I ran the Collinwood Breeding Bird Survey route on Monday (Memorial Day), 5/30/2011, my 5th time on this route. I had a total of 76 species, which is pretty typical for recent years. My total of 13 wood warblers was also about average. I had no species that were new for the route, but the most surprising thing was the large number of species (15, nearly 20% of the total) for which I wound up with a record total for the 42 times the route has been run since 1966. These record tying or breaking counts were: 3 Green Herons, 3 Great Horned Owls, 9 Ruby-throated Hummingbirds, 4 Red-headed Woodpeckers, 48 Tufted Titmice, 34 Eastern Bluebirds, 41 Northern Mockingbirds, 13 Brown Thrashers, 3 Prothonotary Warblers, 9 Scarlet Tanagers, 26 Eastern Towhees, 31 Chipping Sparrows, 35 Field Sparrows, 3 Dickcissels, and 15 Orchard Orioles. As it seems unlikely that my hearing and eyesight have suddenly improved dramatically, it makes me wonder about a real effect. I can fantasize that the economic downturn is causing people to let their land be a little weedier and more unmanicured, as a fair number of these birds are brush, edge, and hedgerow critters. Hard to really say much from one sample point! Supporting this idea might be the 17 Northern Bobwhites, the highest count since 1998. But, of course, I missed this species entirely on the Wrigley BBS just a few counties to the north on the previous day. So who knows?
There were no record lows or big misses. This was also the first time that 3 species of owls have been tallied. Otherwise, a very normal species list with a bunch of surprisingly high counts for common birds.
On the cicada front, I had exactly ONE (!!) individual periodical cicada the entire morning -- a lone Magicicada tredecim calling "Phaaaaaaaraoh" persistently and plaintively at stop 31.
Bill Pulliam
Hohenwald TN
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