Fermilab Grassland Birds http home fnal govkaspertalksGrassland Birds

Fermilab Grassland Birds http: //home. fnal. gov/~kasper/talks/Grassland. Birds. ppt Peter Kasper

FERMILAB World’s Highest Energy Particle Accelerator 6, 800 acres with a variety of “natural” habitats Restored Prairie Non-native Grasslands Woodlands Wetlands Man-made Lakes Agricultural Tracts

The Fermilab Bird Survey • Started in 1987 by Vicki Byre (C. A. S) and P. K. • Goals • What birds use the site? • At what time of year? • Use knowledge obtained to permit bird friendly land management – E. g. When to mow and when to burn grasslands.

The Fermilab Bird Survey • Technique • Divide year into 48 quarter months – Shortest time interval over which I can hope to achieve reasonable coverage of the site – Provides at least one weekend in each division • Divide survey into 5 year periods – Averages over weather conditions – Averages when the weekend occurs in a quarter month – Provides an opportunity to fill gaps in my coverage … e. g. vacation, work, illness • Record presence not numbers – Too time intensive

The Fermilab Bird Survey • Supplementary Data • Breeding status in each period – Confirmed ( nest, recently fledged young, or carrying food ) – Likely ( singing male on territory …same location for a week or more) – Possible ( seen in the right sort of habitat at the right time of year ) • Year last seen • Notes on rarer observations

Summary of Results • 4 survey periods covering past 18+ years • 1987 to 1991 • 1992 to 1996 • 1997 to 2001 • 2002 to now • 277 species recorded on site • 91 confirmed breeding, plus 6 likely and a further 12 possible • 3 are pre-survey records • Red Phalarope - 1981 • Garganey - 1982 • Snowy Owl - 1984

Example Species Data Yellow-bellied Rough-legged Common Cooper’s Bobolink Merganser Sapsucker Hawk Spring Migrant → Winter Visitor Summer Winter Resident Migrant Visitor Increasing Decreasing Increasing Stable? Stable

Number of species versus time of year • Wintering species have increased • New species continue to be added

Categorized according to “normal” site usage. • Some summer visitors are becoming year round residents

Migrants categorized by family. . . – Waterfowl are earliest and latest – Shorebirds are heading south in late June

Grassland Birds • The survey tells us what grassland birds have occurred on site and roughly when they were there • Upland Sandpipers were regular breeders until 2002 • Henslow’s Sparrows were absent until 2000, but have been regular since • It does NOT provide quantitative data on abundances • Grasshopper Sparrows are declining but have been regular throughout the survey

Where Grassland do the Areas birds breed? Prairies Introduced Various sizes and Grasses stages of succession Upland Maintained Sandpiper with late Maintained summer Henslow’s with fire mowing Sparrow Grasshopper Sparrow

Henslow’s Sparrow • Historical data indicates they were present on site as late as 1978 • Not recorded in the survey until 2000 ( ~ 10 territories) • Regular since then • Mainly in non-native grasses • In 2002 and 2004 breeding territories were located in restored prairie sites – “Won’t use areas that were recently burned” – 2002 was at the end several years of a burning moratorium – 2004 was in spite of a burn in Spring of 2003

Grasshopper Sparrow • Never were very common • Have been recorded on site every year of the survey • Numbers have declined significantly in last 5 years • Now outnumbered by Henslow’s Sparrows. • Also seems to prefer non-native grasses • Why are these birds decreasing while Henslow’s are increasing? – Is our grassland management the cause?

THE END http: //www. fnal. gov/pub/about/campus/ecology/wildlife/birds. html

Christmas Count Data • The Fermilab Christmas Count has been held annually in mid December since 1976. • Count circle is 15 mile diameter roughly centered on Fermilab • All the data is available on the “Birds of Fermilab” web site. • Indicates some interesting long term trends …