I ran my Breeding Bird Survey route for my 15th consecutive year and I managed to get the highest species total I have ever had with 84 species (my previous high was 2019 with 83 species). My average species per year since I took over the route stood at 72 before this season, with my lowest species count being 56 back in 2012. For those who don't know what a Breeding Bird Survey entails I will give a quick overview. The survey routes consists of 50 stops for three minutes each at half mile increments and many have been conducted for years thus showing population trends among species over time. As an example the route that I now run was started in 1967 and has been conducted by someone every year since. My route begins in Belchertown and runs south through Ware, Palmer and Monson to the Connecticut border. The route begins early at 4:42AM and I usually finish up some time after nine. It is interesting to see how the species count and make up changes over time. It is also a little sad as with each passing year more and more houses pop up along the route and with the houses come a loss of forest species and all the perils to birds that people bring. I try to conduct the route on a Sunday to minimize traffic noise and disturbance from people. I have now had a total of 114 species over the years along the route with three new species this year (Common Merganser, Orchard Oriole and Northern Waterthrush). Not much of a chance to get photos of anything as I don't have time to track down species given the time constraints of the survey.
Below is table of each year I have conducted the survey
year # of species date of survey2024 84 June 2
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