rb_stern
Richard stern
What's a BBS route? It's the North American Breeding Bird Survey - done annually all over N.America, to try and scientifically look at long term population trends of bird species in particular areas. This is my 7th year doing my route, called "Dean-Chapter" after a local lake along the way.
The participant is assigned a route, which he is expected to repeat for as many years as possible. You can choose a date between 28 May and 7 July, and start at dawn. You drive from stop to stop - each stop is 0.8km (0.5 miles) apart, and there are 50 from start to finish. At each stop you get out, listen and look for exactly 3 minutes, and note the number and species of every bird seen or heard, and then record them on a scannable form. Each stop remains the same year to year, for accurate comparisons.
I always decide to do my route the evening before, as it's much better if the weather is good, so this year I decided on Saturday to do it on Sunday - which meant getting up at 3:30 a.m. and driving to the start of the route by 5:00. The route is basically 40km of rural roads, most of which is dirt logging roads through mixed forest (which is continually being logged), but by now I love doing the route annually, and it's become like an old friend. This year my wife came along to help record, while I shouted out phrases like "another Ovenbird; 2 Robins over there; a Least - no, Yellow-bellied, Flycatcher" and so forth.
This year it was calm, cloudless and beautifully clear, and because it's been a cold Spring, hardly any blackflies - most unusual. We recorded 55 species - by now we know what to expect at most stops, e.g. Wilson's Snipe at Stop 1, Alder Flycatchers at certain Stops near the beginning, Ovenbirds, Magnolia Warblers, and Hermit Thrushes galore, and always the possibility of a surprise. This year it was a Great Cormorant flying overhead with some Double Cresteds - rare in Summer, and rare inland. Compared to previous years, most flycatcher, thrushes and warbler numbers were about the same, Ruby-crowned Kinglets were down, Ruffed Grouse were up, and so on.
At the end we celebrated with a Macdonalds' breakfast, and went home for a snooze, that lasted most of the day!
Here are a couple of shots, 1 of the typical habitat, and 1 of a Redstart I digiscoped at Stop 40.
The participant is assigned a route, which he is expected to repeat for as many years as possible. You can choose a date between 28 May and 7 July, and start at dawn. You drive from stop to stop - each stop is 0.8km (0.5 miles) apart, and there are 50 from start to finish. At each stop you get out, listen and look for exactly 3 minutes, and note the number and species of every bird seen or heard, and then record them on a scannable form. Each stop remains the same year to year, for accurate comparisons.
I always decide to do my route the evening before, as it's much better if the weather is good, so this year I decided on Saturday to do it on Sunday - which meant getting up at 3:30 a.m. and driving to the start of the route by 5:00. The route is basically 40km of rural roads, most of which is dirt logging roads through mixed forest (which is continually being logged), but by now I love doing the route annually, and it's become like an old friend. This year my wife came along to help record, while I shouted out phrases like "another Ovenbird; 2 Robins over there; a Least - no, Yellow-bellied, Flycatcher" and so forth.
This year it was calm, cloudless and beautifully clear, and because it's been a cold Spring, hardly any blackflies - most unusual. We recorded 55 species - by now we know what to expect at most stops, e.g. Wilson's Snipe at Stop 1, Alder Flycatchers at certain Stops near the beginning, Ovenbirds, Magnolia Warblers, and Hermit Thrushes galore, and always the possibility of a surprise. This year it was a Great Cormorant flying overhead with some Double Cresteds - rare in Summer, and rare inland. Compared to previous years, most flycatcher, thrushes and warbler numbers were about the same, Ruby-crowned Kinglets were down, Ruffed Grouse were up, and so on.
At the end we celebrated with a Macdonalds' breakfast, and went home for a snooze, that lasted most of the day!
Here are a couple of shots, 1 of the typical habitat, and 1 of a Redstart I digiscoped at Stop 40.
