Research Topics
Wildlife & Fish: Bird Monitoring
Landbird Research
 The Redwood Sciences
Laboratory has been conducting landbird research in northern California
and southern Oregon since 1982 and in Costa Rica since 1994. Our
focus is monitoring techniques and bird-habitat relationships.
We have worked closely with other ornithologists, agencies, and
non-govermental organizations to refine methodologies
for monitoring landbirds and riverine birds, including constant
effort banding, censusing, and other techniques. We are developing
predictive models of bird response to habitat change and
restoration and creating tools to allow land managers
to more accurately assess management efforts on landbirds, as we
research the links between birds and their habitats. We also train
biologists in landbird monitoring techniques, both as interns
with our research projects and through our publications.
We have joined with the Klamath
Bird Observatory to form the Klamath
Bird Observatory - Redwood Sciences Laboratory Avian Data Center.
Our purpose is to serve as a node for data from the Klamath-Siskiyou
biorerion with an accessible, on-line database,
working with the Avian
Knowledge Network at Cornell
Laboratory of Ornithology, Landbird
Monitoring Network of the Americas, and several other organizations
and individuals.
Projects
Featured publications
-
Bander's Merit Badge
The merit badge system provides clear objectives
to a banding trainee, encouraging them in their progress,
and at the end of successful completion the trainee is awarded
a “merit badge”. It started as a checklist of
knowledge that a trainee needs to become a competent bander
and is now incorporated into a reference tool for both the
trainee and instructor. It is based in large part on the North
American Banding Council (NABC) requirements for
Bander level certification. The banders' merit badge system
was implemented by RSL and members of the Klamath
Bird Monitoring Network to continue the improvement of
our landbird monitoring techniques training and information
exchange.
- A
Tabular Identification Guide for Bird Banding
"A Tabular Format of Pyle's Ageing and Sexing Methods
for Landbirds" (Sakai and Ralph 2002) presents a method
of summarizing Peter Pyle's (1997) ageing and sexing guide
into a tabular guide that has proven to be extremely useful
for both novice and experienced banders. The format we have
developed allows quick and accurate assessment
of a bird’s species, age, and sex, which is essential
to the health of birds captured. In this publication, we give
examples of the "Tabular Pyle" for the Hermit Thrush
(Catharus guttatus) and the Yellow Warbler (Dendroica
petechia), as well as a comparison of all Catharus
thrushes.
Full or partial copies of the Tabular Pyle are available
from the Klamath Bird Observatory at http://www.klamathbird.org/Publications/tabpyle.htm.
The species covered are listed in the Tabular
Guide Species Index. The species list is also available
as a downloadable Excel file.
- Rapid
Ornithological Inventory Protocol and Schedule
We designed this protocol to quickly gain a measure of the
relative value of habitats to birds for
new study sites as an augment to our regular monitoring. The
linked protocol details our Rapid Ornithological Inventory
(ROI) Protocol and Schedule.
It includes procedures for mist-netting, area search censuses,
and small owl monitoring, as well as a schedule for a complete
ROI, which takes about 3 days for 2 people. For further information,
please see the linked
protocol or contact - C.
John Ralph.
- Additional publications
and manuals for monitoring landbirds
Our Cooperators include:
Last modified by L.L. Long
Research Contact:
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