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Big Sur Ornithology Lab Updates 2008
BSOL Update, March 2008
Spring is in the air here at Andrew Molera State Park! Spring migrants have begun returning to Big Sur, bringing song and color back to the newly-green riparian habitat. Violet-green Swallows and Tree Swallows swoop and twitter, and the cheerful songs of Wilson’s Warbler, Warbling Vireo, and Pacific-slope Flycatcher fill the air. We have already seen signs of breeding activity in our Chestnut-backed Chickadees and Song Sparrows. The Research and Education Center, banding lab, and offices are all getting a good spring cleaning to prepare for a new crew of interns and a new season of banding.
Mist-netting and Banding at Andrew Molera State Park
This month we banded just six days, but we captured 190 birds of 19 species. Our capture volume remained high thanks to Yellow-rumped Warblers, who were once again our most common capture with 89 birds. Our second most commonly captured bird was Golden-crowned Sparrow (21 birds), followed by Purple Finch and the newly-arrived Allen’s Hummingbird (10 birds each). We also captured a strikingly-colored Red-breasted Sapsucker, our first for the winter. Several early spring arrivals found their way into our nets, including Lincoln’s Sparrow (1), Orange-crowned Warbler of the subspecies lutescens (1), Rufous Hummingbird (5), and Wilson’s Warbler (5).
Mist-netting and Banding at the Carmel River Mouth
We banded one day this month at the Carmel River Mouth, but we captured 33 birds of 12 species. Our top catch was Chestnut-backed Chickadee, which accounted for over half of the total captures (17 birds). The runner-up was early spring migrant Rufous Hummingbird (3 birds), followed by Bushtit and Wilson’s Warbler (2 birds each). Other interesting spring migrant captures included Orange-crowned Warbler (subspecies lutescens) (1) and Common Yellowthroat (1).
Education and Outreach
Spring break brought quite a few visitors to Andrew Molera State Park, and we welcomed several people to the banding lab. VWS Wildlife Biologist Jessica Griffiths gave talks about the Conservation Ecology program and BSOL’s banding to the Carmel Foundation and the Santa Cruz Bird Club. She also presented an annual summary of VWS’s Monarch Butterfly monitoring to the Pacific Grove City Council, who granted us permission to tag at the Monarch Grove Sanctuary this winter.
Comings and Goings
An important chapter in VWS history comes to a close this month with the departure of Senior Wildlife Biologist Karen Shihadeh. Karen has led the Conservation Ecology program since 2005, and in her two and a half years at VWS she has been a principle force for growth in the Conservation Ecology program.
Under Karen's guidance, we secured new grants and contracts, and increased the scope of our avian monitoring to include the Central Valley and the Los Padres National Forest. She brought passion and experience to the job, and created a positive and rewarding work environment. Her energy, smile, and dedication to bird conservation made her a great supervisor and a good friend. Karen will be departing to focus more on her family, including a new bundle of joy due in August. She will still be involved in VWS via the Birdathon and other smaller projects, so she will be in touch. We will miss her, but we wish her much happiness and luck!
We also bid a reluctant farewell to intern Ryan Pottinger this month. Ryan interned for 6 months this winter, and was an integral part of the Conservation Ecology crew. He developed the pilot protocols for monitoring color-banded Chestnut-backed Chickadees which we will continue to use in order to understand their behavior and flocking dynamics. Ryan is now working in Arizona on a project studying spring stopover behavior of Wilson’s Warblers, and will spend the summer looking for Willow Flycatchers in the Grand Canyon. We will miss him, and we wish him the best of luck in his future birding endeavors!
Welcome!
Beginning April 1, we will be banding every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday through the end of October. From April 22 to May 31, we will be banding every day! Because our schedule is busy, we recommend that visitors call or e-mail Wildlife Biologist Jessica Griffiths ahead of time to confirm that we are here to welcome you. Jessica can be reached by phone at (831) 624-1202, or e-mail at jessicagriffiths AT ventanaws.org. See you soon, and don't forget your binoculars!
