Fall migration is in full swing. Come see it in person and up close at KBO’s banding station in Crater Lake. You will get to meet our amazing and knowledgeable banding crew, learn about the science behind banding, and of course, see birds up close. There isn’t a better way to close out the summer. The banding station is welcoming visitors every Tuesday through September.
Join us for a memorable experience, Register today!
Media Contact: Elva Manquera-DeShields, ejm@klamathbird.org, 541-908-0040
We are excited to announce that the Klamath Siskiyou Oak Network (KSON) has received funding from the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board (OWEB)’s Focused Investment Partnerships grant program for the Little Butte Oak Initiative. KSON partners plan to restore 2,480 acres of oak habitat within the Little Butte Creek Watershed and Table Rocks using ecological thinning, prescribed fire, noxious weed abatement, and native understory planting.
With a seven million dollar investment from OWEB and nearly three million dollars secured in matching funds, this Initiative will catalyze tribal, federal, and private landowner collaboration, support, and capacity for important oak restoration over the next six years. KSON partners anticipate equally distributing restoration actions across both private and BLM-administered public lands. Restoration treatments on BLM-administered lands are planned under various environmental analyses, including the Integrated Vegetation Management for Resilient Lands (IVM-RL) Environmental Assessment (EA) and the Lost Antelope Environmental Assessment.
“The BLM designed and developed the IVM EA with a desire to help streamline collaborative projects and increase competitiveness,” said BLM Medford District Manager Elizabeth Burghard. “We recognize the importance of an all lands, all hands approach to ecosystem restoration and fuels reduction projects.”
The project will include several opportunities where the public can learn more about these restoration efforts. Public engagement will include demonstration treatments at Table Rocks and will complement ongoing programs of interpretation, public education, and volunteer stewardship.
KSON’s Little Butte Oak Initiative was selected through a highly competitive, state-wide process, that saw grants awarded to a total of five projects across the state. OWEB, which is funded primarily through state lottery revenue, has the mission to help protect and restore healthy watersheds and natural habitats that support thriving communities and strong economies.
“Shovel-ready projects are important to be competitive for large restoration funding sources such as this one. KSON partners have done an immense amount of work to be well positioned for an opportunity like this, including developing restoration best practices and a strategic conservation plan, building relationships with partners and landowners, and completing federal planning processes like the BLM’s Vegetation Management for Resilient Lands Environmental Assessment.” Jaime Stephens – Klamath Bird Observatory Science Director and Klamath Siskiyou Oak Network Coordinator.
For time immemorial, oak ecosystems have provided and continue to provide culturally important plants and other resources that sustain indigenous communities. Over the past century, oak-prairie ecosystems have experienced dramatic loss and degradation. Restoration action is essential, climate-smart, and will benefit wildlife and people. KSON is a collaborative regional partnership with a mission is to conserve oak habitats on private and public lands in southern Oregon and northern California. Guided by the KSON Strategic Conservation Action Plan, the Little Butte Oak Initiative will reduce the two highest ranked threats – fire exclusion and conifer encroachment – through restoration actions and strengthen partnerships to support future work.
Other research has shown that over 50% of forest-dependent birds in the West are in decline, one of the steepest declines of any bird group. This sobering statistic has sounded the alarm that landscape-level conservation actions are needed now more than ever. Landscape-scale forest structure has moved away from its natural range of variability, resulting in unnaturally severe fire, diminished freshwater supplies, and bird declines. The suite of birds associated with oak habitats are among those most at-risk. This Initiative is part of a regional and national response that is underway to address the Three Billion Birds Crisis, which identifies the urgency for conservation actions to consider declining species in the hopes of keeping species off the federal endangered species list.
This Initiative’s targeted ecological outcomes are to support stable populations of oak-prairie-dependent wildlife species sustained by habitat structure and native plant species composition and to maintain oak-prairie ecosystems resilient to habitat loss and degradation from climate, extreme fire, insects, and disease. A central part of the grant application focuses on engaging with tribes and tribal communities with ancestral ties to the project area, to ensure an indigenous voice and the incorporation of cultural beneficial resources and subsistence “first foods” into restoration planning.
