Date: 9/2/26 2:10 pm From: \Hurlbert, Allen Hartley\ (via carolinabirds Mailing List) <carolinabirds...> Subject: NC Mini Breeding Bird Survey
Hi all,
This summer the NC Mini Breeding Bird Survey (started by Dr. Haven Wiley in 1999) completed its 28th year of monitoring Orange, Chatham (since 2000), and Durham (since 2002) counties in North Carolina using roadside point counts as employed by the North American BBS.
Mini BBS routes are just ~10 miles long (versus the 25 mile-long BBS routes), but we are able to pack a high density of these routes (34 total!) within a small area which otherwise has barely any national BBS coverage.
You can view the latest species trends up through 2026 on the project website's Results page<https://minibbs.us/species>. Click on the "Trend % Change per Year" column header to sort the species by trend. Click on a species name to see trends for that species on individual routes or by county.
Thanks to the many volunteers that help collect these data each year, many of whom have been doing so since the project's inception!
Standout PhD student Ivara Goulden has been diving into these data and found that ~27% of species have been increasing (e.g. Yellow-throated Warbler, Acadian Flycatcher, White-eyed Vireo, Red-shouldered Hawk), ~16% are roughly stable, and 57% have been decreasing (e.g. Wood Thrush, House Sparrow, Common Grackle, Northern Flicker). They have been digging into these data and are excited to share some of the results from their work with this listserv in the coming year. While some trends may have species-specific explanations (e.g. Northern Bobwhite), others might be explained by more general patterns of habitat association or other traits.
In the meantime, feel free to explore the trends and share any interesting observations or hypotheses you might have!
