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
On Saturday, June 26, 2021 at 7:09:23 PM UTC-6 Sally Waterhouse wrote:
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
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)
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
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% |
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