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Hi All, Here are some of the birding highlights I promised from the Blue Mountain-Birch Cove Lakes Wilderness Area BioBlitz. First let me say that this area is rich in bird life and that the 75 species we found, while not a bad total was low for this area due to lots of morning rain. A couple weeks before the BioBlitz during roughly a 2 hour walk in the same area I encountered 69 species of birds.
However, highlights from last weekend should provide a taste of the type of birds one can expect to find there. Two of the best daytime birds was a Mourning Warbler seen by Andrew Horn and a Lincoln’s Sparrow observed by Suzanne Borkowski. Both of these species are hard to find in the Metro area.
Other woodland goodies included, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Pileated Woodpecker, Eastern Wood-Pewee, Gray Jay, Boreal Chickadee, Brown Creeper, Winter Wren, Cape May Warbler, Black-throated Blue Warbler, Blackburnian Warbler, White-winged Crossbill, Pine Grosbeak, and Red Crossbill. (Some species present in the area that were missed include Bay-breasted Warbler, Black-backed Woodpecker, Canada Warbler, Northern Goshawk, & Great Horned Owl)
My favorite part of the event was the nighttime birding. My team encountered an American Woodcock near Susie’s Lake, 8 Barred Owls, and one Long-eared Owl in the Blue Mountain region and near the summit we heard a migrating Gray-cheeked Thrush. Another Long-eared Owl was netted by Bob McDonald & Suzanne Borkowski as well as additional Barred Owls and a Northern Saw-whet Owl.
This was the second year for the BioBlitz which event organizers plan to make an annual event. As I mentioned in my last post these events certainly have room for a whole lot more birders. In birding terms the Bioblitz offers the fun challenge of a Big Day because participants have just 24 hours to find as many birds as possible. The difference is all the birding teams work together to cover as much area as they can and pool their birding results, similar to a Spring Migration Count. This is combined with tons of free food for participants and support staff to aid in everything from list tallies to first aid.
The birding results are added to all the various species of plants and animals found during the event. This in turn helps to develop a more complete picture of the area demonstrating the biodiversity of a site and its overall importance in the greater scheme of things. Another big plus is that as soon as the reports make it back to base camp they are tallied up by volunteers into a data base so that by the end of the 24 hours everyone knows exactly how many species were identified.
The 24 hour period spans two days and on the second day the public are welcomed to come and rub shoulders with the various naturalists and scientists hard at work, identifying, classifying and cataloging all kinds of species. Displays show some of the creatures encountered and nature walks lead the public into the woods to see and hear even more species in their natural habitats, and to learn about how those species impact their own lives. In addition the public are shown trails where they can come back and do some further exploration of their own.
Lastly the BioBlitz serves to better highlight natural areas of importance and further establishes their significance by providing a large chunk of scientific data that clearly shows the capabilities of a particular site. Such locations are then easier to protect.
I can hardly wait for the announcement of the where and when of next year’s BioBlitz. - All the Best in Birding, Clarence
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