Fall Migration 2016 Acoustic Monitoring Update

Fall Migration 2016 Acoustic Monitoring Update

November 28, 2016

Debbie Leick, Kate Stone, and Carrie Voss show results from nocturnal acoustic monitoring efforts at the MPG Ranch, high elevation fire lookouts, and sites in the Bitterroot Valley.

Acoustic Monitoring Update Nocturnal Flight Calls: Fall Migration 2016 11/21/16 Debbie Leick, Kate Stone, and Carrie Voss

This year, we installed seven acoustic recorders across the Bitterroot Valley to monitor nocturnal flight calls of migrant songbirds (Figure 1). Monitoring sites ranged from low to high elevation, and from isolated to developed areas. We are currently analyzing data from all of our stations. In this update, we share a few preliminary results from the fire lookouts and MPG sites.

MPG Ranch Monitoring Sites: Floodplain, Sheep Camp, and Ridge Sites Located on a bench above the Bitterroot River, the Floodplain was our lowest elevation site. One mile east of here, Sheep Camp was placed in a mid-elevation upland area. Further east and 1.5 miles away, our highest elevation monitoring site, Ridge, was installed below a prominent ridge.

By expanding our study to St. Mary Peak (9350 feet) and Willow Mountain (8200 feet) Lookouts, we collected nocturnal flight call data at higher elevations than any previously known study.

Recording at the lookout sites overlapped with the MPG sites from August 18 to September 13. During this time, we recorded more than 5500 calls. We recorded fewer calls at the high- elevation lookout sites than at any site at MPG Ranch (Figure 4). Compared to the Floodplain site, we detected over seven times fewer calls at St. Mary Lookout