[cobirds] Rio Blanco BBS Summary

As I’ve done the past few years, I surveyed two (2) Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) routes in Rio Blanco County this year (23 & 24 Jun’23).  These two routes cover differing habitat types typical to northwestern Colorado.  The Angora transect east of Rangely cuts through lower elevation small pinyon-juniper woods with interspersed sagebrush and other scrub (good for GRAY FLYCATCHERs & GRAY VIREOs), then continues to higher elevation large pinyon-juniper stands with some dense serviceberry/mountain mahogany covered hillsides (think DUSKY FLYCATCHERs & PLUMBEOUS VIREOs) with a swing through the White River valley for some lowland species.  The Yellowjacket Pass route east of Meeker runs through sagebrush and agricultural lowlands on either end of the survey, but climbs over serviceberry/oak brush/mountain mahogany highlands with cottonwood and willow lined wet draws (on to CORDILLERAN/WILLOW FLYCATCHERs & WARBLING VIREOs) plus a large pond with a relatively extensive cattail marsh halfway through for some spice.

 

The high snowfall this winter in the northwestern part of our State was evident with very tall hayfields (almost Sandhill Crane height-story here if interested), filled ditches, and a still full to the brim White River.  However, things have begun to dryout such that anecdotyally I’d consider the area “normal” when it comes to habitat condition.  While I got somewhat late starts (~½ hour) both days due to operator error with my phone alarm – old dude & tech – I don’t believe this materially affected data as both routes returned long range averages in diversity and total individuals with no obvious misses.  This said, total species observed dropped to 81 combined over both routes from 89 species the previous two years.  In addition, total indiviuals recorded dropped to 1,081 this year from an average of 1,334 the last two years, but thinking 2021 & 2022 may have been abnormal highs for some reason – we’ll see next year.

 

While nothing too exciting was encountered this year, the pair of CASSIN’S KINGBIRDs found back in 2021 continue to nest (seen nest building near road; Rio Blonco CR 122) in the same spot on the Angora route which is still a very good bird in this part of the State.  Although total individuals returned to average levels overall, a few species are having big years up there, notably LARK & BREWER’S SPARROWs as well as VIRGINIA’S & BLACK-THROATED GRAY WARBLERs.  In addition, EURASIAN COLLARED-DOVE, GRAY CATBIRD, and LESSER GOLDFINCH continue their expansions with SPOTTED TOWHEEs increasing numbers rapidly as we see happening along the Front Range.

 

My “summary” seems to have run a little long this year, but if you’d like more information about any of this, please let me know separately.

 

Good Birding & Happy 4^th of July,

Doug

Currently Coeur d’Alene, ID

 

Yellowjacket Pass & Angora BBS
2023 Summery Results
	Yellowjacket	Angora
Species	6/23/2023	6/24/2023
Cinnamon Teal	3
American Wigeon	2
Mallard	14	4
Pied-billed Grebe	1
Eurasian Collared-Dove	1	2
Mourning Dove	14	16
White-throated Swift	8
Black-chinned Hummingbird		5
Broad-tailed Hummingbird	6	1
Sora	1
American Coot	1
Sandhill Crane	2
Killdeer	3	3
Wilson's Snipe	1
Great Blue Heron		2
Turkey Vulture	9
Sharp-shinned Hawk		1
Bald Eagle	2
Red-tailed Hawk	4
Northern Flicker - "Red-shafted"	5	3
Western Wood-Pewee	3
Willow Flycatcher	1
Gray Flycatcher		7
Dusky Flycatcher	1	4
Cordilleran Flycatcher	4
Say's Phoebe	2	1
Ash-throated Flycatcher		6
Cassin's Kingbird		2
Western Kingbird	12	1
Gray Vireo		3
Plumbeous Vireo		8
Warbling Vireo	8
Pinyon Jay		2
Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay		2
Black-billed Magpie	21	4
American Crow	27
Common Raven	6	4
Black-capped Chickadee	1
Juniper Titmouse		2
Northern Rough-winged Swallow	4	1
Tree Swallow	5
Violet-green Swallow	6
Barn Swallow	4	3
Cliff Swallow	1	52
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher		15
Rock Wren		13
House Wren	7	2
Bewick's Wren		4
European Starling	8	15
Gray Catbird	2	3
Sage Thrasher	4
Mountain Bluebird	4	20
Hermit Thrush		2
American Robin	36	4
House Sparrow	4
House Finch	3	4
Cassin's Finch		1
Lesser Goldfinch	3
American Goldfinch	4
Chipping Sparrow		22
Brewer's Sparrow	13	45
Lark Sparrow	2	26
Vesper Sparrow	29	27
Song Sparrow	14	3
Green-tailed Towhee	28	32
Spotted Towhee	34	47
Yellow-breasted Chat	1
Yellow-headed Blackbird	2	1
Western Meadowlark	33	13
Bullock's Oriole	2	6
Red-winged Blackbird	32	35
Brown-headed Cowbird	27	7
Brewer's Blackbird	23
Orange-crowned Warbler	3	4
Virginia's Warbler	8	18
MacGillivray's Warbler		3
Common Yellowthroat		4
Yellow Warbler	26
Black-throated Gray Warbler		20
Black-headed Grosbeak	5	1
Lazuli Bunting	3	2
Total Species	61	55
Total Individuals	543	538