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Bird safety is their number one priority
A yellow-breasted chat is banded for future study on how the warbler is faring in declining habitat. By PAUL FATTIG MERLIN - John Alexander probably would agree with the adage that a bird in hand is worth two in the bush. But only if that bird is safely caught and quickly released from a researcher's gentle hand. "Our number one priority out here is bird safety," stressed the executive director of the Ashland-based Klamath Bird Observatory. "If the bird is in the net and gets wet, it has no way of keeping warm." That's why heavy rain prompted Alexander, a biologist by training, to call off a planned netting Tuesday morning at a monitoring site near the Rogue River on the Bureau of Land Management's Medford District. Tuesday was the final netting day of the season for the site, one of 50 monitoring stations the observatory operates in Southern Oregon and Northern California to help keep tabs on the health of the wild bird population. "A network of stations like this is important as a barometer gauging how we're doing as far as conservation across the continent," he explained. "This gives us information on productivity and survivorship as well as general population trends." This marks the seventh consecutive year the site has been in operation. Here, the monitoring begins in May during the breeding season and continues into migration through the end of October. Some of the other sites are operated year-round. The non-profit research and educational group is working closely with the BLM, Forest Service, Southern Oregon University and private groups. It is part of the Partners In Flight International Landbird Conservation Program. "We are crossing administrative boundaries," Alexander said. After all, birds don't pay attention to state or agency boundaries, he noted. BLM district spokeswoman Jeanne Klein agreed, noting the goal of PIF is to work together to conserve wild bird populations in the hemisphere. The Merlin site has been one of the most active in the monitoring system, she said. During the spring, summer and early fall of 2000, 1,250 birds were banded, 443 recaptures were recorded and 113 birds were released unbanded, she said. "Everyone working in the program is very careful with the birds," said Vicki Arthur, a wildlife biologist for the BLM's Medford District. "I've been really impressed with the caliber of people working to try to figure out what the conservation picture is for the birds." Another BLM monitoring site is located in Douglas County near Galesville Reservoir, while several other sites are located in the upper reaches of the Applegate Valley in the Rogue River National Forest. There are monitoring stations on the Klamath River, in the Brookings area and around Klamath Lake as well as two in Ashland. Resident birds such as blue jays and song sparrows are monitored at the stations year-round. The reason for the monitoring that began a decade ago is that several species within the region are in decline, Alexander said. "We need to learn whether it's because they are not successfully breeding here or because they are not making it back from their migration," he said. "We need to piece that out at each of the different stations." The migrants are neotropical birds who winter in the tropics of Central or South America. One is the yellow-breasted chat, North America's largest warbler. A bit boisterous, it can often be heard singing at night. But the bird that winters in Mexico and Central America breeds in Oregon, where it is on the state's sensitive species list. "It is one of the birds that has shown decline," he said. "That decline is mostly because of loss of habitat. They require a riparian habitat with willows and native understory to the willows to breed." Yet more than 80 percent of that habitat has been lost in Oregon and California, he said. The researchers are trying to find out how the birds are faring in the remaining habitat, Alexander said. Netting the birds - using mist nets made of hair-like nylon - is yielding information that couldn't be garnered otherwise, he said. "It wasn't until we started mist netting here along these corridors that we identified this habitat as extremely important for the migration of the willow flycatcher," he said. "Without using this net, we would have never known that." The bird is much easier to identify in the hand, he noted. "What we're able to get with nets that we're unable to get with just observation is demographic measurements on populations," he said. "We're measuring ratios between young and old. We find out how many young birds during the breeding season are being produced in areas like this." The researchers also look at the ages of birds moving through or wintering in an area. "Each year, we are able to measure their productivity and survivorship," he said. "We want to know if the birds are making it back from Central America." Once caught in the net, each bird is quickly identified, its age and sex determined and then it is banded. "You can't do all of that without catching it," he said. Reach reporter Paul Fattig at 776-4496 or e-mail him at pfattig@mailtribune.com |
