Pacific Southwest Research Station

Pacific Southwest Research Station
800 Buchanan Street
West Annex Building
Albany, CA 94710-0011

(510) 559-6300

Research TopicsWildlife & Fish: Bird Monitoring

Stream-foraging Bird Communities

We have been developing techniques for monitoring stream-foraging birds on a landscape level. Birds in riparian habitats have been the focus of much research, but mostly of birds using the stream-side vegetation. Stream-foraging birds are more directly tied to the health of the streams and could be used to monitor watershed health.

We have been researching primarily American Dippers, though we census other stream-foraging birds. We collect physical and biological data on the streams as well as conduct censuses and band dippers. Over four years, we color-banded most of the dipper population along one stretch of our study area in northern California.

Publications:

Miller, S. L. and C. J. Ralph. 2005. A watershed-scale survey for stream-foraging birds in northern California. pp 537-540 in: C.J. Ralph and T.D. Rich (Eds.). Bird conservation implementation and integration in the Americas: Proceedings of the third international Partners in Flight conference. 2002 March 20-24; Asilomar, California; vol. 2. Gen. Tech. Rep. PSW-GTR-191. Albany, CA: Pacific Southwest Research Station, Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Last modified by L. L. Long

Research Contact:

• C.J. Ralph