Fall Banding Stations

August 30, 2010

Chico Days 059Colorado Banding Stations:

Barr Lake State Park – Brighton
Dates: August 28—October 17
Family Days: Saturday, September 18th and Saturday, October 9th
Education Programs: $5 per person plus park entrance fee ($6 per vehicle)
Public Information: welcome any day, free with park entrance fee ($6 per vehicle)
Contact: Cassy Bohnet, 303-659-4348 ext. 15, cassy.bohnet@rmbo.org

Ridgway State Park and Black Canyon Audubon
Dates: September 9th—September 17th
Education Programs:  September 9th and 10th, and September 13th-17th, free
Public Information: Saturday, September 11th only, free
Contact: Cheryl Day, 970-872-3216, cday@paonia.com

Grand Valley Audubon at Ela Wildlife Sanctuary – Grand Junction
Dates: September 20th—October 15th, Monday through Friday
Family Day: Saturday, September 25th,7:30-11:30am
Education Programs: free
Public Information: welcome any day, free
Contact: Cary Atwood, 970-201-9651, catwood814@gmail.com

Chico Basin Ranch – Colorado Springs
Dates: September 9th—October 9th
Education Programs: Free
Public Information: $15, call ahead
Contact: Caroline Ferguson, 719-683-7960, www.chicobasinranch.com

Nebraska Banding Stations:

Chadron State Park
Dates: September 1st—October 6th, Monday through Friday
Open House: Saturday, September 11th, 8-11am
Education Programs free with park fee ($4 per day)
Public Information: welcome any day, free with park entrance fee ($4 per day)

Wildcat Hills State Recreation Area – Harrisburg
Dates: September 1st—October 6th, Monday through Friday
Open House: Saturday, September 18th, 8-11am
Education Programs free with park fee ($4 per day)
Public Information: welcome any day, free with park entrance fee ($4 per day)

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“Miraculous” third Black Swift geo-locater recovered

August 26, 2010
Black Swifts build nests near or behind waterfalls. Photo courtesy of Glen Tepke

Black Swifts build nests near or behind waterfalls. Photo courtesy of Glen Tepke

“A 75 percent recapture rate might just qualify as a miracle!” gushed Special Monitoring Projects Coordinator Jason Beason after a third geo-locator from a Black Swift was recovered at Fulton Resurgence Cave in the Flat Top Wilderness on August 23. He is understandably enthusiastic about this summer’s recovery of three of the geo-locators placed on four Black Swifts in western Colorado a year ago.
The first was recovered on July 21, also at Fulton Resurgence Cave, and the second was located at Box Canyon in Ouray on August 14. Jason expects interpretation of the geo-locators’ data to be completed sometime this fall, including a much-anticipated map showing where the birds have been for the past year.
Researchers hope for as good a recovery rate next summer for four new devices they deployed in August 2010. For more information about this research on Black Swifts see the post dated July 30, 2010.

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Environmental Learning Center

August 11, 2010

Picture 228A vital piece of RMBO’s mission is helping people understand and contribute to conservation of birds and their habitats. To give that goal a boost, RMBO began a two-year action plan to create a new environmental learning center located at our Old Stone House property at Barr Lake State Park in Brighton, Colorado. Plans include prairie trails, an amphitheater, backyard habitat demonstration gardens, bilingual signage, and improvements to the building’s classroom. Once complete, the center will offer landowner workshops, student field trips, family programming, and professional development opportunities for teachers, which together will empower the community to take responsibility for conserving natural resources.

Work is already underway for the first step in the creation of this environmental learning center: building a parking lot and trailhead that will welcome visitors to the site. Follow our progress over the next two years as we post pictures and updates of the environmental learning center, or come out and visit the site!

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2010-09-25 : 6th Annual Northern Colorado Birding Fair

August 8, 2010

RMBO will have a booth at the 6th Annual Northern Colorado Birding Fair

Saturday, September 25, 2010 at Fossil Creek Reservoir Regional Open Space

Guided bird walks at 7 a.m. and 7:15 a.m., ongoing hands-on activities 8:00 – 3:00,

Hourly presentations from 9:00, 11:00 a.m. & 1:00 p.m.

Interactive Clinics from 10:00 a.m., 12:00 & 2:00 p.m.

http://www.larimer.org/naturalresources/birding_fair.htm

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2010-09-18 to 19: Sustainable Living Fair

August 8, 2010

Sustainable Living Fair will be held on September 18th from 10AM-6PM and September 19th from 10AM-5PM in Fort Collins. RMBO will have a booth there, so please feel free to stop and say hi to learn about us.

Click here to learn more about the fair

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Nebraska Field Update

August 3, 2010

IMG_0717Nebraska Prairie Partners is currently tracking a total of 23 adult Mountain Plovers on a daily basis, 14 of which still have young in the chick stage, while the other 9 have gotten their chicks to juveniles or had their nests predated before they hatched.  We also paid out nest incentive payments to a record 23 different landowners this year… hooray for spatially balanced random sampling and sending us to all sorts of places we had never looked for plover before!  While we are still tracking broods on a daily basis, some of our transmitters are giving out now, meaning the end of the field season must be fast approaching.  We have also begun noticing that our broodless (and post chick rearing) adults have begun assimilating themselves into decent sized flocks (15-20). We are thinking migration for these may be right around the corner, but our last brood was hatched on July 19, and won’t have juveniles until at least August 20th!

