# Presentation: 808329

## Fermilab Grassland Birdshttp://home.fnal.gov/~kasper/talks/GrasslandBirds.ppt

- Peter Kasper

## FERMILAB

- 6,800 acres with a variety of “natural” habitats
- 	Restored Prairie
- 	Non-native Grasslands
- 	Woodlands
- 	Wetlands
- 	Man-made Lakes
- 	Agricultural Tracts

**FERMILAB**

- World’s Highest Energy Particle Accelerator

## 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

**Resident**
**Increasing**

- Rough-legged Hawk

**Winter Visitor**
**Decreasing**

- Bobolink

**Summer Visitor**
**Stable**

- Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

**Migrant**
**Stable?**

- Common Merganser

**Spring Migrant ****→ Winter Visitor**
**Increasing**

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

- Wintering species have increased
-  New species continue to be added

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

- Some summer visitors are becoming year round residents

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

- Waterfowl are earliest and latest
- Shorebirds are heading south in late June

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## 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

## Grassland Areas

- Prairies

- Various sizes and stages of succession
- Maintained with fire

- Introduced
- Grasses

- Maintained
- with late summer mowing

- Where do the birds breed?

- Upland Sandpiper

- Henslow’s 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 ...

## Number of species recorded has increased

## Number of birds counted has also increased

## The Big Five!

## Some interesting trends ..

- Canada Goose numbers have stabilized

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## Southern migrants are staying ..

- Great Blue Herons have started wintering over!

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## Northern migrants are not returning ..

- Rough-legged Hawks are declining!

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## Predators are moving into the ‘burbs ..

- Pheasant numbers have taken a dive .. coyotes?

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## What about West Nile Virus?

- American Crows took a big hit ..

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## Some claims are perhaps exaggerated?

- Black-capped Chickadees are not so bad off.

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