This photo journal highlights the most recent winter field season monitoring grassland birds in the Chihuahuan Desert in Mexico. Teaching telemetry, radio tracking Grasshopper Sparrows and assessing predation/mortality rates are all a major part of this program.
Aplomado Falcons once ranged across the northern reaches of the Chihuahuan Desert in Mexico, but their numbers have sharply declined in recent years. Bird Conservancy is working with with local partners and agricultural producers to improve habitat and provide specially-designed nesting platforms, with promising results.
Listening to a Continent Sing by birdsong expert Donald Kroodsma is a celebration of singing birds and the voices of people as well. In this interview, we caught up with the author who shared stories from his incredible 10-week, 10-state “birding by bicycle” journey with his son David.
The Integrated Monitoring in Bird Conservation Regions (IMBCR) program is one of the largest bird monitoring programs in North America, covering a work area of 450,545 square miles across all or parts of 13 western states in the U.S. 2016 will see a major expansion of IMBCR in partnership with Playa Lakes Joint Venture. Growth of the program complements monitoring efforts in the Northern Great Plains and promises encounters with even more bird species.
The McCown’s Longspur is suffering a stark decline—an astounding 95% drop since 1966. Researchers are investigating the breeding success of this ground-nesting grassland species on the Central Plains Experimental Range (CPER), located adjacent to the Pawnee National Grasslands in northeast Colorado.
Bird Conservancy of the Rockies (formerly Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory) and partners wrapped up their seventh season of surveys under the Integrated Monitoring in Bird Conservation Regions program, one of the largest breeding bird monitoring programs in North America. Seasonal biologist David Kramer offers highlights from a wet, snowy survey season.
The Bird Conservancy (formerly Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory) collaborated with a graduate student at Oxford University to study the impacts of natural gas well pads and their associated roads on the distribution of sagebrush-obligate songbirds. The student, Max Mutter, writes about the experiences leading up to the study and shares a key result.
Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory is assisting federal and state partners in studying Golden Eagles breeding in Nebraska and Colorado. We are learning where these eagles go using satellite telemetry, as well as their nesting success, habitat use, and survival rate and mortality factors. Find out where one Golden Eagle traveled during a 10-day period this June!
In late March, Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory facilitated a workshop in Panama to assess the conservation status of the birds of Central America. The results, though preliminary, show that 52% of all birds assessed have experienced strong or severe population declines in Central America.
Despite sub-zero temperatures, 34 volunteers took part in this year’s Christmas Bird Count at Barr Lake. Count compiler Chuck Hundertmark offers a report on birds observed that day, including new highs for three species and a new bird for the Barr Lake count.
