Hi folks,

I'm a little late in reporting, but I had the opportunity to go over toward
Ritzville to do my annual Breeding Bird Survey. This is a nationwide
program ( www.pwrc.usgs.gov/bbs/dataentry/ ) to monitor the status and
trends of North American bird populations, and it's a kick to take part in
this endeavor.

Get Involved!
Each spring over 2500 skilled amateur birders and professional biologists
volunteer to participate in the North American BBS. And we are always
looking for highly skilled birders to join the team. The requirements for
participation are:

- Access to suitable transportation to complete a survey.
- Good hearing and eyesight.
- The ability to identify all breeding birds in the area by sight and
sound. Knowledge of bird songs is extremely important, because most birds
counted on these surveys are singing males.
- New BBS participants must also successfully complete the BBS Methodology
Training Program before their data will be used in any BBS analyses. The
training program is available from the national BBS offices and the state,
provincial, and territorial coordinators.
If you meet the first 3 criteria and would like to participate in the BBS,
please contact your state, provincial, or territorial BBS coordinator, or
the USGS or CWS national BBS office to inquire about available routes in
your area and to complete the training program.

There are still routes available in Washington (and likely BC & Oregon...
etc). The Washington State coordinator is:
Ed Miller
1920 Harris
Richland, WA 99352
509-372-3832
509-943-8538
edward_m_miller at rl.gov

Anyway, I did my route on the 31st of May, and had a bit of breeze all
day.... not enough to keep from running the route, but I imagine that some
of the birds were kept low in the sagebrush & bunch grass, rather than up on
top, singing their little hearts out. The route is done by counting all
birds seen or heard for 3 minutes at each stop - there are 50 stops at 0.5
miles apart.

This year, I heard & saw a LOT of Grasshopper Sparrows (n = 49, higher than
any year since I started in 1994) - seems that the Conservation Reserve
Program is finally paying off! My total was 999 individual birds of 49
species. Some of them are just 'fly-overs' (Ring-billed Gulls, etc.), but
most are singing males.

The data: No. No.
Species Birds Stops
Canada Goose 1 1
Gadwall 2 2
American Wigeon 3 2
Mallard 4 2
Northern Shoveler 1 1
Redhead 1 1
Gray Partridge 1 1
Ring-necked Pheasant 24 18
American White Pelican 8 1
Black-crowned Night-Heron 1 1
Northern Harrier 3 2
Swainson's Hawk 8 7
Red-tailed Hawk 10 8
American Kestrel 7 6
Killdeer 6 6
Ring-billed Gull 100 24
California Gull 22 5
unid. Gull 3 1
Rock Pigeon 63 7
Mourning Dove 3 3
Common Nighthawk 4 3
Willow Flycatcher 1 1
Say's Phoebe 5 3
Western Kingbird 14 12
Eastern Kingbird 5 5
Black-billed Magpie 6 3
Common Raven 5 4
Horned Lark 127 37
Violet-green Swallow 2 2
Northern Rough-winged Swallow 1 1
Bank Swallow 9 1
Cliff Swallow 103 15
Barn Swallow 10 8
House Wren 2 2
American Robin 10 6
European Starling 22 10
Brewer's Sparrow 1 1
Vesper Sparrow 26 17
Lark Sparrow 1 1
Savannah Sparrow 23 15
Grasshopper Sparrow 49 23
Song Sparrow 1 1
Red-winged Blackbird 82 16
Western Meadowlark 149 41
Yellow-headed Blackbird 2 1
Brewer's Blackbird 8 3
Brown-headed Cowbird 45 16
House Finch 8 2
House Sparrow 7 4

So, next time you have a chance, go birding with a purpose!
Best,
Jon. Anderson
Olympia, Washington
festuca at olywa.net