BBS rte. summary for far SE corner of El Paso county

[Marty W]

Greetings CObirders,

Southeast El Paso county, as many know, is short-grass prairieland mixed with grazing/free-range cattle, occasional plowed/planted fields, & scattered farm & ranch houses & trailers. I scouted the route last Mon 6/21 & did my official count Tues 6/22, and it was easily the greenest I've seen it in nine years with this breeding bird survey. How nice to have no dust whatsoever kicked up with passing cars/trucks (or by mine).

This count virtually matched the high counts of the past decade for both #species (28) and #total individuals (499). (Counts of total individuals there boomed back between 1999 and 2007, though #species in those years averaged slightly below that of the past 10 years).

For 6/22's survey I had above-average #s for the past decade for Mourning Dove, Mountain Plover (with double the previous high counts in '09 and '13), Say's Phoebe (double the previous high in '09), and Lark Bunting (most since '07). Cassin's Sparrow and Western Meadowlark #s were roughly average.

On 6/22 I had below-average #s for the past decade for Horned Lark (down about 40%), Barn Swallow, and Grasshopper Sparrow (2 on scout-trip, 1 on count day compared to 6 avg. for count day, but its numbers had been climbing since 2015 up to 10 for the last several years, prior to which the avg. since 1988 was low-to-zero like this year's).

Before this weekend I'll be doing my other BBS up in the San Juans southeast of South Fork, so I'll be curious to see if the counts there are similarly low as other BBS participants have reported lately for high elevation routes.

Good birding!

Marty Wolf

NW CO Springs