There's lots of BBS data for comparison. I routinely get 60+ species on
my Carnation route in 50 3-minute stops.

Gene.

On Thu, 22 Jun 1995, Jon Anderson wrote:

> Dennis,
>
> In the Skok drainage, of course, there has been extensive human use
> (clearcuts, agricultural development on lower river). However, the folks
> who designed the point count were pretty rigorous in placing the stations
> in old-growth - to the point of moving stations 100m from the trail
> (which to me was moving from one place in the old growth to another,
> but...). We heard/saw some other Hermit/Townsend's, just not AT the
> stations, DURING the 8-minute count periods. I don't know where the
> vireos were. When the USFS folks summarize all of the counts (3 censuses
> at each of 4 locations on the Olympic NF), I can post them. It might
> make more sense than just looking at MY one-day portion of the project.
>
> My sense of diversity in the old-growth is that overall diversity might
> be high, but numbers of individal species tends to be low. In an
> earlier seral stage, does not diversity tend to be lower, with larger
> numbers of individuals?
>
> If I'm censusing/birding along a riparian zone in the eastern Washington
> wheat lands and bunchgrass, I'd expect a lot more species and numbers
> than I would when I stand in the open range land or grain fields for 3 or
> 5 or 8 minutes. Having just run a Breeding Bird Survey route near
> Ritzville, I noted hundreds of W Meadowlarks, Horned Larks, and Savannah
> Sparrows in the wheat/bunchgrass. Most of the other species were seen/
> heard near ranches or lakes/streams with the physical (barns, corrals,
> bridges) and vegetative diversity to support them.
>
> Point counts won't necessarily provide the highest counts of All of the
> species in a region. They tend to be used to provide an index for
> species at a given site/region/biogeographical zone. We're not talking
> "Big Day" birding when we go point-count censusing in the old-growth.
>
> Jon. Anderson
> Olympia, WA
> anderjda at dfw.wa.gov
>
>
> On Wed, 21 Jun 1995, Dennis Paulson wrote:
>
> > Jon's count really makes the point of the low diversity of migrants on the
> > Olympic Peninsula, as I mentioned some time ago. Note that if there
> > weren't Swainson's Thrushes and Pacific-slope Flycatchers, there would be
> > virtually none. It's amazing to have only a single warbler with that much
> > censusing. I have been similarly (un)impressed on several visits. I don't
> > know why the peninsula should have such a much lower diversity, weather
> > it's related to summer weather, geological and biogeographical history, or
> > human use of the area.
>