Alaska Landbird Migration Monitoring
Populations of many landbirds travel along predictable corridors during migration to and from breeding areas each year. This behavior allows biologists to monitor yearly changes in adult population size and productivity. Migration monitoring generally involves a combination of banding and counting birds. During the spring or fall migration periods, intensive efforts must be maintained at the same frequency and in the same habitat across several years to be useful. Since weather can strongly influence migration behavior, it must also be accounted for when analyzing data to determine population trends. Effort at a typical fall migration station in Alaska entails capturing and banding birds from a set of 20-30 mist nets for six hours a day every day from late July till late September.
In Alaska, landbirds have been banded during spring or fall migration at up to 10 stations each year since 1992. During 1997, birds were banded in spring at two stations and in fall at eight stations. More than 35,000 birds of 70 different species were banded in 1997 during migration. In 2005 stations were operated in Anchorage, Fairbanks, Denali National Park, and Tok. For more information contact:
Buddy Johnson
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Tetlin National Wildlife Refuge
P.O. Box 779, Tok, AK 99780
907-883-5312, Buddy_Johnson@fws.gov
Alaska Science Center - Biological Science Office