[cobirds] Rio Blanco Co. BBS Summary

While I shared a few anecdotes from the field last week, thought I’d provide a brief summary of results from two Breeding Bird Surveys (BBS) I ran over in Rio Blanco County during the last week of June (29-30 June’22).  The Angora route just east of Rangely primarily runs through pinyon/juniper hills with some bottom lands along the White River.  The Yellowjacket Pass transect runs northeast from just outside Meeker and is mainly agriculture lowlands interspersed with sagebrush, but does climb up and over some Gambel’s Oak (David, please note the spelling)/serviceberry highlands with cottonwood and willow lined wet draws.

 

Vegetation conditions over in this part of the West Slope were far improved compared to last year at this time as the region experienced a rebound in precipitation amounts this Spring – actually got drizzled on both days of my runs, refreshing!  Hay fields were still green and tall, irrigation ditches and the White River were full, and even the sagebrush had a green tinge.  While I wouldn’t call the area recovered from the exceedingly dry conditions experienced these past years, it was good to see some vibrancy.  This also translated into good bird activity on both routes with high numbers of individuals detected compared to last year, which was also a good year.  The diversity of breeders in Rio Blanco County is always fun as many species we just don’t get regularly over here on the Front Range are active and visible.  I had a total of ninety (90) species combined on the two routes, including a couple noted outside the prescribed time limits.  All of these are likely breeders except one, a NORTHERN MOCKINGBIRD, and were active with most showing some form of breeding behavior.

 

I’ll be uploading results to eBird at some point (USGS has the official data already), but in the meantime my two lists are summarized below.  If you have any questions on either location or any specific species, please let me know separately.

 

Good BBSing,

Doug

Currently Denver

 

Yellowjacket Pass & Angora BBS
2022 Summery Results
	Angora	Yellowjacket
Species	6/29/2022	6/30/2022
Cinnamon Teal		4
Gadwall		2
American Wigeon		6
Mallard	2	14
Ring-necked Duck		6
Lesser Scaup		1
Dusky Grouse		1
Pied-billed Grebe		1
Eurasian Collared-Dove	3	1
Mourning Dove	18	19
Common Nighthawk	2	3
White-throated Swift		1
Black-chinned Hummingbird	1
Broad-tailed Hummingbird		2
Sora		2
American Coot		9
Sandhill Crane		5
Killdeer	3
Wilson's Snipe		4
Great Blue Heron	2
Turkey Vulture		3
Osprey	1
Golden Eagle	2
Red-tailed Hawk		3
Northern Flicker - "Red-shafted"	1	5
American Kestrel		2
Willow Flycatcher		2
Gray Flycatcher	4
Dusky Flycatcher	2	3
Cordilleran Flycatcher		5
Say's Phoebe	1	4
Ash-throated Flycatcher	9
Cassin's Kingbird	2
Western Kingbird	3	11
Eastern Kingbird		2
Gray Vireo	6
Plumbeous Vireo	4	2
Warbling Vireo		5
Loggerhead Shrike	1
Pinyon Jay	178
Black-billed Magpie	12	78
American Crow		33
Common Raven	2	15
Mountain Chickadee	8
Juniper Titmouse	5
Northern Rough-winged Swallow		5
Tree Swallow		16
Violet-green Swallow		12
Barn Swallow		7
Cliff Swallow	35	50
Bushtit	3
White-breasted Nuthatch	2
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher	16	4
Rock Wren	7	3
House Wren		9
Marsh Wren	1
Bewick's Wren	8
European Starling	55	2
Gray Catbird	2	16
Sage Thrasher	1	7
Northern Mockingbird	1
Mountain Bluebird	25	3
Hermit Thrush	2
American Robin	3	47
House Finch	3
Lesser Goldfinch	1
American Goldfinch		5
Chipping Sparrow	6	3
Brewer's Sparrow	17	18
Lark Sparrow	10
Vesper Sparrow	16	55
Savannah Sparrow		3
Song Sparrow	2	18
Green-tailed Towhee	32	47
Spotted Towhee	44	33
Yellow-breasted Chat		2
Western Meadowlark	5	45
Bullock's Oriole	1	1
Red-winged Blackbird	30	43
Brown-headed Cowbird		19
Brewer's Blackbird	1	58
Orange-crowned Warbler	1	2
Virginia's Warbler	11	15
MacGillivray's Warbler		1
Common Yellowthroat	5
Yellow Warbler		36
Black-throated Gray Warbler	6
Western Tanager	4
Black-headed Grosbeak		5
Lazuli Bunting		3
Total Species	57	65
Total Individuals	640	847