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Date: | Sat, 13 Jul 2013 00:10:38 -0400 |
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I went back to Okemo Mt. last evening to search for Bicknell's Thrush
(BITH). My early morning survey on June 19 had come up empty, but I
thought that a dusk survey might better reveal any birds that were
present. I arrived at 7:45 pm and walked from the uppermost parking lot
((~1/4 mile below the summit) to the Summit Deck restaurant, then up the
ski tral work road to the summit. Broadcasting BITH calls and songs at
regular intervals, I managed to find 2 birds, both males that
eventiually sang. The first, in a regenerating blow down area about 100
meters downslope from the top of the road, approached silently at very
close range but didn't respond vocally for 2-3 minutes, then called with
fairly high intensity and sang a few times. The second bird sang and
called persistently from an area below the summit tower. Interesting
that neither bird, both of which were presumably present on June 19,
responded to playback or vocalized spontaneously that day.
Swainson's Thrush (SWTH) were very common from the parking lot to the
summit. I heard 11-12 singing, and several calling. In the mid-1990s I
conducted several surveys of Okemo and had 7-8 BITH there, all the way
down to the parking area, with fewer SWTH overall. I'll have to dig out
my old field notebooks to compare actual numbers, but there is no doubt
that the local BITH population has diminished and the SWTH population
increased. Magnolia Warblers were the second most abundant species
vocalizing, with 7 singing males, and I saw/heard at least 6 Chipping
Sparrows, which I don't remember from the 1990s.
This is a somewhat isolated peak, and it bears watching during the years
ahead.
Chris
--
Chris Rimmer
Vermont Center for Ecostudies
P.O. Box 420
Norwich, VT 05055
802-649-8281 ext. 1
www.vtecostudies.org
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