oikonos

PRBO: Eastern Sierra Riparian Songbird Conservation Project
Region 5 Partners in Flight, US Forest Service and Inyo National Forest
California Department of Fish and Game
The Bureau of Land Management
Mono Lake Tufa State Reserve
Mono Lake Committee
Eastern Sierra Audubon Society
Advanced Energy Group

The Eastern Sierra Riparian Songbird Conservation Project (ESRSC) is part of a statewide effort to address the decline of riparian breeding songbirds and their habitats in California. It is a highly collaborative effort among multiple federal, state and private organizations (see partial list above) that agree that songbirds are model organisms for monitoring the health of riparian systems and the effects of various land management practices on these systems. The tributaries that flow into Mono Lake have been subject to a number of management regimes. ESRSC is focusing its intensive efforts on streams in the Mono Basin, which are currently undergoing restoration of stream flow and riparian vegetation. Among other methods for studying songbirds, they have been finding songbird nests and monitoring them in the riparian areas along these streams. This and other studies have shown that predation by mammalian, avian, and reptilian nest predators is one of the primary causes of nest failure. The initial focus of the project is to identify nest predators. This study will contribute significantly to ESRSC efforts by helping the wider project test hypotheses and strengthen conclusions.

I. To identify common nest predators of songbirds, especially riparian focal species (RHJV 2000), breeding along the four main tributaries that feed Mono Lake.

II. To obtain rates of predation for each predator species identified.

III. To determine whether or not predator-specific predation rates vary over time both within a breeding season, and between seasons. Other research has suggested that ground-based predators may spend more time looking for nests early in the season, while avian predators look for nests more consistently throughout the season (Schmidt 1999). We propose to test this model on ESRSC study plots.

IV. To supplement the work being done by and collaborate with PRBO Conservation Science (PRBO) through the Eastern Sierra Riparian Songbird Conservation Project (ESRSC, Heath et al. 2001) by testing project hypotheses and thereby strengthening data based management recommendations.

We will deploy video cameras at songbird nests in order to record the identity and behavior of nest predators. The cameras are equipped with infrared illumination, and are capable of recording 24 hours a day. The cameras will be connected to time-lapse VCRs, and the whole system will be powered by solar panels. Time-lapse technology allows for the use of an 8-hour VHS for the recording of a 24 hour period. We will use a quad processor to allow for the use of four cameras on one VCR. The quad processor system is 50 to 60 thousand dollars cheaper than a one VCR/ one camera system, and has been developed and tested successfully by other researchers (King et al. 2001). We will connect the cameras to the VCR using radio transmitters and receivers, eliminating excessive wire and increasing the potential distance between cameras and the VCR.

The collaborative Eastern Sierra Riparian Songbird Conservation Project is coordinated by PRBO Conservation Science - Sacha Heath, Project Coordinator. This investigation of nest predators is lead by Quresh Latif, working as a volunteer for PRBO and Oikonos, under the direction of ESRSC collaborators and his Ph.D. committee at University of California Riverside.

This project will contribute significantly to ESRSC efforts by testing project hypotheses and strengthening conclusions. A primary goal of the ESRSC's nest-searching effort is to determine how nest success is affected by habitat features, in order to provide land managers with recommendations on how to manage these sites for optimal songbird population viability. As predation has been found to be the primary cause of nest mortality, the study of predator ecology will help determine the causal connections between nesting success and habitat factors. Further study of nest predators is crucial to understanding the relationship between habitat, predation, and other factors affecting songbird nest success. Management recommendations derived from these further investigations will be better informed, and may therefore be more effective in enhancing songbird productivity.

The results from this project will be published through two avenues. Project results will be integrated with all analyses, reports, and papers produced by the wider ESRSC project. Secondly, this project will serve as the preliminary data collection phase towards Quresh Latif's Ph.D. thesis. Quresh will be studying the ecology of the nest predators that are identified as the most responsible for nest depredations. The results garnered from the use of video surveillance systems will be extensively analyzed and reported as part of his dissertation.

Grant Ballard
Kiera Freeman
River Gates
Sacha Heath
Gernot Huber
Jennifer Kendrick
Quresh Latif
Chris McCreedy
Chris Tonra
Simone Whitecloud
Robin Hirsch-Jacobson

ESRSC has eight nest-searching plots that have been monitored for three years on the three creeks and one human-made ditch that feeds Mono Lake: Rush Creek, Lee Vining Creek, Mill Creek, and Wilson Creek (or Ditch), Mono County, California. These plots range from 10 hectares to 20 hectares each, for a combined total of 20 to 40 hectares per creek.

Map of Mono Tributaries - click here

Heath, S. K., G. Ballard, and C. McCreedy. 2001. Eastern Sierra Riparian Songbird Conservation: 1998-2000 final report and Mono Basin 2000 Progress Report. 1002, PRBO, Stinson Beach, CA.

Heath, S. K., G. Ballard, and C. McCreedy. 2002. How Viable are Yellow Warbler Populations in Eastern California and What Habitat Features Affect Their Nesting Success? in. Poster presentation at 3rd International Partners in Flight Conference, Asilomar, CA.

King, D. I., R. M. Degraaf, P. J. Chamolin, and T. B. Champlin. 2001. A New Method for Wireless Video Monitoring of Bird Nests. Wildlife Society Bulletin 29:349-353.
Schmidt, K. A. 1999. Foraging Theory as a Conceptual Framework for Studying Nest Predation. Oikos 85:151-160.

Riparian Habitat Joint Venture (RHJV). 2000. Version 1.0. The Riparian Bird Conservation Plan: a strategy for reversing the decline of riparian associated birds in California. California Partners in Flight. http://www.prbo.org/CPIF/Riparian/riparian.html.