Bluebird dearth

[Hugh Kingery]

We have not seen many bluebirds this spring, so I compared this year with the three prior years' data. This year we have seen only one or two of either species only once in a while. The last 3 years we saw them almost daily starting in mid-March.

This drop seems striking, at least along our road and on the trail we walk regularly. Have others noticed this pattern?

Hugh & Urling Kingery

[Peter Ruprecht]

Bluebird migration, as visible from my home on the west side of Superior, was a little different than usual this year.  Normally I'll see small flocks of Mountain Bluebirds passing by intermittently over a period of several weeks.  This year, I only saw them for three days (around March 23-26) but there were at least a hundred each day, sometimes in flocks of 40-50.

There have been some good-sized flocks (30+) in other areas of S. Boulder County since then, but not near my house.  Overall, I'd say the total number I've seen this year is higher than usual.

Peter Ruprecht

Superior

--
--
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/128979890.508900.1617839408549%40mail.yahoo.com.

[Sally Waterhouse]

In Chaffee County we have noticed a difference as well this year.  We noticed some very large flocks of Mt. Bluebirds in March but those seem to have disappeared now and resident birds that are often around nest boxes by this time seem significantly reduced.  Mt. Bluebirds were one of the species that were found here as victims of the September snow event.  We have a county wide nest box monitoring program here that may eventually provide some insight.

[Barbara Spagnuolo]

I can report, although informally, that I did not hear or see many bluebirds while I visited various nest boxes around Castle Rock for box maintenance & repair this season. In fact, despite visiting 14 different sites between the first week of March and yesterday (always on calm sunny days), I heard/saw bluebirds only twice. That is definitely very low compared to previous years. But I can also report more specifically that we found only 3 complete nests and 5 incomplete nests in our 190 nest boxes last week during the first week of monitoring, compared to 5 complete nests and almost a dozen incomplete nests during the first week of monitoring in 2020. We too have a very detailed monitoring program with extensive data keeping since 2007, so we will have a good opportunity for data comparison at the end of the season.

-Barbara Spagnuolo, Castle Rock (Douglas County)

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Bluebird-Babble" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to bluebird-babb...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/bluebird-babble/128979890.508900.1617839408549%40mail.yahoo.com.

[Bill Miller]

Cobirders -

I'm still "wading" through the article referenced below about the massive bird die-off that occurred last fall during migration amd which was attributed for the most part  to the two largest recorded fires ion Colorado;  EVER!

I feel pretty confident when I conjecture that the dearth of bluebirds during this spring's migration may be attributed to the the die-off attributed to last fall's two major forest fires.  In other words, ther population pf bluiebiords was hot severely by those fires, and there is not the "normal" number of those birds available to comprise a "norrmal" spring migration he on Colprado's Fronmt Ranmge.re 

                 Mass Bird Die-Off Linked to Wildfires and Toxic Gases

                               https://eos.org/research-spotlights/mass-bird-die-off-linked-to-wildfires-and-toxic-gases

Bill Miller

Fort Collins

--

--
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/f1c4ab429f06474baee873b292b51479%40crgov.com.

[rebecca...@gmail.com]

CoBirders

On the outskirts of the box canyon where I live, in the early fall and early spring, there has been a flock of more than a dozen Western Bluebirds (at least for the past two years).  Last summer, we had two breeding pairs. This spring, there is but one, single bird.  I keep hoping that more will arrive, but I'm starting to lose that hope. 

Rebecca Laroche

Southern Colorado Springs

[Curtis Frankenfeld]

I am involved with Bluebirds routes on many Douglas County open spaces.  We’ve been out preparing the routes for the upcoming breeding season.  It does not feel like we are seeing as many Bluebirds as past years.  

I went out to ebird and pulled bar chart data for this year and the past two for comparison.  The scope of this data pull is all of Colorado for the years noted.  It looks like there are seeing fewer Bluebird species reported to ebird in Colorado in 2021.  

2021 to date

2020

2019

I went out to ebird again and pulled bar chart data for Douglas County alone for these years as above.  The scope of this data pull is Douglas County, Colorado for the years noted.  As with the state-wide data, it looks like we are seeing fewer Bluebird species reported to ebird in Douglas County, Colorado in 2021.  

2021 to date

2020

2019

This relative frequency data helps us understand that there is a gross difference year-over-year.  I can pull the absolute numbers and effort data from ebird once the data for March is available to download.  Certainly something that we need to watch over the next 6-8 weeks of the normal breeding period.  

Curt Frankenfeld  

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/d9bdc27e-79d3-4ad9-b1bc-d40235937d27n%40googlegroups.com.

[David Suddjian]

Some more anecdotal contributions regarding Mountain Bluebird numbers...

At Ken Caryl Valley in Jefferson Co I have so far had just two encounters with Mountain Bluebird this season, where it occurs as a regular migrant and there are several breeding pairs. Compared to the past 3 years, this is only 15-25% of the frequency detection for the same time period. I've checked some of the spots that often have nesting pairs, but none were present on those checks.

I visited South Park in Park County on Apr 13, driving and birding for about 7 hours through prime Mountain Bluebird habitat. I tallied 19 Mountain Bluebirds through the day, mostly as singles, well distributed but considerably less in number than expected based on past visits similarly timed in April. Compared to my own observations on other visits in the 2nd week of April, the numbers of Mountains were about 25-30% of what I tallied in prior years.

David Suddjian

Ken Caryl Valley

Littleton, CO

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/17112E22-1842-4822-A226-3052521C0F8F%40gmail.com.

[Rebecca L Laroche]

Okay, just to keep us humble, El Paso county just got inundated with mountain bluebirds in this last snow storm.  At Clear Spring ranch, I had over forty, and I ran into someone who saw a like number next to Squirrel Creek Reservoir.  STUNNING. 

Happy Birding! 

[Cinnamon Bergeron]

I was also at Clear Spring Ranch today and saw at least 30 Mountain Bluebirds. Then I went over to McCrae’s Reservoir just 10 minutes from there and saw at least 25 Western Bluebirds.  

I also saw a Cattle Egret, 7 Long-billed Curlews and 7 White-faced Ibis, plus about 55 other species today. Great day 😍

Cinnamon Bergeron 

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/CALV%3DkD_qA_GkcWJ39vsQPAeSSY2f6y_y_LjOgfLc%3D8PoAvDUeg%40mail.gmail.com.