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wood-thrush-dummy
To simulate the presence of Wood Thrush at unused forest sites in southern Indiana, we placed a hand-painted dummy on top of a speaker box that broadcast Wood Thrush songs in the pre-breeding and post-breeding periods. To our surprise, we found no evidence that these simulation treatments attracted settlers. Photo by Jonathon J. Valente.

Management of breeding birds using conspecific attraction requires better knowledge of when, where, and why it is likely to be effective

By Christa L. LeGrande-Rolls and Jonathon J. Valente Linked paper: Conspecific attraction for conservation and management of terrestrial breeding birds: Current knowledge and future research directions by Jonathon J. Valente, Christa L. LeGrande-Rolls, James W. Rivers, Anna M. Tucker, Richard A. Fischer, and Matthew G. Betts, Ornithological Applications In 2012, we were working on a …

Celebrating World Migratory Bird Day!

World Migratory Bird Day and Global Big Day are this Saturday, 8 May! We hope you’ll join us in this global celebration to raise awareness about the importance of conserving migratory birds and their habitats. We’ve pulled together a few Wing Beat posts from this past year that highlight research findings from migration-related papers that …

harvey monroe hall natural area signs
Slate Creek Valley in the Harvey Monroe Hall Research Natural Area today. Photo courtesy of Bob Wilkerson.

How a labor of love became a multi-decade study of climate and bird dynamics on a historic subalpine Sierra Nevada study site

By Meredith Swett Walker, The Institute for Bird Populations Linked Paper: Climate variation drives dynamics and productivity of a subalpine breeding bird community by David F. DeSante and James F. Saracco, Ornithological Applications Back in the summer of 1977, Dr. David DeSante, then an assistant professor at Reed College, took a group of students to …

Drab-breasted Bamboo Tyrant (Hemitriccus diops). Image Credit: Breves, L.A. (2020) – www.ornithos.com.br

Revealing the evolutionary enigmas of the song of a neotropical rainforest bird on the Brazilian coast

By Adriana Acero and Marcos Maldonado-Coelho Linked Paper: Ecological and evolutionary drivers of geographic variation in songs of a Neotropical suboscine bird: The Drab-breasted Bamboo Tyrant (Hemitriccus diops, Rhynchocyclidae), by Adriana Carolina Acero-Murcia, Fábio Raposo do Amaral, Fábio C. de Barros, Tiago da Silva Ribeiro, Cristina Y. Miyaki, Marcos Maldonado-Coelho, Ornithology. Who has ever wondered …

molting-male-hooded-warbler
A tailless molting male Hooded Warbler photographed on 23 August 2019 near Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Warblers in this molt stage are typically replacing 50–67% of their 48 flight feathers simultaneously, including all 12 rectrices of the tail and 6–10 of the 18 remiges on each wing. Warblers in high-intensity molt usually skulk in thick vegetation, fly poorly and reluctantly, and are infrequently seen or photographed. Photo by Mary Parker Sonis.

High-intensity Flight Feather Molt: A Cryptic but Critical Phase of the Annual Cycle of Migratory Warblers

By Ronald L. Mumme Linked paper: High-intensity flight feather molt and comparative molt ecology of warblers of eastern North America, by Ronald L. Mumme, Robert S. Mulvihill, David Norman, Ornithology. The lives of migratory songbirds inhabiting the north temperate zone are built around three dramatic and energetically demanding phases of their annual cycle: spring migration, …

black-throated-gray-warbler
Black-throated Gray Warbler. Photo: Scott Somershoe/USFWS/Flickr (CC 0)

Migratory Gems of the American West

By William DeLuca Linked Paper: The Colorado River Delta and California’s Central Valley are critical regions for many migrating North American landbirds, by William V. DeLuca, Tim Meehan, Nat Seavy, Andrea Jones, Jennifer Pitt, Jill L. Deppe, and Chad B. Wilsey, Ornithological Applications. The Colorado River Delta and California’s Central Valley are iconic features of …

musical-wren
The declining Musician Wren (Cyphorhinus arada), or “uirapuru” from the Tupi language in Brazil, holds a special place in Amazonian culture as a nearly invisible bird with a beautiful song. Photo by Philip Stouffer.

Enigmatic Bird Declines in Pristine Amazon Rainforest

After a field season netting birds in Amazonian rainforest fragments and second growth, Louisiana State University (LSU) Ph.D. candidate Erik Johnson was excited to work in undisturbed forest for his 2008 field season. Within a few weeks, he had seen many of the specialist birds absent from the disturbed landscape.

floater_loon_taking_off
Young marked floater loon taking off after intruding into a loon territory (Muskellunge Lake, Lincoln County, Wisconsin). Observations of this marked population segment have permitted us to detect a steep decline in the population of floaters in northern Wisconsin. Photo by Linda Grenzer.

The Cryptic Decline of an Iconic Northern Species

In the excitement and confusion of all-night loon capture, you don’t have much time to think. With a goal each night of catching five lakes’ worth of loons, your team of four loon researchers works steadily and by routine.

The green-and-black fruiteater, Pipreola riefferi, is a relatively small-eyed bird that lives in the canopy. This individual is one of nearly 10,000 birds banded during the project. Photo by Ian Ausprey. Used with permission.

Bright light bars big-eyed birds from human-altered landscapes

New research shows the glaring light in human-altered landscapes, such as livestock pastures and crop fields, can act as a barrier to big-eyed birds, potentially contributing to their decline.