Birds can migrate thousands of miles a year between their breeding and wintering grounds. Where, exactly, do they go? What routes do they take and where do they stopover? RMBO biologists set out to answer these questions for Western Tanagers and Swainson’s Thrushes that breed in Rocky Mountain National Park in a project for the National Park Service. CSU student Marina Rodriguez writes about this project and reveals whether the biologists were indeed successful.
Earlier this year, RMBO hosted forums to gauge feedback on a new Decision Support Tool. The tool helps compare management options that ensure the economic viability of grazing lands with the habitat needs of sagebrush-dependent songbirds and grouse.
Bird banding brings us cool birds, interesting insights and always new questions, and this spring was no exception. We again shared these experiences with hundreds of visitors, from toddlers to school kids to adults of all ages. Without further ado, here are the birdy highlights from the spring.
Every year at this time, we get calls from people who have spotted a baby bird out of its nest and want to know what to do. They’re concerned, and rightfully so. We all love our feathered friends and want to see their little ones survive and prosper, so we put together this blog post to share some useful insights and resources with you.
Variety keeps life exciting. This is not only true in our personal experiences, but in the way we present our backyard habitats to those creatures we are attempting to entice to these feeding areas. David Menough, owner of Wild Birds Unlimited of Arvada , offers tips on a variety of attractors you can use to entice more diverse populations of birds.
Since many bird species that breed in the Rockies and elsewhere in the western U.S. winter in Central America, it’s important for RMBO and partners to support and advance conservation abroad. In March, Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory coordinated a landmark meeting in San Vito, Costa Rica, to determine the conservation status of the birds of Central America.
Spring migration is under way. Just as the birds return north, so do the RMBO scientists who study them on their wintering grounds. Back home in Colorado, biologist Erin Strasser offers preliminary results from a second season studying winter survival and habitat use of Baird’s and Grasshopper Sparrows in the Chihuahuan Desert grasslands.
Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory is testing the effectiveness of different types of fence markers to help Greater Sage-Grouse avoid collisions with fences. Field crew leader Taylor Gorman and biologist Nick Van Lanen write from frigid Sublette County, Wyoming, on the importance of markers for reducing grouse mortalities and report on progress of RMBO’s study thus far.
RMBO is partnering with the University of Colorado-Denver to support a graduate research project to better understand how Mountain Plovers utilize habitat during the nesting cycle. Biologists will study their foraging habits by tracking adult plovers using radio-telemetry. CSU student Jamie Osterbuhr writes about this research, taking place in the crop fields of western Nebraska.
In November of 2013, RMBO and the local birding community lost an extraordinary friend, Jim Duggan. In April, 50 of Jim’s friends gathered at RMBO’s Old Stone House to dedicate a bench in his honor. Board chairman Larry Modesitt writes about the ceremony and Jim’s lasting gift to RMBO.
