[cobirds] Re: Influence of the CO/WY fires on birds

Hi Dave et al,

Up in Laramie, Wyoming I have been keeping my eyes peeled for signs of montane wanders possibly displaced by the Mullen Fire burning ~30 miles to our west. So far, I haven't noticed anything out of the ordinary. I did have a single Mountain Chickadee in the greasewood at Hutton Lake NWR, out in the middle of the Laramie Plains, but that is not particularly remarkable for this time of year. The situation in town is obscured somewhat by the fact that we routinely get montane species dispersing downslope from the Laramie Range, which is much closer to the east. My guess is that most of the birds displaced by the Mullen Fire, at least, have moved only a short distance, either downslope to the foothills or horizontally to unburned areas of the forest.

Don Jones

Laramie, WY

On Tuesday, October 6, 2020 at 12:46:15 PM UTC-6 Dave Leatherman wrote:

A lot of people have been asking about what the recent fires causing much of the smoke along the Front Range and out on the eastern plains are having on birds.  While it is normal for many mountain species to be undergoing dispersal and altitudinal migrations at this time of year, I think it is fairly safe to say one species that has been impacted by the upper montane zone fires (upper reaches of ponderosa pine/Douglas-fir, lodgepole pine and lower reaches of spruce-fir) is Mountain Chickadee, and maybe so some extent Black-capped Chickadee.  Pretty much everywhere I have been in the last two weeks has them: Lamar, Eaton Cemetery, Cherry Creek Reservoir, Jackson Reservoir, Grandview Cemetery in Fort Collins, Crow Valley.  Reports from birders on COBIRDS and eBird have reported them at many other low elevation sites.  This feels like more of them down low and out east than is normal. 

Jays are another group that historically wanders at this time of year, so it is tough to say about them being influenced by the fires.  But if we get reports of things like Clark's Nutcrackers and Canada Jays out east, more reports of Pinyon Jays way east of I-70, large numbers of Woodhouse's Scrub-Jays continuing down and east all winter, then maybe it would be somewhat safe to speculate about an influence on them from the fires, too.

This type of thing is good to document, so I encourage the continuation of reports. 

And if anyone hears the results of autopsies conducted on the dead birds found in New Mexico and elsewhere in the West, please share that information on COBIRDS.

Dave Leatherman

Fort Collins

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