Publications

Western Sandpipers Calidris mauri are differential migrants on their non-breeding areas, with females wintering farther south. Earlier passage of males in the spring has been explained by sexual differences in winter latitude (male-biased sex ratios at more northerly areas) and onset of migration (males departing earlier). We investigated sex differences during spring migration by capturing and ra

The station was operated on fewer days than usual in 2003, opening a bit later, closing a week early, and missing several good days in September through mid-October, when the manager/lead bander was conducting research on migrating birds in Lower Delmarva. As a result, capture totals for many species are not comparable to other years, and totals for several species, including House Wren, Northern

We welcome the Eden Mill station in northeastern Maryland to Region IV this year. With three stations reporting their worst year ever, we really need to be refreshed. After a cool and wet July, August was hot and wet in the east. Temperatures in September remained close to normal, but thanks to tropical storms Henri (6-8 Sep) and Isabel (18 Sep), rainfall was excessive in the Chesapeake Bay states

The estimation of dispersal and movement is important to evolutionary and population ecologists, as well as to wildlife managers. We review statistical methodology available to estimate movement probabilities. We begin with cases where individual birds can be marked and their movements estimated with the use of multisite capture-recapture methods. Movements can be monitored either directly, usi

The importance of migration stopover sites in ensuring that migratory birds successfully accomplish their journeys between breeding and non-breeding ranges has come to the forefront of avian research. Migratory birds that breed in western United States (US) and Canada and overwinter primarily in western Mexico migrate across the arid region of northern Mexico and southwestern US. Many of these mig

The most notable finding at this station in 2003 was the sharp decline in recaptures of previously banded birds and most especially a Crash in the chickadee and titmouse populations. In the autumn of 2001, I recaptured 36 birds banded in previous autumns, but I caught only 24 returns in 2002 and 17 in 2003, a 33% drop each year. In 2002, Tufted Titmouse was my fourth most common species (19 caught

I identified sexual dimorphism in wing length (unflattened chord) of Carolina Wrens (Thryothorus ludovicianus) within the central Mississippi Alluvial Valley (northeast Louisiana and west-central Mississippi) and used this difference to assign a sex to captured wrens. Wrens were identified as female when wing length was less than 57.5 mm or male when wing length was greater than 58.5 mm. Verific

In mist-net studies, it is often difficult to use capture-recapture methods to estimate number of birds present. Many investigators use number of birds captured as an index of population size. We investigate the consequences of using indices of bird abundance as surrogates for population size in hypothesis tests. Unless all of the birds present are captured, indices are biased estimates of loca

We developed methods to capture and band Kalij Pheasants (Lophura leucomelanos) in their introduced range at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, where they are not hunted and are relatively tame. Kalij were wary of foreign structures, such as traps, but readily took cracked corn bait and entered baited traps, provided they were introduced to them gradually. The majority of Kalij on the study site (53

We examined whether surgically-implanted radio transmitters with percutaneous antennas affected behavior of Lesser Canada Geese (Branta canadensis parvipes) in Anchorage, Alaska. We implanted either a 26-g VHF radio transmitter or a larger VHF radio that was the same mass (35 g) and shape as a satellite transmitter in the coelom of adult females captured during molt in 2000. A control group of fem

The food habits and prey base of the endangered Southwestern Willow Flycatcher (Empidonax traillii extimus) are not well known. We analyzed prey remains in 59 fecal samples from an intensively-studied population of this flycatcher at the Kern River Preserve in southern California. These samples were collected during the nesting season in 1996 and 1997 from adults caught in mist nets, and from nest

In this article we present the first analysis of parentage and relatedness in a natural vertebrate population, using Intersimple Sequence Repeat (ISSR) markers. Thus, 28 ISSR markers were used in a study of a sex-role reversed, simultaneously polyandrous shorebird from northeastern Australia, the comb-crested jacana (Irediparra gallinacea). Assessment of parentage was based on comparison of field