With summer waning, RMBO has completed its sixth season of conducting surveys under the Integrated Monitoring in Bird Conservation Regions (IMBCR) program. How many birds were counted? What new and rare species were detected? Biologist Nick Van Lanen answers these questions and offers a wrap-up of another successful summer survey season.
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.
Spring is right around the corner, and you know what that means … spring migration and bird banding! We’re getting prepared and excited for the upcoming banding season. But before we get the mist nets out for another season, we wanted to share some birdy highlights from the fall (a little late, we know, but better late than never, right?).
t was a quality over quantity kind of season for banding Northern Saw-whet Owls this fall. While banders in North and South Dakota caught fewer owls per night, they recovered a total of 10 owls, or birds banded at another station or during a different season. Where were the owls first banded, and when? Read this post to find out (hint: one was first banded more than 1,300 miles east!).
Now that fall is upon us in the Rockies, RMBO biologists and technicians are finishing proofing data gathered this summer under the Integrated Monitoring in Bird Conservation Regions (IMBCR) program. It’s not glamorous, but with proofing data comes the confirmation of cool new species for the program. Biologist Nick Van Lanen reports on the summer field season and species detected for the first time during IMBCR surveys.
How many mosquitoes can a little brown bat eat in an hour? Do bats really get caught in people’s hair? Educator Maggie Vinson answers these questions in her write-up of the WILD About Bats workshop, held earlier this summer to inform citizens and educators about this diverse and ecologically important suite of mammals.
In early June, a LightHawk pilot and his wife volunteered their time and plane to help Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory with a census of Ferruginous Hawks and Golden Eagles nesting in the panhandle region of western Nebraska. How many birds were spotted on their nests? Wildlife Biologist Angela Dwyer offers results from the surveys, used to gauge population stability for these species.
On the third Saturday in May, Wildlands Day is held at Wildcat Hills State Recreation Area. More than a hundred people attended this year’s event to enjoy the abundance of plants and wildlife in the hills of western Nebraska. Educator Maggie Vinson writes about the day and makes a great case for attending the seventh incarnation of the event in 2014.
RMBO’s field crew discovered its first Mountain Plover nest of the season on May 8. After the cold start to spring, this newly laid nest with a clutch of three eggs was an important find. Biologist Larry Snyder writes about the find and RMBO’s plover nest conservation program on the RMBO blog.
Every spring, more than a half-million Sandhill Cranes migrate through central Nebraska, where they stopover and spend a few weeks feeding in and along the North Platte River and surrounding land. Since 1971, the Rivers and Wildlife Celebration has been an annual event timed with this great bird migration.
