Mortality of Parental Mountain Plovers (\u3ci\u3eCharadrius montanus\u3c/i\u3e) during the Post-hatching Stage

Monitoring, management, and conservation of grassland birds are topics of importance because of widespread population declines. Annual estimates of survival are available for many species, however knowledge of how survival varies on a seasonal basis remains poor. Information on the relative effects of breeding, overwintering, and migratory periods on population dynamics is necessary for effective management. Mortality risks often vary with the stage of the breeding cycle. In precocial species, mortality risks of adult birds are often higher during post-hatching care than prehatching. Using a multistate modeling approach, I investigated the influence of both environmental characteristics, measured by habitat, and individual characteristics, measured by sex and body mass, on post-hatching parental mortality of a declining grassland species, the Mountain Plover (Charadrius montanus). I found minimal evidence to support the effect of habitat, sex, or body mass on post-hatching parental mortality. Daily parental mortality was 0.0037 (SE = 0.0007, CI = 0.0026, 0.0053) and survival during the 30-day post-hatching period was 0.8943 (SE = 0.0187, CI = 0.8512, 0.9255). The findings from this study provide an understanding of the associations with today’s grassland habitats and the dynamics of Mountain Plovers during the breeding season. Prior to assessing if alterations in habitats are acting more on post-hatching than the other stages of the annual cycle for the Mountain Plover, information on survival during other breeding stages and during migration is needed to assist in developing effective conservation and management plans

Monitoring programs to assess reintroduction efforts: a critical component in recovery

Reintroduction is a powerful tool in our conservation toolbox. However, the necessary follow–up, i.e. long–term monitoring, is not commonplace and if instituted may lack rigor. We contend that valid monitoring is possible, even with sparse data. We present a means to monitor based on demographic data and a projection model using the Wyoming toad (Bufo baxteri) as an example. Using an iterative process, existing data is built upon gradually such that demographic estimates and subsequent inferences increase in reliability. Reintroduction and defensible monitoring may become increasingly relevant as the outlook for amphibians, especially in tropical regions, continues to deteriorate and emergency collection, captive breeding, and reintroduction become necessary. Rigorous use of appropriate modeling and an adaptive approach can validate the use of reintroduction and substantially increase its value to recovery programs

Assessing Grazing as a Conservation Tool in Sagebrush and Grassland Ecosystems

Grazing is a powerful tool to address wildlife declines associated with land use conversion in the western United States. Grazing systems can be manipulated to achieve desired vegetation outcomes, preserve native habitat and economically benefit multiple stakeholders. As a result, systems designed to benefit native ecosystems are being widely implemented. However, the benefits of these grazing systems on many wildlife communities remain relatively unexplored. Songbirds provide an ideal study system to test these benefits because they continue to use landscapes that are currently grazed. We compared songbird communities between two grazing systems in eastern Montana: rest-rotation systems and season-long systems. Our results suggest grassland and sagebrush (Artemsia spp.) associated species, many of which are of conservation concern, exhibit a mixed response to these two grazing types. Grassland associated species are more abundant in season-long grazing systems than rest-rotation grazing systems. In contrast, sagebrush associated species show no difference in abundance between the two grazing systems. These results suggest that grazing management may have the largest impact on grassland associated species. In contrast to the idea that different grazing management can have effects on a wide variety species with similar life history traits, such as birds, we found that differences in grazing management only affected a small subset of species. Our findings provide essential information for assessing the suitability of grazing as a conservation tool

The Effects of Beetle-Induced Tree Death on Forest Bird Diversity in Western Montana

In forest ecosystems, climate change can hinder management success by increasing the frequency and intensity of fire and insect outbreaks that cause massive tree die-offs and abrupt habitat change. Resource managers often use ecological indicators to gain insight into the health and status of ecosystems due to the challenge of monitoring all aspects of any ecosystem. Birds are increasingly identified as appropriate taxa for predicting changes in biodiversity and ecological integrity around the globe. We assessed the effects of bark beetle induced forest die-off on patterns of avian diversity in western Montana. We used songbirds, which are ubiquitous and possess attributes capturing the complexity of forests as ecological indicators. In addition to assessing the effects of bark beetle forest die-off on bird diversity we also sought to examine the relative importance of the “conspecific neighborhood” in influencing species-level occurrence rates at a given survey location. This approach is motivated by the idea that individuals of a species aggregate around resources. It follows, that a species is more likely to occur in a patch surrounded by other occupied patches (the conspecific neighborhood). Incorporating measures of spatial autocorrelation in ecological studies is not new. However, this topic is only just beginning to be applied in the context of more recent analytical advances such as Bayesian multi-species hierarchal models used to estimate species abundance and occurrence rates

Possible Use of Wading Birds as Beaters by Snail Kites, Boat-Tailed Grackles, and Limpkins

Foraging in single- or mixed-species flocks is common among many bird species, and the advantages of being in these flocks have been the focus of several investigations (reviewed by Moynihan 1962, Bertram 1978). It has been hypothesized that birds occurring in mixed-species flocks gain advantages from (1) reduced predation risk (e.g., Moynihan 1962, Morse 1970), (2) increased foraging efficiency (e.g., Moynihan 1962, Morse 1970), or (3) social learning (e.g., Ward and Zahavi 1973). Here, we report the anomalous occurrence of flocks consisting of species not typically found in the types of aggregations we describe and suggest the possible function of these aggregations with respect to these hypotheses

Use of Red Mangrove for Nesting by Snail Kites in Florida

During 1999 we monitored Snail Kite nesting activity throughout central and south Florida as part of an ongoing study from 1995 to 1999 evaluating the influences of environmental variation on the demography of the Florida population of Snail Kites. We discovered three nests in red mangrove built approximately 2 m above water. These nests were located in the stairstep unit of Big Cypress National Preserve and Everglades National Park, south ofHwy 441 in Lostman\u27s Slough

The Occurrence of Snail Kite Nests with Four Fledglings in Florida

During 1997 we monitored Snail Kite nests throughout their range in central and southern Florida as part of a larger, ongoing study of demography of Snail Kites in Florida. We monitored 345 nests of which 7 (2.0%) contained 4 eggs. Of these large clutch nests, two nests successfully fledged four young. These nests were located 0.34 km apart in Water Conservation Area-3A (WCA-3A), which is a 23,700 ha impoundment located in Dade and Broward counties 25 km west of Miami to the north of Highway 41 and to the south of Interstate-75

Investigating the Effects of Bison Grazing on Grassland Songbirds

The National Bison Range (NBR) in the Mission Valley of Montana manages a herd of 325-350 bison (Bison bison).  Bison are rotated through eight grazing pastures, which consist mostly of intermountain grassland.  This creates different grazing intensities, based on length of time grazed, season grazed, and density of bison. Grazing is considered to be an important source of disturbance in grassland systems. However, different grazing intensities may create more or less favorable conditions for grassland breeding songbirds, a suite of birds that has declined drastically over the last few decades. This research investigates the interaction between bison grazing and songbird abundance. We used double-dependent observer transects to record grassland songbird observations during the pilot season of 2015. We present preliminary results from the pilot season of grassland songbird abundance and density. The outcomes will culminate into a concrete, local monitoring program for the NBR to support conservation of grassland songbirds, and will allow them to adjust management activities to maintain suitable grassland songbird habitat.  Furthermore, the research will illuminate the relationship between a native grazer and grassland birds. While domestic livestock have largely replaced native grazers on grasslands, numerous reintroduction efforts of bison have been proposed.  This study will help inform the expected outcomes and management objectives of those reintroduction efforts