In your experience, how late into the season do the Baird's typically stay at Soapstone?
Thanks, Adam Johnson Fort Collins On Saturday, July 31, 2021 at 3:57:09 PM UTC-6 [email protected] wrote: > Hey all, > > I've seen some recent discussion regarding where to find Baird's Sparrows > here in Larimer County so I'd like to give you all some good directions on > where to find them as well as some info about what Bird Conservancy of > the Rockies <http://www.birdconservancy.org> is doing regarding Baird's > Sparrows in Colorado. > If you just want location information without the context, skip to the > *bolded > sentences* below. > > For the 7th year in a row, Baird's Sparrows have been found during the > breeding season at Soapstone Prairie Natural Area > <https://www.fcgov.com/naturalareas/finder/soapstone>, a City of Fort > Collins owned property north of Fort Collins > <https://goo.gl/maps/fNVuG5PzaTDFnZJp6>, along the border of Wyoming. > Bird Conservancy has been able to a limited and varying amount of > monitoring of these birds each year, but along with our full survey of > Soapstone in 2019, we also heavily monitored them and searched for them at > previously unknown sites on Soapstone, as well as many locations on > neighboring Meadow Springs Ranch, owned by Fort Collins Utilities. That > year we discovered a new site used by Baird's Sparrows, inaccessible to the > public, and confirmed breeding there. We also confirmed breeding on Meadow > Springs Ranch, also inaccessible to the public. > > We have not been able to monitor them as close since 2019, but have > opportunistically searched for them as part of some new research taking > place at Bird Conservancy related to migration of grassland birds. We're > building out a large scale network of Motus Wildlife Tracking System > stations across the Great Plains and Chihuahuan Desert to study the > migratory and movement behaviors of declining grassland birds, including > the Baird's Sparrow. See this link for more info about that: > https://www.birdconservancy.org/over-the-airwaves/. Our first station we > installed was at Soapstone > <https://motus.org/data/receiverDeployment?id=6064>. We have been > capturing birds at Soapstone (with all the proper permits and permissions, > of course, in 2020 and 2021. We've also been targeting Grasshopper > Sparrows, Thick-billed Longspurs, and Lark Buntings. > > On the 7th of July, after several visits with no detections, we heard our > first 2 Baird's Sparrows of the year while on a banding excursion to > Soapstone. We were able to capture, band, and deploy a Motus tag on 1 > Baird's Sparrow that day. This took place at the traditional site where > people can view Baird's on Soapstone, the Jack Springs Ranch gate (just > south of point Z on this Soapstone map > <https://www.fcgov.com/naturalareas/pdf/soapstone-brochure16.pdf?1482338190> > ). > > *The "Jack Springs" site is accessible to the public* by bike, hike, or > by horseback, by taking the Pronghorn Loop Trail from the south parking > lot. Exact location is here: https://goo.gl/maps/xAo1pkM37reFH5Tc8. > Birds are typically far into a wet pasture east of the trail, but can be > heard and sometimes seen directly from the gate. Use the specific Jack > Springs eBird hotspot <https://ebird.org/hotspot/L9438484> if you enter > anything here! > > Just over a week ago, we received word from City of Fort Collins > biologists doing butterfly surveys that there were 3 more Baird's Sparrows > in a different site. Bird Conservancy biologists Erin Youngberg and Erin > Strasser(I was unable to go, unfortunately) went up on Friday (July 23) and > were able to capture, band, and tag the 3 Baird's Sparrows at that location. > > *This site is currently accessible to the public* by bike, hike, or > horseback, along the Plover Trail (which is open now! It's closed from > April to July 15). The birds were able to be heard and sometimes seen from > the road itself, but were captured in a wet meadow south of the road, just > west of the Ranch Managers Home after the road jaunts a bit to the north > and continues west. Exact location is here: > https://goo.gl/maps/jF5fanixKKhNSnmt5. Please use the general "Soapstone > Prairie Natural Area" eBird hotspot <https://ebird.org/hotspot/L2990328> > if you enter anything here, and feel free to add comments about exact > locations. > > AS ALWAYS, please respect all regulations and remain on trails despite the > urge to get a better photo by just stepping off trail a bit! There is a > lot of sensitive and endangered vegetation at both of these sites, not to > mention the possibility that these birds are currently breeding! In 2019, > we found a Baird's Sparrow nest well into August, so it's possible! > > We will be doing another complete survey of the property in the coming > years, which could result in new sites that Baird's are using. Each year > is different, and we still don't really know what they're doing or why > they're here (though we all have our own theories!) Here's a publication > that Bird Conservancy biologists published in 2019 regarding Baird's > southward range extension: > https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ecy.2872. > > If you are unsure of trail conditions or closures, check out the natural > area website here: https://www.fcgov.com/naturalareas/finder/soapstone. > > If you have any questions, or would like more information about our work > with Motus, please don't hesitate to reach out to me at > [email protected]. > > Thanks, > Matt > > *Matthew M Webb* > > Avian Ecologist and Motus Wildlife Tracking System Coordinator > > *Bird Conservancy of the Rockies* > > Motus project #281 > > 970.482.1707 x36 <(970)%20482-1707> (office) > > 970.405.7155 <(970)%20405-7155> (mobile - use this number!) > www.birdconservancy.org > -- -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. 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