Adopt a Colorado Breeding Bird Survey Route
David Suddjian
I am posting an update and another plea for skilled birders to adopt a route for the North American Breeding Bird Survey (BBS). The BBS is a long-term, large-scale, international avian monitoring program initiated in 1966 to track the status and trends of North American bird populations. Each year from late May to early July skilled birders collect bird population data along roadside survey routes. Each survey route is 24.5 miles long with stops situated 0.5-mile apart. At each stop, a 3-minute point count is conducted and every bird seen or heard within a 0.25-mile radius or heard is recorded. Routes are surveyed just once each season, following the same roads and making the same stops each year. Over 4100 survey routes in the continental U.S. and Canada provide an index of population abundance that is used to estimate population trends and relative abundances at various geographic scales. See what it is all about here in this video: Ups and Downs in Colorado
Colorado currently has 15 “vacant” routes that need skilled volunteer observers who can commit to adopting a route for at least three years. (See list of routes below). Help is especially needed for routes on the eastern prairie and in southwestern Colorado. Declining grassland bird numbers are one of the greatest concerns, so it would be especially great to increase BBS coverage of Colorado's prairie routes.
Requirements for participation are: (1) access to transportation to complete a survey, (2) good hearing and eyesight, and (3) the ability to identify the breeding birds in the area by sight and sound. The data is collected by just the assigned observer, but a companion could assist with driving or recording the data in the field. Knowledge of bird songs and calls is extremely important, because most birds counted on the surveys are detected by sound. A BBS survey requires about five hours to complete, plus travel to and from the route location.
Can you volunteer to adopt a survey route? Learn more about the BBS here https://www.pwrc.usgs.gov/bbs/index.cfm and view available Colorado routes here https://www.pwrc.usgs.gov/bbs/RouteMap/Map.cfm
Contact me directly at dsud...@gmail.comif you are interested in a route or have questions. Route requests made via the BBS webpage may not reach me. Thanks!
| Route # | Route Name | County Location |
| 17-20 | Boyero | Lincoln |
| 17-44 | Bethune | Kit Carson |
| 17-52 | Dolores Riv | Dolores |
| 17-55 | Alamosa | Conejos, Alamosa |
| 17-59 | Pleasant View | Dolores |
| 17-126 | Cone Mtn | Las Animas |
| 17-153 | Rio Grand Res | Mineral, Hinsdale |
| 17-207 | Amherst | Phillips, Sedgwick |
| 17-214 | Kirk | Kit Carson |
| 17-220 | Haswell | Bent, Kiowa |
| 17-314 | Burlington | Kit Carson, Yuma |
| 17-321 | Sheridan Lake | Kiowa, Prowers |
| 17-322 | Mcphee Res | Dolores, Montezuma |
| 17-324 | South Fork | Rio Grande |
| 17-373 | Lizard Head Pass | San Miguel, Dolores |