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The winter range of Black Swifts, the big unknown

July 30, 2010

38606_420250936484_103589401484_5319487_284241_nPhoto by Todd Patrick – Black Swift researchers, Carolyn Gunn and Kim Potter, measuring and examining a nestling Black Swift.

The winter range of the Black Swift is perhaps the least understood of all of the species that breed in the U.S.  In August of 2009, RMBO, U.S. Forest Service and researchers with the Colorado Division of Wildlife placed small devices called “light-level loggers,” or “geo-locators,” on four Black Swifts in western Colorado.  These devices, developed by British Antarctic Survey (http://www.antarctica.ac.uk/), are a new method for tracking the migration of small birds.   Weighing only about 1 gram, they enable researchers to gain insight into bird’s lives that had previously been impossible to track due the weight of existing satellite and telemetry units.  The trick to being successful with a geo-locator is, once it is attached, the bird has to be recaptured so the device can be removed and the information downloaded to a computer and interpreted.

On July 21, 2010 one of the four devices was returned to the researchers!  As you can imagine this was a very exciting and anxious moment for which they had been waiting eleven months.  There are not many bird species that return to exactly the same site to nest annually, but Black Swift is one of them.  Nesting near or behind waterfalls, their nest site fidelity has been well documented and makes them an ideal species for tracking with geo-locators.

The week of August 2, 2010 Jason Beason, Special Monitoring Projects Coordinator at RMBO, will attempt to interpret the data from the returned geo-locator and create a map showing for the first time the path taken by a Black Swift south to its wintering destination and its return path to Colorado.  Most importantly, we will learn where this Black Swift, and most likely others of the species, spend the winter months.  This knowledge will provide new insight into the life of Colorado Black Swifts and be extremely important toward the conservation of the species throughout its range. Stay tuned for more information as we will find out if the geo-locator worked and attempt to recapture the remaining 3 Black Swifts with geo-locators.

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2009 Annual Report

July 28, 2010

AnnualReportThe world is a better place for all of us, thanks to the RMBO team members who selflessly dedicate themselves to bird conservation. From humble beginnings to international recognition for conservation achievement, RMBO is on a path of success for bird conservation. In 2009, we experienced 20% growth in income and staff donated nearly 8,000 hours to bird conservation above and beyond normal work hours. Thousands of additional hours were donated by board members and volunteers who assist with citizen science efforts, data entry, and education programs.

The 2009 Annual Report is now available online. To learn about the important milestones that RMBO reached last year, click here to download the report.

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Kids Experience Nature through RMBO Bird Camps

July 26, 2010

Bird Camp 2010 052This summer’s Bird Camps are beginning to wrap up!  The kids have had a great time learning about nature through visiting local ranches and forests, and exploring Barr Lake State Park.  This summer we offered Bird Camps for 4 different age groups based out of our headquarters in Brighton, Colorado.  Campers’ appreciation for nature has grown through hikes, games, scavenger hunts and crafts.

Each week parents have been telling us that their children cannot wait to come to bird camp.  One child said, “I have been counting the weeks until Bird Camp!”  A parent of another camper said her son came home from camp and would not stop talking all through lunch about how great of a time he had.

RMBO’s Bird Camps give kids the opportunity to experience nature and learn about the powerful role they can play in conservation.  One camp highlight this summer was during our Young Ecologist Camp. The campers (ages 11-13 years) had the opportunity to identify 41 Colorado birds, including an American Avocet!

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RMBO tech finds mega-rare bird in South Dakota

July 23, 2010

Orange-billed Nightingale Thrush

Here is the account from RMBO field technician, Eric Ripma:

“After completing a survey and seeing my first Cassin’s Finch in the Black Hills the day was going pretty well.  Since I needed to drive up to Spearfish, I decided to head up Spearfish Canyon Scenic Byway.  On my way through I stopped at Iron Creek which was a location that I had made a note of to stop by.  The canyon looked great for many species of breeding birds and I wasn’t disappointed by the constant looks at American Redstarts and many others.  Knowing that I had a lot to do in Spearfish I headed out of the canyon but before I could leave a strange bird started singing and I even got a quick look at it.  After waiting around for a few minutes with my thoughts wandering to Orange-billed Nightingale Thrushes, I headed to town.  The next day I checked multiple recordings of Orange-billed Nightingale Thrush and soon realized the song was a perfect match.  So I returned to the canyon every afternoon for the next few days and walked the trail many times without much luck.  Eventually I was able to get good enough looks to confirm it in my head and soon thereafter I was able to get photos of the bird.  Many people soon descended on the canyon with expensive equipment and much excitement in their steps.”

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