BSOL Update, February 2008
February is a month of transition in Big Sur. The winter rains are still with us, but the days are growing longer and the sunshine seems warmer. A few months of rain has flushed the hills green, and the willow trees are beginning to put out fuzzy buds and the earliest wildflowers are blooming. California poppies are the first to peek out, flashing their bright orange faces towards the sun. The very earliest year-round residents have already begun singing, and Spotted Towhees and Bewick’s Wrens have begun serenading from the greening bushes. Male Anna’s Hummingbirds are displaying their iridescent pink heads and diving through the air in dramatic courtship displays. The Big Sur River has calmed itself somewhat, and we are able to wade across once again. Spring is coming, and we are ready for it!
Mist-netting and Banding at Andrew Molera State Park
Despite the rain mid-month, we were able to band for six days this month, capturing 125 birds of 16 species. Yellow-rumped Warblers continued to reign supreme this month as we captured 80 birds of that species (64% of the monthly total). Hermit Thrush (7 birds) was a distant second, and Spotted Towhee, Fox Sparrow, and Anna’s Hummingbird tied for third place (5 birds). Interesting captures included a Western Scrub-Jay and a Winter Wren. We also caught our first official spring migrant: an Allen’s Hummingbird!
Mist-netting and Banding at the Carmel River Mouth
We banded for one day this month at the mouth of the Carmel River, but we managed to catch 25 birds of 9 species. Our most numerous capture was Ruby-crowned Kinglet (6 birds), followed by Hermit Thrush and Anna’s Hummingbird (5 birds each). Interesting captures include a Hutton’s Vireo and an Orange-crowned Warbler of the subspecies that overwinters here in Monterey County.
Monarch Butterfly Monitoring
February was the final month of this season’s Monarch Butterfly project, and we wrapped up another great year of counting and tagging our favorite winter visitors. The increase in day length and the warming rays of the sun triggered the annual Monarch Butterfly mating frenzy! By the second week of February (right around Valentine’s Day!) the butterflies were chasing each other all over the place. They mated on the ground, in the air, and in the trees. After mating, the female Monarchs gradually leave the coast and head inland to find milkweed, the only plant they will lay their eggs on. Monarch totals for February were highest at the start of the month with 19,084 in the county. By the last week of the month, the number had declined to 4,370 as the butterflies dispersed.
In order to learn more about where exactly the butterflies go once they leave Monterey County, we conducted two tagging sessions in February. The first session was not successful because all of the butterflies had moved outside of the Monarch Sanctuary. But the kind-hearted couple who lives behind the sanctuary (who will remain anonymous to protect their privacy) generously granted us permission to conduct a tagging session in their backyard! Thanks to them, we were able to tag 998 new butterflies this month. Our grand total this season was 3,561 butterflies tagged! We are hopeful that at least some of those will be spotted outside the peninsula, giving us important information about their spring movement. Remember, if you find a tagged butterfly, please call the toll-free number on the tag and report where you found it. We had a great time monitoring the butterflies and we couldn’t have done it without our volunteers! A special “Thank you!” to our counters John, Tama, and Christi, and thank you to the host of volunteers who assisted with the butterfly tagging. We wish the butterflies luck on their milkweed search, and look forward to seeing their great-grandchildren next fall!
Education and Outreach
While we only had a handful of visitors to the banding lab this month, we did participate in some fun outreach activities! VWS ran a table at the annual Santa Cruz Migration Festival, where kids could learn about bird banding and condor tracking and color a picture of a Monarch Butterfly. Jessica Griffiths gave talks at the festival about bird and butterfly migration, and later in the month gave a talk to the Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society. VWS Conservation Ecology staff and interns also attended a roundtable mini-conference hosted by the Central Coast Chapter of The Wildlife Society at California Polytechnic University. At the end of the month, VWS hosted our seventh semi-annual VWS Staff Conference. Several staff and interns gave talks on a variety of topics, including Chestnut-backed Chickadee flocking dynamics, the thorny issue of non-native bird species, and etc etc This conference is a great way for VWS personnel to communicate to each other and to members of the board and community about what exactly we do and how we’re making a difference.
Welcome!
