David Leatherman in his recent post pointed out detecting movement of traditional mountain and foothill species downslope to the plains. This phenomena has previously been posted on Cobirds this summer with observers commenting on how the mountain species are just not present in the numbers they use to be. Recently I was birding in Grand Co. and the sparsity of mountain species was impressive, the forests were very quiet.
One possibly explanation could be since the West has been so dry for quite awhile and the abnormally high heat has just sucked the moisture right out of the ground dramatically affecting the soil composition and thus effecting the health of the forest and consequently it's bird life? Any other thoughts?
Bob Righter
Denver CO
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