“We are excited to be a part of this incredible opportunity to restore oak habitat in partnership with tribal, agency, and non-profit partners,” said Marko Bey, Executive Director of Lomakatsi Restoration Project. “We believe this application was successful because of the demonstrated track records, capacity, and long-term relationships of the partners involved, the emphasis on involving tribal partners and implementing ecocultural restoration, and the focus on oak habitat – one of the most biologically diverse ecosystems in the West that is unfortunately in rapid decline.”
Core KSON partners are Klamath Bird Observatory, Lomakatsi Restoration Project, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, Pacific Birds Habitat Joint Venture, Southern Oregon Forest Restoration Collaborative, The Nature Conservancy, Understory Initiative, Bureau of Land Management Medford District, Jackson Soil and Water Conservation District, US Fish and Wildlife Service, Natural Resources Conservation Service, and US Forest Service Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest. Additional Initiative partners include Rogue River Watershed Council, Southern Oregon Land Conservancy, the Inter-Tribal Ecosystem Restoration Partnership, and others.
For more information on the Klamath Siskiyou Oak Network visit here: https://klamathbird.org/partnerships/kson/
The Klamath Bird Observatory (KBO) is a non-profit organization that advances bird and habitat conservation through science, education, and partnerships. Working in the Pacific Northwest and throughout the ranges of migratory birds, KBO emphasizes high-caliber science and the role of birds as indicators to inform and improve natural resource management. KBO also nurtures an environmental ethic through community outreach and education.
“Our board of directors volunteer their time and experience to help us care for the Klamath Bird Observatory. In that light, Lisa Michelbrink has shown exemplary leadership over the last few years. Always rolling up her sleeves and taking on whatever job needs to be done. These jobs include large scale fundraising events, leading the transition of our fundraising through the pandemic, and actively engaging with the bird banding program. For this, we are excited to award Lisa the 2021 Bullock’s Rose Oriole Award, ” said Executive Director John Alexander.
This award has been established to recognize individuals who demonstrate outstanding service as volunteers helping Klamath Bird Observatory fulfill its mission to advance bird and habitat conservation through science, education, and partnerships.
Lisa Michelbrink joined the board after volunteering for several years at the Mountain Bird Festival and other KBO events. She was so impressed she signed on for more! Lisa credits her grandfather with introducing her to birds and nature at a young age through his bird feeder and walks on the beach and in the parks of northern Ohio. She became a certified naturalist many years ago at the Morton Arboretum in Chicago and still loves learning more about the natural world, especially birds. When not outdoors, her preferred location, she can be found at work as a physician, practicing yoga, and hosting international students with her husband. Lisa enthusiastically supports the scientific research and collaborative focus of KBO and is honored to be a small part of this.
Need a new hat for your little adventure buddy? Sunday Afternoons is selling bird-themed kid and toddler trucker hats with proceeds going to KBO. The hummingbird and osprey designs were done by artist Acacia Lacy.
Click here for the toddler osprey trucker hat
Click here for the kids’ osprey trucker hat
Click here for the toddler hummingbird trucker hat
Click here for the kids’ hummingbird trucker hat
You can visit KBO at the Sunday Afternoons storefront in Ashland on September 10th. By doing so you will receive a coupon for your next purchase!
The updated Partners in Flight Conservation of Landbirds and Associated Habitats and Ecosystems in the East Cascade Mountains of Oregon and Washington (Altman and Stephens 2022) brings forward recommendations and support for the conservation of landbirds and their associated habitats and ecosystems in the East Cascade Mountains of Oregon and Washington. The desired habitat attributes of 24 focal species are used as a conservation tool providing an opportunity to achieve broad ecosystem and restoration goals.
The primary goal of this document is to promote the long-term persistence of healthy populations of native landbirds and associated habitats and ecosystems. To facilitate that goal, described in the plan is a process that emphasizes providing quantitative, prescriptive recommendations for the desired range of habitat types and habitat conditions needed for landbird conservation. That process can be implemented in conjunction with other land management priorities to best meet multiple objectives.
