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 DrummondOne 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 SuddjianKen Caryl ValleyLittleton, 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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While scouting my Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) near Rangely (Angora route, Rio Blanco Co., CO) on Wednesday (23 Jun.’21), we came across a territorial pair of CASSIN’S KINGBIRDs out in a juniper burn area south of HW 64 on CR 122. These guys were very vocal, displaying courtship and territorial behavior, and even having kingbird sex right out in the open – very progressive for this part of the World. Cassin’s Kingbirds are very unusual in Northwestern Colorado, and should be repeatable, so if you happen to be in the area and would like a more specific location, please let me know separately. I’ll be running the actual BBS this coming Wednesday, so hoping I’m right and they have set up shop.
On the BBS thread, I ran the Yellowjacket Pass route (Rio Blanco & Moffat Co.) Thursday (24 Jun.’21), and while this is my first year on this route so don’t have the direct comparative stats like David’s great summary for Guanella, I used to live and bird in the area and can make some anecdotal observations. Generally the route was pretty busy with breeders and breeding activity with seemingly good numbers of both species and individuals. Missed a few and added a few species relative to the official list, but nothing too out of the ordinary for the area. Again, all seemed normal and a lot of fun to be back in the old stomping grounds.
Good Birding,
Doug
Denver
PS – Interestingly with the Cassin’s, this is the second time I’ve come across them in an old juniper burn area on the West Slope; the other being down in Mesa Verde a couple of years ago. With all the fires in pinyon/juniper over there in recent years, wondering if we’re seeing an increase in habitat, and thereby range, for this species? Keep your eyes open.
Hi All,
I am currently working out in Central Nebraska, so I was intrigued when Steve's Mlodinow's report of an Arctic Loon at Walden Reservoir came in, as it was only around a day's drive from me and some of the other birders out here in Nebraska who would have loved to see the bird. Throughout the evening, after Steve reported the bird, many birders noted one Arctic Loon and one rather obvious Common Loon, looks of the Arctic Loon were distant and poor for birders throughout that day and most birders were going off Steve's description to tick this bird, as they couldn't quite see the field marks due to the conditions. The following day, after a handful of birders went out looking for the bird, the only two loons present on the lake were Commons, with one obvious bird and another rather Arctic-looking Common Loon that 1st drew birder's attention by the rather smooth-looking demarkation on the neck and white flanks. The structure of this bird was off for Arctic and when the bird's neck left the resting posture it was obvious that it had a large white collar at the base, instantly eliminating Arctic Loon. Later on in the day, when photos were posted by Nick Moore and Steven Mlodinow of the bird, there was much discussion on the ID across the country with a few opinions by good birders with experience with the species such as Gary Rosenberg and Cameron Cox, both of which suggested that by the pics provided, the bird looked fine for Common Loon and very off for Arctic.
To my dismay, this still wasn't enough for anyone to publicly suggest on this platform that the bird was missIDed, but instead, more reports were coming in requesting for updates on if the bird had been relocated and some even suggested that people were on the wrong bird and area which blew my mind (people really wanted this bird to be an Arctic)!
A couple days ago, Nick Komar photographed a loon that in some pics looks identical to Nick and Steve's loon but in other pics it obviously shows a white collar. Joe Kipper's photos of the same loon make this bird look like an obvious Common that wouldn't draw many birders' attention at all. What more is needed for people to understand that there was never any Arctic Loon present?
There are still eBird reports with this loon labeled as an Arctic. I hope the Colorado Review Team will soon reach out to these people and update them on the correct ID of the bird.
Anyways, I was keeping up with the posts on here and was seeing very mixed signs on what the identification on this loon was so thought I would make the claim that nobody else was willing to make on here, as there are still some birders who aren't sure what is going on with this loon.
Caleb
On Friday, June 25, 2021, 11:49 AM, David Suddjian <dsuddjian@gmail.com> wrote:
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 SuddjianKen Caryl ValleyLittleton, 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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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 SuddjianKen Caryl ValleyLittleton, 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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All that is gold does not glitter, not all those who wander are lost; the old that is strong does not wither, deep roots are not reached by the frost.
