[cobirds] Rio Blanco Co. BBSs

Having just reduced and submitted my data, thought I’d throw a summary out to the group for a couple of Breeding Bird Surveys (BBS) I ran recently in Rio Blanco Co., CO.  For those unfamiliar, BBSs are very proscribed surveys of twenty-five (25) mile routes (ie; transects), broken into fifty (50) stops a half mile apart where you count everything you can in a three (3) minute span…period, no “birding”.  These have been run since the mid-1960s (not all routes - these Rio Blanco routes have data back to 1998) in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, and form an important population dynamic baseline of our breeding birds.

 

The two (2) routes I picked up this year are Angora near Rangely, and Yellowjacket Pass near Meeker.  Angora is pretty classic West Slope pinyon/juniper habitat with a little bottom land and brushy highlands thrown in for variety.  Yellowjacket is primarily oak brush (aka Gamble’s Oak) foothills with willow/cottonwood bottoms, but also includes agricultural and sage lowlands.  These surveys were well designed to pick up the habitat variation you find in the region.  I used to live in the area and it was awesome to be back out in these habitats enjoying a mix of species I hadn’t had around me in a long time – sooo much looking forward to next year’s runs!

 

Guess I should cut to the chase.  As widely reported, the West Slope is very dry this year and these areas were no exception, though there were pockets that did seem to be “normal”.  Thankfully the rains are picking up, so hope they can begin to catch up.  In terms of breeding bird activity, these conditions didn’t seem to matter as both numbers and diversity were as expected.  While this was my first year, so don’t have direct comparative statistics to account for observer bias, in reviewing historic numbers I had average to slightly above average species and individual counts compared to runs made in the previous five (5) surveys.  The exception was at Yellowjacket where I had a record number of individuals (780 vs 5yr avg of 547 (+43%) and the all time avg of 559), though to be fair some of this was driven by two (2) large “murders” of crows totaling 80 birds, but still a record count overall when these guys are netted out.  I had a total of 89 species over both routes including a few noted outside the proscribed time limits and locations (not included in the official survey results).  The only real surprise was the pair of CASSIN’S KINGBIRDs I previously reported (23 Jun.’21) and fortunately picked up again during the official Angora survey.  Vic Zerbi was able to replicate this likely breeding pair (3 Jul.’21), so if you’d like to try as well, just let me know and I can provide specifics.

 

All-in-all I think both runs indicated normal breeding activity this year.  Hoping the rains do come and in sufficient quantity to help the area recover from a very dry stretch which could impact future breeding seasons.  I’ve included cumulative summary lists for both surveys below.  If you are interested in more information about these areas, or have species of interest, please let me know separately.

 

Good BBSing,

Doug

Currently Coeur d’Alene, ID

 

Yellowjacket Pass & Angora BBS
2021 Summery Results
	Yellowjacket		Angora
Species	6/24/2021		7/1/2021
Cinnamon Teal	4
Gadwall	7
American Wigeon	1
Mallard	9
Lesser Scaup	1
Dusky Grouse	1
Eurasian Collared-Dove	5
Mourning Dove	13		6
Common Nighthawk			3
Black-chinned Hummingbird	1
Broad-tailed Hummingbird	1
Sora	1
Sandhill Crane	5
Killdeer	7
Wilson's Snipe	1
Great Blue Heron	1
Turkey Vulture	3		1
Osprey			2
Cooper's Hawk			1
Bald Eagle	1
Red-tailed Hawk	4		1
Red-naped Sapsucker	1
(Red-shafted Flicker) Northern Flicker	5		3
American Kestrel	3		3
Ash-throated Flycatcher			3
Cassin's Kingbird			2
Western Kingbird	9		9
Western Wood-Pewee	1
Willow Flycatcher	1
Gray Flycatcher			10
Dusky Flycatcher	3		2
Say's Phoebe	2
Loggerhead Shrike			1
Gray Vireo			2
Plumbeous Vireo	2		2
Warbling Vireo	8
Pinyon Jay			15
Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay	1
Black-billed Magpie	77		9
Clark's Nutcracker	4
American Crow	97
Common Raven	6
Tree Swallow	2
Violet-green Swallow	10
Northern Rough-winged Swallow	2
Barn Swallow	4		4
Cliff Swallow	9		35
Black-capped Chickadee	2
Juniper Titmouse			4
Bushtit			2
Rock Wren	3		16
House Wren	1		1
Bewick's Wren			3
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher			15
Mountain Bluebird	7		20
Hermit Thrush			2
American Robin	27		4
Gray Catbird	4
Sage Thrasher	5
European Starling	3		20
House Sparrow	2
House Finch			12
Cassin's Finch			3
Lesser Goldfinch	1		2
American Goldfinch	3
Lark Sparrow			15
Chipping Sparrow			5
Brewer's Sparrow	8		5
Vesper Sparrow	67		10
Savannah Sparrow	1
Song Sparrow	16
Green-tailed Towhee	43		48
Spotted Towhee	36		40
Yellow-breasted Chat	2
Yellow-headed Blackbird	1
Western Meadowlark	38		6
Bullock's Oriole	6		2
Red-winged Blackbird	53		19
Brown-headed Cowbird	10		5
Brewer's Blackbird	71		3
Orange-crowned Warbler	4		1
Virginia's Warbler	1		8
MacGillivray's Warbler	1		4
Common Yellowthroat			2
Yellow Warbler	38		1
Black-throated Gray Warbler			3
Western Tanager			2
Black-headed Grosbeak	6
Lazuli Bunting	12
Total Species	68		51
Total Individuals	785		397