I volunteer for the Department of the Interior a couple of evenings a year. This time each spring we drive to Danforth and count male woodcock in their singing grounds. Tonight was slow. The route is 3.6 miles long and takes up to 38 minutes. Tonight I counted only four males, the lowest count so far. One night next week we’ll drive to Amity to count that route.
Counting involves the exact timing of sunset plus 15 or 22 minutes depending on cloud cover. You listen for two minutes then drive .4 miles, listen two minutes then drive .4 miles, and repeat for a total of 10 stops. If the temperature is lower than 40° at starting time the count is canceled for the night. I have from April 10 to May 20 this year. Steve recorded the GPS coordinates for me on my first counts in 2006. I have to mark down the level of disturbance (no to high) and make any necessary notes. One of tonight’s notes is about stop number nine. It’s the parts yard for the wind farm. Speaking of the wind farm, there are blades on one turbine now. Four or five more are up but without blades.
When I finish counting I log into the Dept of the Interior website and enter my data. When both counts are finished I mail paper copies to a biologist at Moosehorn National Wildlife Refuge in Baring and to the US Fish and Wildlife Service, Div of Migratory Bird Management in Laurel, MD.
In other states where counts are conducted singing grounds are decreasing. Open fields are either developed or returning to forest. The overall average number of males counted in the 1960’s was 3.8 birds per route. That number has fallen to 2. Maine is the only state where singing grounds aren’t changing as drastically according to the data I read tonight.
Filed under: Farm | Tagged: birds, Maine, Moosehorn National Wildlife Refuge, Nature, outdoor, Wildlife
there is another huge wind farm going in on a ridge above the property we have an offer on. While we were exploring the area, we drove around and just found it, got to watch one of the huge generators (big box on a truck) being taking in… there is one up and no blades yet. I was told there will be 30 or so when they are done.
I’d love to get involved with counting birds, like you do, once we are settled.
It’s the same wind farm! If you were to settle into that place we’d be about 25 minutes apart!
Well you learn something new every day. Counting by song—cool.
I try to participate in a Chimney Swift count every year, but have been unsuccessful so far in getting a good count. They roost in our chimney every year and you are supposed to count them as they return for the night. The evidently don’t like being counted, as they return from the opposite side of the house that I am on. I seldom see them go in??? Their roosting/nesting habitat is disappearing because folks are no longer building real chimneys—they build what I call fake fireplaces/chimneys. Tiny firebox and an 8 inch metal tube that serves as the chimney. The facade looks real, but the birds need a wide, deep, lumpy place to roost and rear young.
This sounds really neat. We’ve been doing Project Feeder Watch for years.