On June 15 I conducted the annual Taylorstown BBS
for USGS. These BBS surveys are run the exact
same way all over the country, and the same route
is run the same way at the same stops from year
to year to indicate trends in bird populations.
They are not meant to be exact counts of birds in
the area. The observer records all birds seen or
heard in a 3 minute period every .5 miles for
24.5 miles (50 stops) starting at 1/2 hour before
sunrise. This route starts in Taylorstown,
continues through Waterford, Paeonian Springs,
and Leesburg, past Banshee Reeks and past Dulles
wetlands mitigation site. For those interested
you can go to the following link and look up the
historical data for this BBS to see the tragic
decline in some species such as Bobwhite, the
increase of some species like carolina wren,
Canada goose, and house finch, and the apparent
reversal in abundance of some species like
orchard and baltimore orioles (I wonder why).
http://www.pwrc.usgs.gov/bbs/retrieval/disclaim.cfm
IN the past this was mostly farmland with
scattered woodlots. Now suburbanization and
urbanization is rapidly gobbling up the
farmlands, woodlots and hay pastures,
dramatically modifying the environment. Several
huge fields along the route look like they are
surveyed for new housing developments and some
are already being bulldozed for construction.
It was difficult hearing the birds at many of
the sites this year because of very heavy traffic
near Leesburg (over 400 cars drove by, mostly at
high speed, at these sites). Next year I'll have
to do this on a Sunday morning when there is less
traffic.
This year 69 species were found (since 1966 the
total has ranged from 51 to 75). The following
list is more meaningful when looked at in
conjunction with the BBS historical data for this
route.
Here is the list of what I found.
Canada Goose 19 in 2 stops
Wood Duck 3 in 1 stop
Bobwhite 3 in 2 stops (YAY! There are still a few
left near Taylorstown)
Great Blue Heron 2 in 2 stops
Green Heron 1
Black Vulture 4 in 3 stops
Turkey Vulture 17 in 7 stops
Bald Eagle 1 ad at Dulles wetlands
Red-tailed Hawk 1 pair
Red-shouldered Hawk 1
Cooper's Hawk 1 dangling prey from his talons
Rock Pigeon 17 in 4 stops
Mourning Dove 25 in 17 stops
YB Cuckoo 4 in 3 stops
Chimney Swift 26 in 15 stops
Red-bellied Wdpckr 9 in 7 stops
Downy Wdpckr 1 (WOW, only 1!)
Flicker 5 in 4 stops
pileated 2 in 2 stops
wood pewee 4 in 4 stops
phoebe 4 in 4 stops
crested flycatcher 3 in 3 stops
kingbird 15 in 11 stops
warbling vireo 4 in 3 stops
red-eyed vireo 5 in 4 stops
blue jay 16 in 13 stops
american crow 40 in 19 stops
fish crow 4 in 3 stops
tree swallow 3 in 2 stops
n rough-winged swallow 2 in 2 stops
barn swallow 52 in 16 stops
purple martin 2 in 1 stop
carolina chickadee 10 in 9 stops
titmouse 8 in 7 stops
wb nuthatch 6 in 5 stops
carolina wren 21 in 15 stops
house wren 14 in 11 stops
gnatcatcher 1
bluebird 6 in 4 stops
wood thrush 9 in 7 stops
robin 45 in 22 stops
catbird 48 in 26 stops
mockingbird 38 in 24 stops
thrasher 6 in 4 stops
starling 162 in 22 stops
cedar waxwing 17 in 12 stops (highest on record
for this route; have y'all been noticing a lot of
these around this breeding season like I have?
interesting, especially considering the low
numbers here last winter.)
yellow warbler 1
pine warbler 1
prairie warbler 1
ovenbird 2 in 1 stop
yellowthroat 9 in 7 stops
scarlet tanager 1
towhee 5 in 5 stops
chipping sparrow 20 in 14 stops
field sparrow 10 in 7 stops
grasshopper sparrow 17 in 11 stops
song sparrow 27 in 21 stops
cardinal 57 in 30 stops
indigo bunting 18 in 16 stops
bobolink 1 (between Taylorstown and Waterford,
heard but couldn't see it in my allotted 3
minutes)
red-winged blackbird 53 in 17 stops
meadowlark 18 in 11 stops
grackle 98 in 23 stops
cowbird 11 in 10 stops
orchard oriole 11 in 11 stops
baltimore oriole 3 in 3 stops
house finch 5 in 5 stops
goldfinch 31 in 20 stops
house sparrow 23 in 7 stops
All the best
Will soon be reporting on Difficult Run (Fairfax
County) and Truhart BBS in King and Queen Co.
Fred
Frederick D. Atwood fredatwood@xxxxxxxxx
Flint Hill School, 10409 Academic Dr, Oakton, VA 22124
703-242-1675
http://www.agpix.com/fredatwood
http://www.flinthill.org
You are subscribed to VA-BIRD. To post to this mailing list, simply send email
to va-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx. To unsubscribe, send email to
va-bird-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field.
