It is hard to indicate a trend based on one year. In general I was
less in contact with bird list servs to follow my friends observations
within my range, so these comments are based only on my own travels.
I did fail to find a good warbler migration fallout this year but this
does not mean that all the warblers are gone. Warbler recordings were
few and far between but I did not make my normal trek to the prime
warbler breeding area near the Canada border this year due to a death
in my family that has taken a good chunk of my time this year.
In one of my large areas that I return to each year the Sedge Wrens
were almost completely replaced with Savana Sparrows due to the very
dry conditions in the tall grass prairie areas of NW MN.
Over the last two years in the areas of Big Woods that I make a point
at returning to I noted a very large decline in Cowbird populations.
This is dramatic enough to make me wonder if there is an illegal
traping effort somewhere in the central or southern midwest. I did
not report this as I would not wish to deter that effort. This did not
result in me seeing more Song Sparrows and they seem to be one species
that in general I heard less from this year.
Waterfowl continue their slow decline and it is at a level that I feel
nation wide suspension of duck hunting would be justified. My hope
then would be to engage the concerns of the hunting groups within the
country.
Preditor bird species appear to continue their success story and
appear to be doing well.
Non migratory bird species are about the same this year with the
exception of the Crow. I failed to locate a single large "murder"
anywhere. This is likely the ongoing effect of West Nile in my area.
Swallow and Swift counts appear about the same.
Jet noise continues to be reduced and we are starting to see the
effects of junking the older and noisier jets.
Screaming Crotch rockets are all but gone now and I suspect that they
have all become organ donors or evolved to Harley bikers.
Dead bird counts were down at a large glass skyscraper in St Paul MN
that my wife watches on a daily basis, but not every year does this
building become a death trap. Last year it was.
We made it through another year without a highspeed train in the
midwest which will be very bad for the birds here. Our train tracks
are mainly in the river valleys that are used for migration and 80 mph
is about the limit that a song bird can dodge.
Rich Peet
--- In Wild Sanctuary <> wrote:
>
> For those primarily recording the soundscapes of entire habitats
> (biophonies) in the Northern Hemisphere: Has anyone noticed changes
> this year in
>
> (1) creature voice density, and/or
> (2) creature diversity?
>
> By "density" I mean gross numbers recorded. By "diversity" I mean
> different species recorded.
>
> I'm especially interested in same sites where recordists go year
after year.
>
> Any observations would be appreciated. I'll share my impressions,
> also, but later.
>
> Bernie Krause
> --
> Wild Sanctuary
> P. O. Box 536
> Glen Ellen, CA 95442
> t. 707-996-6677
> f. 707-996-0280
> http://www.wildsanctuary.com
>
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