Hi all,
This morning my daughter Martha and I ran the Santiam Breeding Bird
Survey route in Linn County. This is part of the North American Breeding
Bird Survey (BBS), see: www.pwrc.usgs.gov/bbs/ if you'd like to learn
more about the BBS or consider volunteering for one of Oregon's vacant
routes.
The Santiam BBS route starts in the BLM's Carolyn's Crown - Shafer Creek
Research Natural Area at the top of the Crabtree Creek drainage, east of
Lacomb. The first part of the route is on BLM-managed forest land. Then
it passes through private forest lands for about 8 miles before it cuts
over a ridge (partly private, partly BLM lands) into the Roaring River
drainage, where it comes out on Roaring River Rd., jogs south on
Meridian Rd, and ends up looping back east on Snow Peak Rd.
Altogether there are 50 stops, approximately at 1/2 mile intervals. The
route starts in old growth and ends in rural-residential lands, but most
of it is in managed (industrial) forests, in various stages of growth.
In thirteen years of running this route since I signed up 2004, it's
been interesting to see how bird populations respond to harvest,
replanting, and the various stages of forest growth.
This year several parts of the BLM lands have thinning projects in
progress (this year and last). The goal seems to be to leave trees about
30 ft or more apart. The thinning operation doesn't leave a whole lot of
understory, so generally the number of birds in these seemed to be down
from pre-treatment.
However HAMMOND'S FLYCATCHERS are making use of the thinned areas.
Today's total of 5 matched the highest count from the previous 17 years
of data. One was in old growth but the others were in the recently
thinned areas.
Farther on, four PURPLE MARTINS were calling and circling around a big
old snag that had been left in an area that was clearcut last year. This
is the first time Purple Martins have been recorded on this BBS route.
In addition to many SWAINSON'S THRUSHES, we heard a few HERMIT THRUSHES,
including one that sang from probably less than 10 m away from the car.
We spent an extra minute at that stop, just to enjoy that flute-like
song at close range. VARIED THRUSHES were either less numerous or maybe
just less vocal than usual; we did see several along the road between
stops where we didn't detect them.
OLIVE-SIDED FLYCATCHERS were both the first and last birds recorded:
One sang from a tall ancient Doug-fir in old growth at the first stop,
and one sang from a snag somewhere back in scruffy "reprod" at our last
stop, just a couple of seconds before my 3-minute time dinged.
This year's route was remarkably free of incidents, for a route that has
often featured flat tires, long detours to get around closed bridges or
miskeyed gates, or (once) lingering snowbanks that required me to cover
the first three stops on foot.
Happy birding,
Joel
P.S. Here's the full list:
Species Total (# of stops)
Rufous Hummingbird 3 (3)
Red-breasted Sapsucker 3 (3)
Hairy Woodpecker 3 (3)
Red-shafted Flicker 3 (3)
Olive-sided Flycatcher 4 (4)
Western Wood-Pewee 8 (4)
Willow Flycatcher 31 (17)
Hammond's Flycatcher 5 (5)
Pacific-slope Flycatcher 34 (22)
Warbling Vireo 17 (14)
Hutton's Vireo 1 (1)
Steller's Jay 8 (5)
Western Scrub-Jay 2 (2)
American Crow 3 (1)
Common Raven 6 (5)
Purple Martin 4 (1)
Tree Swallow 3 (2)
Violet-green Swallow 22 (7)
Barn Swallow 3 (2)
Cliff Swallow 8 (1)
Black-capped Chickadee 3 (2)
Chestnut-backed Chickadee 11 (7)
Red-breasted Nuthatch 1 (1)
Brown Creeper 1 (1)
House Wren 3 (2)
Pacific Wren 52 (26)
Bewick's Wren 1 (1)
Golden-crowned Kinglet 9 (6)
Swainson's Thrush 87 (37)
Hermit Thrush 4 (3)
American Robin 33 (20)
Varied Thrush 13 (7)
European Starling 3 (1)
Cedar Waxwing 1 (1)
Orange-crowned Warbler 9 (7)
Yellow Warbler 1 (1)
MacGillivray's Warbler 2 (2)
Common Yellowthroat 5 (5)
Black-throated Gray Warbler 7 (7)
Hermit Warbler 17 (12)
Wilson's Warbler 5 (4)
Yellow-breasted Chat 3 (3)
Spotted Towhee 5 (5)
Savannah Sparrow 2 (2)
Song Sparrow 26 (20)
White-crowned Sparrow 14 (8)
Oregon Junco 2 (2)
Western Tanager 5 (5)
Black-headed Grosbeak 7 (6)
Lazuli Bunting 7 (7)
Red-winged Blackbird 3 (2)
Brewer's Blackbird 3 (1)
Brown-headed Cowbird 2 (2)
House Finch 3 (2)
Purple Finch 2 (2)
Red Crossbill 3 (1)
Pine Siskin 2 (2)
American Goldfinch 6 (4)
--
Joel Geier
Camp Adair area north of Corvallis
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