Plateau Mountain, Greene County Wednesday, 03 June and Saturday, 06 June 2015
Last week I conducted two annual breeding bird surveys on the summit of Plateau Mountain for the Vermont Center for Ecostudies Mountain Birdwatch program. The first survey covers the southeastern half of the two-mile long summit plateau, the second survey starts near Orchard Ledge and extends out over the northwestern half. The survey starts before sunrise and utilizes six 20-minute point counts/survey to document the presence of Bicknell's Thrush and seven additional target species that breed in the high-elevation coniferous forest of the Catskill Mountains. Weather conditions this year were not as cooperative in comparison to the past 15 years during the first survey, and deteriorated to borderline acceptable during the second effort. Temperatures were pleasantly cold on 03 June (44° F) with fog and a persistent light breeze, followed by warmer temperatures (55° F), more fog, a persistent drizzle, and considerably more wind on 06 June. The list below represents bird species encountered on the mountain over the two-day period, including the early morning ascent in darkness, survey period, post-count at high elevation in principally coniferous forest, late morning descent into lower elevation deciduous habitat, and a short walk along the base of Plateau Mountain in Stony Clove. Most of the species and individuals were first encountered on 03 June. Only when a total number was greater on the subsequent survey did I add the difference to the adjusted two-day compilation to avoid potential duplication. Overall, diversity was about average but individuals were down for most species (some considerably). For comparative purposes, I included this year's tally in parentheses (), followed by last year's numbers in brackets []. Weather conditions may have been a factor, and I did not linger on the mountain post-survey for as long as I typically do, but during my time on the mountain there clearly seemed to be far fewer singing birds this year. Plateau Mountain Bird Species List (2015) and [2014] Peregrine Falcon (0) [2] Barred Owl (1 vocalizing on the ascent) [4] Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (0) [4] Hairy Woodpecker (1) [1] Yellow-bellied Flycatcher (5) [23] Eastern Wood-Pewee (0) [1] Blue-headed Vireo (0) [1] Red-eyed Vireo (18) [2] Blue Jay (0) [2] Common Raven (3) [5] Black-capped Chickadee (2) [0] Red-breasted Nuthatch (5) [14] Brown Creeper (2) [1] Winter Wren (10) [18] Golden-crowned Kinglet (8) [15] Ruby-crowned Kinglet (0) [2] Bicknell's Thrush (12) [26] Swainson's Thrush (15) [20] Hermit Thrush (1) [3] Cedar Waxwing (3+ heard only flyovers, in three locations) [4] Magnolia Warbler (10) [20] Black-throated Blue Warbler (11) [5] Yellow-rumped Warbler (18) [16] Black-throated Green Warbler (7) [6] Blackburnian Warbler (6) [10] Blackpoll Warbler (16) [26] Black-and-white Warbler (1) [3] American Redstart (1) [4] Ovenbird (3) [2] Mourning Warbler (3 singing on territory) [9] Canada Warbler (0) [5] Scarlet Tanager (1) [2] White-throated Sparrow (3) [15] Dark-eyed Junco (5) [10] Rose-breasted Grosbeak (1) [2] Indigo Bunting (2) [2] Purple Finch (5) [10] I did not detect Peregrine Falcons along the steep cliffs of Stony Clove, or the presence of Northern Saw-whet Owl or Ruby-crowned Kinglet up on the mountain this year. The large synchronized flight of thousands of small non-descript moths that I have encountered in some past years flying at lower elevations were non-existent this year. Several (5+) Pepper and Salt Skippers (butterflies) were present in fresh condition along Stony Clove, and an old (2014) Mourning Cloak in perhaps the final hours of her life was observed imbibing minerals and/or moisture on wet soil, then depositing a cluster of eggs on a willow twig. Steve M. Chorvas Saugerties, NY -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
