > Townsend's Solitaire Miss > Veery Miss > Swainson's Thrush Miss > Hermit Thrush 16% > American Robin 50% > Pine Grosbeak Miss > Red Crossbill Miss > Pine Siskin Miss > Fox Sparrow 16% > Gray-headed Junco 36% > White-crowned Sparrow 16% > Song Sparrow Miss > Lincoln's Sparrow 48% > Green-tailed Towhee 42% > MacGillivray's Warbler 50% > Audubon's Warbler 32% > Total Species 64% > Total individuals 33% > > -- > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google > Groups "Colorado Birds" group. > To post to this group, send email to cob...@googlegroups.com > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/cobirds?hl=en?hl=en > * All posts should be signed with the poster's full name and city. Include > bird species and location in the subject line when appropriate > * Join Colorado Field Ornithologists https://cobirds.org/CFO/Membership/ > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Colorado Birds" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to cobirds+u...@googlegroups.com. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/CAGj6RopfakGXBG-VgNhB_KqkxAA5hbrsGSTmOYjqtVreEX3vvg%40mail.gmail.com > > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/CAGj6RopfakGXBG-VgNhB_KqkxAA5hbrsGSTmOYjqtVreEX3vvg%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > > -- -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. To post to this group, send email to cobirds@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/cobirds?hl=en?hl=en * All posts should be signed with the poster's full name and city. Include bird species and location in the subject line when appropriate * Join Colorado Field Ornithologists https://cobirds.org/CFO/Membership/ --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to cobirds+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/a4de5338-e80d-44eb-8824-4fe89c801ea8n%40googlegroups.com.
