Although I have been helping people in my office to reintroduce native plants (sage brush, buffalo berry and winterfat), check exclusions fences around campsites on the Missouri River, do call surveys for raptors and other odds and ends, my main task lately has been conducting point counts for birds.
Point counts are a tool often used by wildlife biologists to estimate bird populations, and they work like this- make a transect line (often a road or trail) and stop periodically to listen and look for birds, then record what species you found and how many of each. This by no means gives you hard figures, but rather something to compare to other areas and years. Back in 1998 our field office employed an avid birder who took it upon himself to get in-depth estimates of bird populations within our district. Now that it has been more than ten years I was eager to re-do his point counts, see how things have changed and estimate causes.
In addition to the satisfaction of getting the most up-to-date data, I enjoy conducting point counts because I see something new or unexpected every day. I am constantly having to look up new birds and calls and am expanding my knowledge base. So far I have been able to see neat things like Hawks fighting, curlews getting really up close to yell at me and rare birds like Sprague’s Pipits and Loggerhead Shrikes.
Loggerhead Shrikes, also known as ‘butcherbirds’, are a very interesting species who maintain the delicate body type and feet of a songbird but have evolved a hooked beak with which they can sever the spines of lizards, snakes and even other birds. As a result you have a sweet-looking bird with the not-so-nice habit of skewering prey on barbed wire to hold it in place while it tears off pieces- hence the gruesome nickname. Sprague’s Pipits are known for having the longest flight display of any bird (one was recorded going for three hours non-stop; a trick that would consume half of his fat reserves!)
I am now done with my rounds and on to analyzing data, and one trend I noticed was a decrease in sagebrush-dependent birds towards mid-story grassland favoring ones. This is a fairly common result of human activities, and is not surprising when that is what the BLM and ranchers manage for grazing.