Tweets,
Rick howie made some excellent points, particularly in regard to steppe and shrubsteppe areas. Currently for my master's I'm looking at Sage Thrasher reproductive ecology and how they fare in heavily disturbed areas vs. those areas with a more native, climax bunchgrass community. All of my areas are contigous Shrubsteppe and both areas have Bitterbrush, Stiff and Big Sage and to a casual observer, one might conclude it all looks the same. However, if you go below the shrub layer into the understory layer, the picture changes rapidly. The large bunchgrass-Bluebunch Wheatgrass is the first to go, the lichen crust (cyptogamic layer) is destroyed and before long you have invasives start to creep in.
The amount of birds in spring/summer vs. fall and winter is dramatic, yet not sure it is a good comparison either as are many of these comparisons in eastern washington. Many of the species that make shrubsteppe or riparian areas so bird rich in the spring and summer are due to neotropical migrants coming into these areas because food resources are much higher. Other than some residents such as woodpeckers, robins, chickadees, kinglets, nuthatches etc.. not sure how many we should expect during these areas during the harsh winters in E and North central Washington as food is not abundant in these areas.
We must remember that while CBC's around puget sound can average 120 or so, many counts in Eastern Washington struggle to hit 80-85 and these are areas that include town birds.
By the way. Our gorgeous fall continues over here. I drove up and explored around Lion Rock and areas today and no snow is even on the ground yet and only needed my light weight fleece on. Not alot of birds, a couple of Varied Thrush,lots of Red-breasted Nuthatches and Mountain Chickadees and near Naneum Meadows on FS 3530 had a pair of THREE-TOED WOODPECKER and a male BLACK-BACKED WOODPECKER. A nice treat.

Good birding all.

Scott Downes
downess at cwu.edu
Ellensburg WA