A report on Guanella Pass BBS route June 22, sign of the (bad) times?

[David Suddjian]

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%

[Diana Beatty]

I did my BBS route in Lincoln County a few weeks back and had normal-to-above-average counts for most species there and no really notable misses.  Habitat is Lark Bunting territory and there were lots of those.  I think someone reported earlier the Pawnee had lower than normal counts?  Is it a phenomenon more notable in the northern part of the state, perhaps -closer to some of the big fires of last year, for example?  Just curious.

Diana Beatty

El Paso County

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******

All that is gold does not glitter, not all those who wander are lost; the old that is strong does not wither, deep roots are not reached by the frost.

[John D]

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

[Mikele Painter]

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)

[Sally Waterhouse]

What David and John reported from their BBS routes match what we have been experiencing here in Chaffee County.  The forests have been exceptionally quiet even during late May and early June. 

Sally Waterhouse

Nathrop

[Randy Siebert]

I found similar results on my BBS route in western Park County. We had the lowest total birds for any of our 18 years on the route.

Single counts for a number of "should be common" species like Pine Siskin, Mountain Chickadee and Chipping Sparrow. Low numbers on swallows, Hermit Thrushes and even Horned Larks. No crossbills, Western Tanagers or Cordilleran Flycatchers. Only jay was Steller's.

Oddly enough, Wilson's Snipe were back after several years being missed! We have one stretch where the snipe are often heard along with Savannah Sparrows. Never predictable though. Brewer's Sparrows were creeping up from South Park. Have had them before but not often.

There were certainly birds out there but they were incredibly quiet.

Our other two routes also had low numbers but not as significant as for this mountain route. Our survey in Cheyenne County featured the greenest conditions in quite a few years. But that did not increase numbers this year. It definitely cut down the number of Cassin's Sparrows. That species seems to do better in that area during drought years.

It was great to be back out doing the surveys after a forced year off. It will be interesting to see if other mountain counts show low counts too.

Randy Siebert

Lafayette