I have focused most of my birding in recent weeks in my home patch area of Ken Caryl Ranch, South Valley Park and the lower area of Deer Creek Canyon in JeffCo. I would say I've been putting out a pretty good effort. However, aside from a few scattered highlights of medium-level rarities, and one promising morning that did have some variety if not numbers of migrants, I have consistently found very low numbers of the regular migrants. Species that should be easy to find in late August are not infrequently represented by zero. This is in strong contrast to 2016 at this same time, covering some of the same areas. Last year local migration was pretty good. Just as an example, I've pasted a comparison below of numbers of migrants from a survey of an area of Massey Draw beside my home that I visit 5-10 times per week (photo below; no public access). It shows numbers of selected migrants (excluding hummers) that I counted on Aug 26 in 2016 and again on the same date today, in 2017. Total migrants were 91 in 2016 compared to just 7 today.
-- Yellow jacket numbers are also quite different in my home area this year compared to last year. They were quite common in 2016, especially in willows. This year they are nearly absent.
I'll keep watching!
David Suddjian
Ken Caryl Valley
Littleton, CO
Counts of migrants from a survey area at Massey Draw in Ken Caryl Ranch
| 8/26/2016 | 8/26/2017 | |
| W. Wood-Pewee | 29 | 0 |
| Least Flycatcher | 1 | 0 |
| Dusky Flycatcher | 1 | 0 |
| Cordilleran Flycatcher | 4 | 0 |
| Empidonx sp. | 3 | 0 |
| Orange-cr. Warbler | 3 | 0 |
| Virginia's Warbler | 2 | 0 |
| Yellow Warbler | 7 | 1 |
| Townsend's Warbler | 4 | 0 |
| Wilson's Warbler | 19 | 1 |
| Chipping Sparrow | 2 | 4 |
| Lincoln's Sparrow | 2 | 1 |
| Western Tanager | 8 | 0 |
| Lazuli Bunting | 6 | 0 |
| Total Migrants | 91 | 7 |
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