Junco on the Move
22 July, 2013
By Brandon Breen, KBO Science Communications and Outreach
An Oregon Junco originally banded in the Central Valley of California (on 19 January, 2008 by Point Blue Conservation Science, formerly PRBO) reappeared four and a half years later, on 10 October, 2012, at a Klamath Bird Observatory banding station located 20 miles east/northeast of Ashland, Oregon.
The junco was recaptured at 5,000 ft elevation in an alder-dominated riparian thicket at Johnson Creek; the surrounding landscape is mature conifer forest managed by the Bureau of Land Management. This area is one among many that this junco depends on as it travels widely in search of food, shelter, and suitable habitat for raising young.
New information on bird movements, both within and between countries, is necessary for bird conservation and sheds additional light on the remarkable life histories of migratory birds.
