Dear friend,
Thank you very much for your generous support in the past of the SalvaNATURA Bird-A-Thon, which supports the bird monitoring efforts at 5 banding stations in western El Salvador. The 2008 SalvaNATURA Bird-A-Thon will take place on October 25th and 26th. This year marks the 6th consecutive year that this event will take place. It seems each year that the bird-a-thon grows a little more and more, both in terms of donations and participation. Last year, there were 19 participants in 6 teams. Our teams tallied 262 species of birds. Some highlights included Anhinga, Snail Kite, Solitary Eagle (!), Harris’s Hawk, Limpkin, American Avocet, Collared Plover, Ruff, Long-billed Dowitcher, Elegant Tern, Broad-tailed Hummingbird, Plain-capped Starthroat, Sparkling-tailed Hummingbird, Amazon Kingfisher, Eye-ringed Flatbill, Yellow-bellied Elaenia, Long-billed Gnatwren, Blue-throated Motmot, Prothonotary Warbler, and Scarlet Tanager.
Every year we strive to make this event more successful. First, it is important that we summarize again what we are doing within the monitoring program. We continue to carry out monthly monitoring at 5 sites (one in dry forest at Parque Nacional El Imposible, two sites in cloud forest and pine-oak at PN Montecristo, and two sites at PN Los Volcanes, in cloud forest and a coffee-finca), each a 12 ha parcel within core or buffer zones of a national park in El Salvador. We have banded and released over 13,000 migrant and resident birds at these sites since beginning the program in late 2003 and we share this data with the Institute for Bird Populations (IBP), for their range-wide analysis of winter bird survival. The project has recorded 5 new species for the country. During 2007/2008, two new species were recorded for the country, Dendrocolaptes picumnus (Black-banded Woodcreeper) and Vireo griseus (White-eyed Vireo). In addition, SalvaNATURA´s Conservation Science Program continues to analyze data on both resident and migratory birds. A few interesting observations in some sites include:
- Forest birds have been found moving through the coffee farm monitoring station, supporting the hypothesis that shaded coffee farms function as dispersal corridors and contribute to conservation of forest bird species. Biological corridors are likely a key to long-term biodiversity conservation in a fragmented, human-dominated landscape subject to long-term change processes such as global warming, which will require species to shift their current ranges, generally up slopes.
- Strong site fidelity has been recorded in some individuals of Vireo flavoviridis (Yellow-green Vireo), a species that returns from South America to northern Central America and Mexico from March to July. Banded individuals from 2004 have been recaptured in 2008, evidence that this species is utilizing El Imposible National Park as a migration route and breeding site. [Strong site fidelity has been recorded in recaptures of several species at our monitoring stations.]
As you know, the key to any population analysis is long-term, continuous studies. This is exactly the purpose of the monitoring program (every month, every year), but we need your support to accomplish this! Please consider making a donation to our bird-a-thon, sponsoring us in the field on a per species pledge basis, or by directly participating yourself...in El Salvador! See the end of the blogsite on how to make a donation. We are always in need of team members to participate in the bird-a-thon. In the past, we have had team members from Massachusetts, Texas, South Carolina, and Germany. Let us know if you are interested.
We are hoping to raise a total of $25,000 (not including institutional grant funds we expect to receive through Institute for Bird Populations and USAID). These funds will help us maintain the stations (including the mist nets), keep three full time biologists on staff, and involve more than 15 students and volunteers in the project.
Please let us now if you are able to help us reach our goal this year. We will be in contact again in September to request your pledge. Thank you very much; we greatly appreciate your support.
Jesse Fagan
Research Associate / Maraton-de-Aves Coordinator
SalvaNATURA
heliomaster76@yahoo.com
(843) 814.6341
Thank you very much for your generous support in the past of the SalvaNATURA Bird-A-Thon, which supports the bird monitoring efforts at 5 banding stations in western El Salvador. The 2008 SalvaNATURA Bird-A-Thon will take place on October 25th and 26th. This year marks the 6th consecutive year that this event will take place. It seems each year that the bird-a-thon grows a little more and more, both in terms of donations and participation. Last year, there were 19 participants in 6 teams. Our teams tallied 262 species of birds. Some highlights included Anhinga, Snail Kite, Solitary Eagle (!), Harris’s Hawk, Limpkin, American Avocet, Collared Plover, Ruff, Long-billed Dowitcher, Elegant Tern, Broad-tailed Hummingbird, Plain-capped Starthroat, Sparkling-tailed Hummingbird, Amazon Kingfisher, Eye-ringed Flatbill, Yellow-bellied Elaenia, Long-billed Gnatwren, Blue-throated Motmot, Prothonotary Warbler, and Scarlet Tanager.
Every year we strive to make this event more successful. First, it is important that we summarize again what we are doing within the monitoring program. We continue to carry out monthly monitoring at 5 sites (one in dry forest at Parque Nacional El Imposible, two sites in cloud forest and pine-oak at PN Montecristo, and two sites at PN Los Volcanes, in cloud forest and a coffee-finca), each a 12 ha parcel within core or buffer zones of a national park in El Salvador. We have banded and released over 13,000 migrant and resident birds at these sites since beginning the program in late 2003 and we share this data with the Institute for Bird Populations (IBP), for their range-wide analysis of winter bird survival. The project has recorded 5 new species for the country. During 2007/2008, two new species were recorded for the country, Dendrocolaptes picumnus (Black-banded Woodcreeper) and Vireo griseus (White-eyed Vireo). In addition, SalvaNATURA´s Conservation Science Program continues to analyze data on both resident and migratory birds. A few interesting observations in some sites include:
- Forest birds have been found moving through the coffee farm monitoring station, supporting the hypothesis that shaded coffee farms function as dispersal corridors and contribute to conservation of forest bird species. Biological corridors are likely a key to long-term biodiversity conservation in a fragmented, human-dominated landscape subject to long-term change processes such as global warming, which will require species to shift their current ranges, generally up slopes.
- Strong site fidelity has been recorded in some individuals of Vireo flavoviridis (Yellow-green Vireo), a species that returns from South America to northern Central America and Mexico from March to July. Banded individuals from 2004 have been recaptured in 2008, evidence that this species is utilizing El Imposible National Park as a migration route and breeding site. [Strong site fidelity has been recorded in recaptures of several species at our monitoring stations.]
As you know, the key to any population analysis is long-term, continuous studies. This is exactly the purpose of the monitoring program (every month, every year), but we need your support to accomplish this! Please consider making a donation to our bird-a-thon, sponsoring us in the field on a per species pledge basis, or by directly participating yourself...in El Salvador! See the end of the blogsite on how to make a donation. We are always in need of team members to participate in the bird-a-thon. In the past, we have had team members from Massachusetts, Texas, South Carolina, and Germany. Let us know if you are interested.
We are hoping to raise a total of $25,000 (not including institutional grant funds we expect to receive through Institute for Bird Populations and USAID). These funds will help us maintain the stations (including the mist nets), keep three full time biologists on staff, and involve more than 15 students and volunteers in the project.
Please let us now if you are able to help us reach our goal this year. We will be in contact again in September to request your pledge. Thank you very much; we greatly appreciate your support.
Jesse Fagan
Research Associate / Maraton-de-Aves Coordinator
SalvaNATURA
heliomaster76@yahoo.com
(843) 814.6341
