Bird Observatory marks third season of monitoring bird migration

This was the third season of the Idaho Bird Observatory’s autumn songbird migration monitoring. The site, located at Lucky Peak, hosts a wide variety of birds, for bird counts, in habitats such as this.

The IBO, affiliated with BSU’s Biology department, is a cooperative non-profit research and education organization that conducts long-term monitoring of western migratory land bird populations and promotes public education, involvement and wildlife viewing. Interns from around the world and volunteers assist with the observatory’s research.

Biology professor Marc J. Bechard is faculty coordinator.

Participants catch birds in nets and band them so they can determine where the birds came from and where they migrate. This study continues to contribute to their general knowledge of birds, and to their conservation and management.

Jay Carlisle, IBO Songbird Project coordinator, says he can’t help but dream of expanding the project to investigate other issues relevant to land bird conservation.

“Specifically,” he said, “we hope to extend our season at Lucky Peak and the Boise Foothills monitoring to include spring migration, and breeding season work. Ideally, the breeding work would include counts of the birds, nest searching, territory mapping, and some banding.”

IBO has been around since 1993, when they discovered the Boise Ridge sits under one of the largest flyways for migrating songbirds and raptors in the Intermountain West.

This is the only research going on of this type, for these species. The birds they band and study include songbirds, hawks, and now, owls.

According to Greg Kaltenecker, IBO Project director, volunteers are vital to the success of IBO. Over the past several years, they have made a huge difference for work that is done on a daily basis. Volunteers mainly assist with data recording tasks, and spotting on the hawk watch. But, as some volunteers return time after time, they come to know other things that are going on and they can assist with tasks like mist-netting, processing of songbirds and owls, and even some hawk trapping.

Idaho Department of Fish and Game’s volunteer coordinator, Mary Dudley, who organizes volunteers for many different projects throughout the year, coordinates the volunteer program.

For more information on volunteering, or to send donations, which are greatly appreciated, contact the Idaho Bird Observatory, Department of Biology, Boise State University, 1910 University Drive, Boise, Idaho 83725. Phone: 426-3262

For more information, go to:

http://www.boisestate.edu/biology/ibo/

Wendy Youngblood

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