Meeting: Webinar on Yellow Rail Conservation, Research, and Monitoring in the Upper Midwest
Participants: Lane Richter, Mike Green, Ethan Duke, Greg Soulliere, Mike Emmeneger, Anna Sidie-Slettedahl, Louise Clemency, Martin Stapanian, Mike Monfils, Bob Klaver, Ken Ostermiller, Bob S., Ken Duren, Wayne Thogmartin, Doreen Mengel, Erik Johnson, Jessica Dowler, Scott Rush, Bill Glass, Tom Will, Mick Hanan, Bill Evans, Shawn Conrad, Steve Lewis, Suzanne Fellows, Jane Norris, Melinda Knutson, Faye Weekly, Robert Russell, John Loegering, Mark Seamans, Noel Cutright, Daren Carlson, Stephanie Jones, Adam Ryba, Auriel Fornier, Doug Wells, Russ Weeber, Sean Murphy, Adrianna Araya, Andrew Forbes, Tony Hewitt, Barb Pardo, Ben Kahler, Cindi Jablonski, Cindy Heyd, Dave Moore, Diane Granfors, Elizabeth Rigby, Greg Corace, Jane Austin, Jane West, Jennifer Wilson, Jim Hodgson, Todd Jones-Farrand, Troy Wilson, Katie Koch
Date: 9 January 2013
Evaluating Autonomous Recording Units for Monitoring Yellow Rails and Other Nocturnal Marshbirds -
Anna Sidie-Slettedahl, South Dakota State University
(Anna just completed her master’s degree. Her presentation is posted in its entirety on the Midwest CBM Website. Below are a few notes that were taken during her presentation.)
1)ARUs were deployed to detect Yellow Rail, Nelson’s Sparrow, and Le Conte’s Sparrow (nocturnal species) and better understand calling behavior to improve effectiveness of future surveys.
2)She also used the Conway protocol to compare detection probabilities between the two methods.
3)The study took place during 2010 and 2011 in Northwest Minnesota and Northeast North Dakota. She conducted 16 routes (with 10 ARU stations per route). ARUs were set to record from 8 AM to 8 PM local time for two months.
4)The Conway protocol was conducted one hour after sunset (and during times that the ARUs were also recording).
5)Song Scope Bioacoustics Recognition Software was used to identify birds by unique shape of their song. However, Anna wasn’t able to generate recognizers that were accurate (there were too many missed detections or false positives. She resorted to the manual scan method (it took longer but was much more accurate).
6)She ran a robust design occupancy model in Program MARK.
- The ARU has a lower detection probability than the Conway protocol. This may be because humans could detect birds at greater distances.
- However, ARUs can be in the field for much longer than observers (and using ARUs reduces human exposure time to mosquitoes).
7)To determine which factors affected detection, she conducted a manual scan of 3,035 3-minute recordings from 43 ARU stations. They also used hourly weather data from nearby weather stations.
- YERA detections were negatively impacted by precipitation and wind. The optimal survey time was between three and five hours after sunset.
- LeConte’s Sparrow detections increased in the early morning or during periods of moonlight.
- Nelson’s Sparrow had a small sample size.
Questions:
1)Is there room for improvement in the ARU apparatus? Perhaps a parabolic receiver would help.
2)How difficult was it to set up the computer program (SoundScope) for analysis? Anna and others have had to resort to manual scans for these species.
3)Are you going to experiment with linear arrays? Anna won’t be doing more at this time, but it’s worth looking into. RavenPro is another software package that can use different channels to create beamforms to estimate distance and direction.
4)Have you experimented with using array of false positives? No.
5)If iPhone can recognize a song, why can we not more accurately recognize bird songs? Bird calls vary, whereas a recorded song is always the same. Yellow Rail calls can get lost in background noise (such as frogs and branches clicking).
6)Cost and battery life? Units are $600 each. Software license $500. Batteries had to be changed every 13 days. However, once you know bird calling phenology, you can be more efficient in scheduling recordings.
7)Who manufactures ARU equipment?Wildlife Acoustics
Response of yellow rails to habitat and landscape features in the context of fire
Jane Austin – USGS Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center
(Her abstract is posted on the Midwest CBM Website. Below are a few notes that were taken during her presentation.)
1)In general, it’s pretty challenging to identify YERA occurrence on a year-to-year basis. YERA is a focal species for conservation planning in the US and Canada.
2)There is some evidence of range contraction along the southern edge of the breeding range.
3)Reduced flooding and fire suppression have been a factor in limiting habitat for Yellow Rails.
4)The study was conducted at the Seney National Wildlife Refuge in upper Michigan.
5)The goal was to describe YERA occurrence and relate it to habitat characteristics and structure in the context of fire disturbance.
6)They surveyed 64-48 points annually using the Conway protocol (with only YERA playback). 36 positive detections at survey points across three years (2007-2009).
7)They had to use logistic regression (occupancy models just wouldn’t work out). Detection probabilities overall were really high, even at 300 m. The probability of rail use was highest in areas just after burning. However, fire really hasn’t set back woody encroachment.
8)YERA may be negatively related to woody vegetation. Jane referred to them as being the “goldilocks” of the waterbird world. The don’t want water that is too deep or too shallow, and they seem to prefer low amounts of woody cover.
9)The question becomes, how do we sustain open sedge meadows?
Questions
1)Were you able to compare forest and water cover with data from the 1970s? Not directly. Could see where they drew shrub patches. Shrub cover was studied in a different area of the marsh. Possible aerial imagery of past years?
2)Where are the rails coming from in a wet year? That is 64 thousand dollar question! We don’t really have good data. There may be a lag effect with water and litter depth, but this isn’t really known. We need transmitters on birds to track migration routes and id stopover sites.
3)Sample sites are all occurring in areas with altered hydrology. Has study been done in wilderness sites? It is difficult to get into these wilderness sites.
4)Pre-European fire cycles were much longer. Should we be doing fire every 5 years? Or maybe the Rails find burned areas and we should not expect them across the landscape? Where we have disturbed the hydrology we may need to disturb the growth of woody plants more than in wilderness areas. Maybe we should be spending more time restoring the hydrology than burning to control growth.
5)During wet years, it’s difficult to pin Yellow Rails to particular habitat. In dry years they have more definite preferences.
Broader discussion
1)What else is going on in Yellow Rail conservation?
- Efforts to investigate Yellow and Black Rail habitat on Gulf coast on wintering grounds.
- Scott Hereford: Second year of study in coastal pine habitat in Mississippi (high fire ecosystem). Fully funded for this year and possibly for next year. Trying to determine abundance, best survey method, and effects of burning. In some places, they have found densities of one YERA per two acres! Chris Butler is researching isotope analysis in feathers of rails on the Gulf coast.
- Russ Weeber: Environment Canada. Broad scale survey in northwest Ontario (roadless, boreal landscape). Will be relying on ARU technology. Kiel Drake (Bird Studies Canada) has done a lot of work with YERA and ARUs in western Canada.
- Sean Murphy: Study of the western population in Oregon and Washington. At Klamath Marsh, they have done a study of post breeding use by rails of habitat and impact of management practices. Suggestions of more locations to study for rails. They also want to link with studies in Canada to begin looking at the population throughout the annual cycle.
- Erik Johnson: Audubon Louisiana. Second harvest of rice in late October when rails are coming to winter ground. Yellow Rail and Rice Festival. Rails flush as rice is being harvested. Developing a project to research where these birds go after the harvest. This area holds a LOT of YERA!
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