The foundation of Partners in Flights’ long-term strategy for bird conservation is a series of geographically based landbird conservation plans, of which this document is one. The primary goal of PIF landbird conservation planning is to promote the long-term persistence of healthy populations of native landbirds. This document is intended to facilitate that goal by stimulating conservation actions for landbirds, particularly for not listed and nongame landbirds, which historically have been under-represented in conservation efforts, and many of which are exhibiting significant declines that may be possible to reverse if appropriate actions are taken now. Thus, the implementation of the recommendations in this document also supports efforts to reduce the need for future listings of bird species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).
This document is an update of Conservation Strategy for Landbirds in the East-Slope Cascade Mountains of Eastern Oregon and Washington (Altman 2000). In version 2.0 there is continued leadership in being progressive and innovative by providing examples of habitat objectives at site and landscape scales, as well as population objectives that encourage habitat management for small populations where appropriate. It is hoped that the presentation of these types of quantitative biological objectives will not only stimulate conservation action on the ground but also encourage data collection and analyses to test the models and professional judgment used to develop the objectives.
In partnership with the National Park Service KBO is hosting visitors at our Crater Lake bird banding station on Tuesday mornings, the next tour is July 12th at 7:30 am and 9:15 am. This is an amazing opportunity for the whole family to see migratory songbirds up close and learn about our long-term bird banding program. For five years visitors have observed the banding process from which Crater Lake National Park and KBO gain valuable information about the presence and diversity of songbird species, timing of migration, and productivity of local breeding birds.
Trained biologists and an experienced park ranger will show you the bird banding and data collection procedures, including how a bird species is identified along with its weight, sex, identity, wing molt, age, and health.
Nowhere else in Oregon is there a banding site at this elevation and habitat, providing this valuable visitor experience and research opportunity.
Join Shannon Rio for a leisurely day of hiking and birding the pacific crest trail into Little Hyatt Lake. This 8-mile hike starts at Hwy 66 where the PCT takes us through meadows and woods to our lunch spot of Little Hyatt. Migratory birds and resident birds are nesting in this area. The hike is level and rated easy. Upon arrival at the lake, we will enjoy lunch and whatever birds are visiting there. Usually, dippers are in Keene Creek and Osprey like to fish in the lake. Our hike will take us back to our vehicles via the road.
Date: Saturday, July 2nd, 7 am – 3 pm.
Directions: Meet at Rite Aid to carpool the 1/2 hour drive to the Greensprings Summit where we will park and walk from there.
Wear comfy hiking shoes, bring lunch and liquids, binoculars, and cameras. Our pace will be slow as we bird and study flowers along the way.
Drive your own car if you prefer or let us know if you would like to be a passenger.
Suggested donation: $0-$50.
Shannon Rio is on the board of the Klamath Bird Observatory because of its work to preserve birds and wild places in nature. She is a wildlife educator with a goal to connect people (and herself) with nature so that they will want to protect what they love. She teaches classes in various settings and also teaches yoga, works as a nurse practitioner, is devoted to family and friends and community, and loves learning anything about the natural world through hiking and birding and sitting quietly observing the wonder of it all.
The newly released conservation plan, Population and Habitat Objectives for Landbirds in Prairies, Oak, and Riparian Habitats of Western Oregon and Washington (Rockwell et al 2022), provides quantitative and multi-scaled population and habitat objectives for 26 focal and seven imperiled bird species. As the title suggests, the plan focuses on prairie, oak, and riparian habitats in the Puget Lowlands, Willamette Valley, and Klamath Mountains ecoregions of western Oregon and Washington. This document was prepared for the Oregon-Washington Chapter of Partners in Flight (PIF), Pacific Birds Habitat Joint Venture, Bureau of Land Management, and U.S. Forest Service.
This document is an updated version of the Conservation Strategy for Landbirds in the Lowlands and Valleys of Western Oregon and Washington (Altman 2000). Among PIF bird conservation plans, this plan like its predecessor has quantitative and prescriptive objectives that were established for habitat attributes important to landbird species.
“This important document provides both land managers and bird conservationists answers to the essential questions of how much, where, and by when,” says Bob Altman of the American Bird Conservancy “it sets a new threshold for conservation standards in regional planning.”
