[TN-Bird] song sparrows in macon county, tn

From: "Stephen Stedman" <SStedman@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: <tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Thu, 4 Jul 2013 10:07:46 -0500

I conducted some breeding bird work in Macon County recently.  I worked
in each of the 32 blocks that were covered in that county during the TN
breeding bird atlas project; I spent 2-3 hours in each block, counting
all birds seen and heard.  During the atlas, field work was conducted
only in the 5 priority blocks located in the county, as well as 8
additional blocks.

 

During the atlas project (1986-1991) in Macon County, Song Sparrows were
recorded in 2 priority blocks and in 1 other block.  During June 2013, I
counted Song Sparrows in all 5 priority blocks and in 26 or the other 27
blocks in the county.  The only block where I did not record a Song
Sparrow was the Westmoreland 3 block, located in the far western end of
that county.  In all, I counted 236 Song sparrows, or 7.37 per block.  

 

The distribution and probably the population density of Song Sparrows
increased considerably in Macon County during the two decades that
elapsed between the end of the atlas project and the field work I
conducted this year; these changes are consistent with the known pattern
of changes that have taken place in Tennessee with regard to this
songbird's distribution and abundance.

 

It would be interesting to conduct field work that would result in data
showing how far west in Tennessee such changes are taking place in the
population of Song Sparrows. A few years ago Ron Hoff mentioned the
possibility of repeating the atlas project; has anything come of this
suggestion?

 

Stephen J. Stedman, Ph.D.

Professor Emeritus

Tennessee Technological University

2675 Lakeland Dr.

Cookeville, TN 38506

 

931-528-3820

 

http://iweb.tntech.edu/sstedman/birds.htm
<http://iweb.tntech.edu/sstedman/birds.htm>

[TN-Bird] song sparrows in macon county, tn

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