Whew! The dust has finally settled after two fun events at Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory to help raise funds in support of our conservation and education programs.
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A Royal Tern is a welcome and rare visitor at Barr Lake northeast of Denver and home to Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory’s headquarters. Since first sighted on July 29 by Steve Mlodinow, this tern has shown off its bright orange bill to many interested gawkers.
Our Wyoming field crew met for midseason training to familiarize themselves with high-elevation plants and birds before they conducted avian surveys in June and July in forests of spruce, fir and Lodgepole Pine and in alpine tundra habitat above tree line. Most of these surveys occur in the western third of the state where technicians also must be aware of Grizzly Bears.
Some of Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory’s stewardship staff were in Pinedale, Wyoming, in late June to celebrate Sage Grouse Initiative successes with partners from national and state agencies, nonprofits and landowner organizations. Billed as “wildlife conservation through sustainable agriculture,” SGI is a model for voluntary private-lands conservation.
Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory’s Bald Eagle Watch Coordinator Cindi Kelly reports the nest we monitor about a mile from Ted’s Place northwest of Fort Collins, Colo., has survived the High Park fire so far. At one point flames were .9 miles from the nest.
A rare sight greeted 10 of us this morning as we studied the breeding birds at Chatfield State Park near Denver on an outing organized by Wild Birds Unlimited and Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory.
More than 100 guests gathered at the bird banding station at Chatfield State Park on the evening of May 4 for the opening of a new pavilion that will serve as an outdoor classroom where school groups and others can enjoy seeing and hearing about birds, banding and conservation.
RMBO has released Wintering Grassland Bird Densities in Chihuahuan Desert Grassland Priority Conservation Areas, 2007-2011documenting bird abundance, distribution, habitat use and other information collected over five years in three U.S. and six Mexican states.
Six years ago in late August, Rich Levad, Rob Sparks, Jason Beason and Ken Behrens hiked through spruce fir forest to a spot just above timberline where a Black Swift nest clung to a wet, rocky outcrop. The outing was part of Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory’s effort to collect baseline data on this little-known species. When no swifts were seen that evening, the scientists wondered if they had already started migrating – and where did they go?
The last bird that breeds in the U.S. and Canada with an unknown winter destination has finally given up its secret. After years of research – and with some luck – three Colorado researchers have learned that Black Swifts travel more than 4,000 miles to spend the winter in Brazil.