Recommendations included are intended to guide planning efforts and management actions of land managers, direct expenditures of government and non-government organizations, and stimulate monitoring and research to support landbird conservation. The recommendations are also expected to be the biological foundation for developing and implementing integrated conservation strategies for multiple species at multiple geographic scales to ensure functional ecosystems with healthy bird populations.
“Partnerships are the backbone of Joint Ventures. A primary role of Migratory Bird Joint Ventures is to step-down continental habitat priorities for waterfowl, waterbirds, landbirds, and shorebirds to each Joint Venture region. This plan and the unique partnership between Pacific Birds, Klamath Bird Observatory, and PIF fills this gap; it frames conservation delivery strategies, sets the stage for working towards collective goals, and helps us meet our federal mandate,“ says Sara Evans-Peters U.S. Assistant Coordinator, Pacific Birds Habitat Joint Venture.
The section on imperiled species is unique to this Oregon-Washington PIF plan. Imperiled species were selected based on a population estimate of <2,000 individuals in any of the three ecoregions; a high degree of association with prairie, oak, and riparian habitats; and a historic anecdotal baseline as a relatively common species. The focal species approach assumes that the suite of focal species will cover the habitat requirements of imperiled bird species, but this may not hold true for imperiled species that are ecological specialists. In this region, we are fortunate to have uniquely detailed data regarding the population status and conservation needs of many of our imperiled species. To ensure their conservation, imperiled species were recognized and given their own biological objectives and habitat attributes, as well as integrated where appropriate as species to benefit from conservation actions directed towards focal species. Highlighted below is the Oregon Vesper Sparrow.
This document is intended to complement the goals, objectives, and strategies in several other planning and conservation processes and initiatives by filling a niche that is usually absent in those efforts: quantitative, prescriptive recommendations for habitat conditions most suitable for individual and suites of landbird species at several geographic scales (e.g., regional, subregional, site). The use and implementation of these recommendations can be done independently for landbird-specific conservation, or complementarily within the context of broader conservation goals to support and strengthen other plans.
You can view the whole conservation plan here.
It has been said that bird banding is at once both a delicate art and precise science. It is a method of bird monitoring to track bird populations and demographic trends (characteristics of the population) over time.
First, a bird is gently caught in a soft, fine net called a mist net. After being carefully removed by a biologist, a small aluminum band is placed around the bird’s leg like a bracelet. Engraved on the band is a unique number that will allow biologists to track the bird if it is recaptured. Next, data (e.g., age, sex, fat, feather molt, weight) about the bird are collected. Finally, the bird is released near where it was caught and continues its daily activities.
Bird banding allows scientists to answer questions about bird populations. These questions can then inform land management practices to aid in effective bird and habitat conservation. For example, bird banding data tell us if birds successfully breed in an area—an indication of a healthy habitat. Banding data also tell us if birds are surviving migration, information that informs international conservation efforts.
Come join a KBO biologist and the KBO interns for a bird banding experience out in the field. This is an amazing opportunity to meet some of our scientists in a small group setting, learn about bird banding and see some of Oregon’s birds up close. You will observe live-action science being done in the morning (mist-netting and data collection) with a light brunch (provided). Afterward, we will bird the scenic Wood River until early afternoon.
WHEN: Friday, June 17th, 6:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. (inclusive of drive time to and from Ashland).
WHERE: Upper Klamath Lake
TRIP LEADERS: Lisa Michelbrink and Shannon Rio, KBO Board Members
COST: Space is limited to 5 cars of 4 people each. The cost is $500/car.
KBO relies on private donations to further our mission of advancing bird and habitat conservation through science, education, and partnerships. By attending KBO FUNdraising events, you help support KBO’s efforts. So, if you love birds, believe in birds as indicators of environmental wellbeing, and want to support KBO’s science-driven bird conservation mission, please register for this FUNdraising event today! We look forward to seeing you at one or more of our Spring Series FUNdraising Events.
Klamath Bird Observatory follows CDC guidelines. KBO events are being offered with COVID-19 safety as KBO’s primary concern. Proof of vaccination will be required for all in-person participants. All individuals attending an event must also fill out the Waiver of Liability form that will be emailed to you once you register for the event. Paper copies will be available at the event. Please do not attend the event if you are experiencing COVID-19 symptoms. Masks are not required but wear based on comfortability.