Having just reduced and submitted my data, thought I'd throw a summary out
to the group for a couple of Breeding Bird Surveys (BBS) I ran recently in
Rio Blanco Co., CO. For those unfamiliar, BBSs are very proscribed surveys
of twenty-five (25) mile routes (ie; transects), broken into fifty (50)
stops a half mile apart where you count everything you can in a three (3)
minute span.period, no "birding". These have been run since the mid-1960s
(not all routes - these Rio Blanco routes have data back to 1998) in the
U.S., Canada, and Mexico, and form an important population dynamic baseline
of our breeding birds.
The two (2) routes I picked up this year are Angora near Rangely, and
Yellowjacket Pass near Meeker. Angora is pretty classic West Slope
pinyon/juniper habitat with a little bottom land and brushy highlands thrown
in for variety. Yellowjacket is primarily oak brush (aka Gamble's Oak)
foothills with willow/cottonwood bottoms, but also includes agricultural and
sage lowlands. These surveys were well designed to pick up the habitat
variation you find in the region. I used to live in the area and it was
awesome to be back out in these habitats enjoying a mix of species I hadn't
had around me in a long time - sooo much looking forward to next year's
runs!
Guess I should cut to the chase. As widely reported, the West Slope is very
dry this year and these areas were no exception, though there were pockets
that did seem to be "normal". Thankfully the rains are picking up, so hope
they can begin to catch up. In terms of breeding bird activity, these
conditions didn't seem to matter as both numbers and diversity were as
expected. While this was my first year, so don't have direct comparative
statistics to account for observer bias, in reviewing historic numbers I had
average to slightly above average species and individual counts compared to
runs made in the previous five (5) surveys. The exception was at
Yellowjacket where I had a record number of individuals (780 vs 5yr avg of
547 (+43%) and the all time avg of 559), though to be fair some of this was
driven by two (2) large "murders" of crows totaling 80 birds, but still a
record count overall when these guys are netted out. I had a total of 89
species over both routes including a few noted outside the proscribed time
limits and locations (not included in the official survey results). The
only real surprise was the pair of CASSIN'S KINGBIRDs I previously reported
(23 Jun.'21) and fortunately picked up again during the official Angora
survey. Vic Zerbi was able to replicate this likely breeding pair (3
Jul.'21), so if you'd like to try as well, just let me know and I can
provide specifics.
All-in-all I think both runs indicated normal breeding activity this year.
Hoping the rains do come and in sufficient quantity to help the area recover
from a very dry stretch which could impact future breeding seasons. I've
included cumulative summary lists for both surveys below. If you are
interested in more information about these areas, or have species of
interest, please let me know separately.
Good BBSing,
Doug
Currently Coeur d'Alene, ID
Yellowjacket Pass & Angora BBS
2021 Summery Results
Yellowjacket
Angora
Species
6/24/2021
7/1/2021
Cinnamon Teal
4
Gadwall
7
American Wigeon
1
Mallard
9
Lesser Scaup
1
Dusky Grouse
1
Eurasian Collared-Dove
5
Mourning Dove
13
6
Common Nighthawk
3
Black-chinned Hummingbird
1
Broad-tailed Hummingbird
1
Sora
1
Sandhill Crane
5
Killdeer
7
Wilson's Snipe
1
Great Blue Heron
1
Turkey Vulture
3
1
Osprey
2
Cooper's Hawk
1
Bald Eagle
1
Red-tailed Hawk
4
1
Red-naped Sapsucker
1
(Red-shafted Flicker) Northern Flicker
5
3
American Kestrel
3
3
Ash-throated Flycatcher
3
Cassin's Kingbird
2
Western Kingbird
9
9
Western Wood-Pewee
1
Willow Flycatcher
1
Gray Flycatcher
10
Dusky Flycatcher
3
2
Say's Phoebe
2
Loggerhead Shrike
1
Gray Vireo
2
Plumbeous Vireo
2
2
Warbling Vireo
8
Pinyon Jay
15
Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay
1
Black-billed Magpie
77
9
Clark's Nutcracker
4
American Crow
97
Common Raven
6
Tree Swallow
2
Violet-green Swallow
10
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
2
Barn Swallow
4
4
Cliff Swallow
9
35
Black-capped Chickadee
2
Juniper Titmouse
4
Bushtit
2
Rock Wren
3
16
House Wren
1
1
Bewick's Wren
3
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
15
Mountain Bluebird
7
20
Hermit Thrush
2
American Robin
27
4
Gray Catbird
4
Sage Thrasher
5
European Starling
3
20
House Sparrow
2
House Finch
12
Cassin's Finch
3
Lesser Goldfinch
1
2
American Goldfinch
3
Lark Sparrow
15
Chipping Sparrow
5
Brewer's Sparrow
8
5
Vesper Sparrow
67
10
Savannah Sparrow
1
Song Sparrow
16
Green-tailed Towhee
43
48
Spotted Towhee
36
40
Yellow-breasted Chat
2
Yellow-headed Blackbird
1
Western Meadowlark
38
6
Bullock's Oriole
6
2
Red-winged Blackbird
53
19
Brown-headed Cowbird
10
5
Brewer's Blackbird
71
3
Orange-crowned Warbler
4
1
Virginia's Warbler
1
8
MacGillivray's Warbler
1
4
Common Yellowthroat
2
Yellow Warbler
38
1
Black-throated Gray Warbler
3
Western Tanager
2
Black-headed Grosbeak
6
Lazuli Bunting
12
Total Species
68
51
Total Individuals
785
397
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