Breeding Bird Survey completed today

Blue winged Warbler, Monson, MA, Jun 5, 2022

UMASS Orchard before dawn, Belchertown, MA, Jun 5, 2022

Farm fields, Monson, MA, Jun 5, 2022

Sawmill Brook, Monson, MA, Jun 5, 2022

As the migration season has mostly come to an end the season on conducting various surveys for breeding birds begins.  This morning I conducted my annual breeding bird survey route that runs from Belchertown south to the Connecticut (more on the breeding bird survey at the following link).  The survey consists of 50 stops at half mile intervals with each stop lasting 3 minutes.  I try to find a sunny weekend morning (preferably a Sunday to avoid traffic noise) with calm conditions and today was prefect with sunny weather and calm winds.  The survey starts at 4:42AM so it is an early wake up call to begin the route.  Even before the survey began I had an American Bittern back at the house calling before the sun came up...a good omen I suppose.  I then started the route and spent the next three and a half hours completing it. This is the 13th year I have completed the route and I found a total of 78 species (with a dozen species of warbler).  I had two new species this year with an Alder Flycatcher and a few Great Horned Owls bringing my total number of species over the last 13 years to 110.  The route has been active since 1967 so this marks the 55th year of this route (here is a link to all the data from 1967-2021).  Below are the totals for species for each year I have conducted the survey.

year                 # of species

2010                 71

2011                 64

2012                 56

2013                 67

2014                 70

2015                 75

2016                 78

2017                 73

2018                 71

2019                 83

2020                 76

2021                 71

2022                 78

The ten most abundant species this year are listed in the table below (# of stops species present at)

American Robin                          41
Red eyed Vireo                            34
Chipping Sparrow                        32

Northern Cardinal                        31   
American Crow                           30
Gray Catbird                                29

Ovenbird                                      29

Mourning Dove                           28

House Wren                                 27

Black capped Chickadee             26 (tied)

Tufted Titmouse                          26 (tied)

                               

Black Vulture, Belchertown, MA, Jun 5, 2022

Canada Warbler, Pelham, MA, Jun 5, 2022

Scarlet Tanager, Cadwell Memorial Forest, Pelham, MA, Jun 5, 2022

Black Vulture, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Jun 5, 2022

           
Once I completed the survey I headed back into Hampshire County and made a few stops turning up a number of species as I made numerous stops.  Notables included multiple Black Vultures around Belchertown and some good looks at breeding species in Pelham.