This morning I ran the Hodgenvile BBS route, which runs mostly thru the
northern half of Larue County. It was very pleasant with less than average
traffic and a beautiful sunrise. I was expecting it to be more humid, but it
was 64 degrees at start and only got hot about the last few stops.
There was a lot of song, particularly from tanagers and Y-b Cuckoos. Nothing
rare among the 74 species, but habitat changes were somewhat disturbing. I
missed Grasshopper Sparrow for probably the first time in 20-25 years of
running the route, in large part because hayfields and pastures have been
converted to row crops (corn and soybeans). One big field that had a nice
collection of grassland birds last year had just been tilled.
During the first 20-25 years that BBS routes were run (they began in 1965), a
declining trend was documented for some graasland birds including Grasshopper
Sparrow. When I began running BBS routes in the late 1970s and early 1980s, I
didn't consider Grasshopper and Henslow's Sparrows to be particularly scarce. I
have always wondered if some of the decline in the Grasshopper Sparrow during
those first couple of decades could be attributed to the aging of the first
generation of BBS volunteers (and corresponding decline in hearing certain
songs). However, I know I can still hear Grasshopper Sparrows, and I am noting
fewer on my BBS routes these days. I also missed them on a
Washington/Clark/Floyd Co., Indiana, route last week . . . hoping for better
luck in Taylor County tomorrow morning . . .
bpb, Louisville
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