Due to the unpredictability of winter weather, we will be banding only one to two days a week (generally Wednesdays and Thursdays) at Andrew Molera State Park through March. As a result, the lab may not be open on a given day. So, please call or e-mail Wildlife Biologist Jessica Griffiths ahead of time to confirm that we are here to welcome you. Jessica can be reached by phone at (831) 624-1202, or e-mail at jessicagriffiths AT ventanaws.org. See you soon, and don't forget your binoculars!
BSOL Update, January 2008
The year started with a bang as one of the severest storms to hitthe central coast in the last 10 years swept through during the first week of January. Gale-force winds and driving rain felled trees and swelled rivers all up and down the coast. Big Sur didn’t escape the fury of the storm, and we had several downed trees in our study area. At higher elevations, the rain fell as snow, and the peaks of the Santa Lucia Mountains wore sparkling white crowns. The Big Sur River swelled to a raging, muddy torrent, which meant that we had to use our special hanging bosun’s chair to get across the river to band! But the deluge was much-needed, and in response to the rains, bright green new growth popped up everywhere. In between the storms and showers, the sun shone brightly and puffy white clouds chased each other across the blue sky.
Mist-netting and Banding at Andrew Molera State Park
Because of the inclement weather this month, we were only able to band for 5 days. But in just those five days we captured 187 birds of 17 species! Our highest one-day banding total this month was 65 birds, which is one of the highest January capture totals ever recorded at BSOL. Our number one bird capture continues to be Yellow-rumped Warbler (96 birds). Our second place species was Purple Finch (37 birds), due mainly to the flock of 28 that were all captured together in one net! Other common captures included Golden-crowned Sparrow (11 birds) and Ruby-crowned Kinglet (10 birds). Other interesting birds that turned up in our nets were a striking male Lesser Goldfinch and an Orange-crowned Warbler. We also banded three very feisty Sharp-shinned Hawks.
Mist-netting and Banding at the Carmel River Mouth
This month we only banded once at the Carmel River Mouth because we had to wait for the flooding to recede. However, during that one day we banded 26 birds of 11 species. Our top capture was Ruby-crowned Kinglet (7 birds), followed by Chestnut-backed Chickadee (5 birds) and Orange-crowned Warbler (3 birds). Interestingly, we only captured one Yellow-rumped Warbler at this site. Our most exciting capture was an adult male Common Yellowthroat.
Monarch Butterfly Monitoring
The Monarch Butterflies were blown around quite a bit by this month’s storms, though most of them managed to find their way back to their clusters after about a week. The peak number of butterflies in all sites in Monterey County this month was 10,260. We held another butterfly tagging session in mid-January, but unfortunately the butterflies did not cooperate! Due to the severe weather, the butterflies all re-clustered in Monterey Pines and Monterey Cypress trees out of reach of our butterfly net. We only managed to nab about 50 butterflies to tag. While a bit frustrating for us, it was a great illustration of the way Monarchs choose what trees to cluster on based on the weather. Coniferous trees offer them more shelter because the needles are easier to cling to, and the butterflies can cluster more tightly. Maybe we will have more luck tagging them next month!
Education and Outreach
We only had a handful of visitors to the banding lab this month thanks to the weather. But BSOL birders participated in the annual Upper Carr Lake Bird Count in association with Return of the Natives. This annual count in Salinas is being used to track the success of the native plant restoration around the lake. This year, with the help of some of Monterey County’s best birders, we counted over 65 species, a new high! VWS Biologist Jessica Griffiths also gave a talk to students at CSUMB in order to recruit volunteers for the summer. If you know a college student in the Monterey area who would be interested in working with VWS, please contact us.
Welcome!
Due to the unpredictability of winter weather, we will be banding only two to three days a week (generally Wednesdays and Thursdays) at Andrew Molera State Park through March. As a result, the lab may not be open on a given day. So, please call or e-mail Wildlife Biologist Jessica Griffiths ahead of time to confirm that we are here to welcome you. Jessica can be reached by phone at (831) 624-1202, or e-mail at jessicagriffiths AT ventanaws.org. See you soon, and don't forget your binoculars!
2007 Big Sur Ornithology Lab Updates