Final report on the breeding bird inventory at Colorado National Monument, western Colorado

Giroir, Glenn

During Spring 2000, Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory (Glenn Giroir) conducted a baseline inventory of breeding birds in Colorado National Monument using distance sampling (Buckland et al. 1993). The purpose of this data collection was to establish a baseline inventory of breeding birds in Colorado National Monument. Researchers conducted a series of point transects similar to those conducted in the Monitoring Colorado's Birds program (Leukering et al. unpubl.). Twenty-seven randomly chosen transects consisted of 10 five-minute point counts spaced at 250 m intervals along a line. Points that fell on steep, inaccessible cliffs or slopes, were replaced with randomly selected alternate points from the original set of 180 point location choices. At the individual points, observers first recorded weather data and then recorded all birds seen or heard and the radial distance to each bird detected. Start and end time of each transect was also recorded. The observer recorded the UTM location of each point and whether or not the point was within 100 m of a road or trail. Researchers obtained data on 60 breeding bird species. White-throated Swifts were recorded most frequently (304 individuals). Pinyon Jay (n = 213), Bewick's Wren (n = 212), House Finch (n = 197), Black-throated Gray Warbler (n = 138), and Mourning Dove (n = 122) also revealed high sample sizes. Sixteen individual raptors of six species were detected. Infrequently detected (n < 5) passerine species included Dusky Flycatcher, Warbling Vireo, Mountain Chickadee, House Wren, Western Bluebird, Vesper Sparrow, Lark Sparrow, Bullock's Oriole, and Pine Siskin. Data is submitted within the final report, not in a database.

Final report on the breeding bird inventory at Colorado National Monument, western Colorado

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