Date: 3/31/25 7:36 pm From: Al Eisner via groups.io <eisner...> Subject: Re: [pen-bird] Absence of Fox Sparrows
Hi, David et al.:
This year's Palo Alto CBC had just 0.05 Fox Sparrows per party hour (12
birds). Over the previous 15 years there have been several (especially
toward the start and end of that period) with a "bsae" value of about
0.075, but it has been quite variable, with the average probably about
twice that. I'm not prepared to call this a trend yet, particularly
because the past two counts have been held in intermittent rain, but
the most recent number was certaqly low.
Al
On Mon, 31 Mar 2025, David Suddjian via groups.io wrote:
> I could look it up on the National Audubon CBC page, but I wonder how the local Christmas Bird Counts in the Santa Cruz Mountains region (or more broadly) measured up this past winter compared to avg? The best data for that species would be standardized by total party hours for each count, but even the raw counts might be interesting.
>
> David Suddjian
>
> On Mon, Mar 31, 2025 at 2:26 PM Kris via groups.io<http://groups.io> <grlbordr...><mailto:<yahoo.com...>> wrote:
> I live across the street from the Fitzgerald Marine Reserve bridge. The past several years it has been a struggle to keep up with my five large bird feeders; lately it’s been a ghost town. I’m guessing it’s at least a 75% drop off, and I’m missing fox sparrows that visit very often. The hummers appear to be the same.
>
> I’ve had a huge drop off in raccoon, opossum and skunks too.
>
> I’m glad to see these posts, only to suggest I’m not making these huge drop offs up.
>
> Kris
>
>
> <https://mail.onelink.me/107872968?pid=nativeplacement&c=Global_Acquisition_YMktg_315_Internal_EmailSignature&af_sub1=Acquisition&af_sub2=Global_YMktg&af_sub3=&af_sub4=100000604&af_sub5=EmailSignature__Static_> >
>
> On Monday, March 31, 2025, 11:22, Garth Harwood via groups.io<http://groups.io> <gharwood...><mailto:<hiddenvilla.org...>> wrote:
>
> Weighing in from several of my coastside birding patches including my Pescadero home: I too have seen a complete absence of Fox Sparrows this winter, both at home and at my favorite coastside spots (which have consistently held them since I started birding a lot here in the mid-1990s.)
>
> I'm used to seeing fluctuations in a lot of species such as wintering Varied Thrushes or waxwings, which follow local trends in equally variable food resources, but Fox Sparrows have tended to be real homebodies and very stable from year to year. So I think this is a phenomenon worth monitoring.
>
> On a positive note, my first Warbling Vireo of the spring showed up in my yard yesterday, and my first Wilson's Warbler sang here this morning 3/31.
>
> Garth Harwood, Pescadero
>
> On Sun, Mar 30, 2025 at 2:42 PM Naomi via groups.io<http://groups.io> <nlgoodman...><mailto:<hotmail.com...>> wrote:
> The eBird Status and Trends report shows a steep decline (>25%) over their entire range between 2012 and 2022. After 2022, it appears that 2024 was a particularly bad year. Here are the number of checklists with Fox Sparrows and number of individual Fox Sparrows reported each year in San Mateo County (stats from Birdview).
>
> #checklists #birds
> 2020 1159 2923
> 2021 1266 2725
> 2022 1291 3206
> 2023 1053 2124
> 2024 599 1307
>
> I haven't had one in my yard since 2019. Worrisome.
>
>
>
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> Deep Roots, Flourishing Future
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> The Trust For Hidden Villa
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