Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Publications

USGS publications associated with the Bird Banding Laboratory. For a complete listing of USGS publications:

Filter Total Items: 162

Survival models for harvest management of mourning dove populations

Quantitative models of the relationship between annual survival and harvest rate of migratory game-bird populations are essential to science-based harvest management strategies. I used the best available band-recovery and harvest data for mourning doves (Zenaida macroura) to build a set of models based on different assumptions about compensatory harvest mortality. Although these models suffer from
Authors
D. L. Otis

Space use, migratory connectivity, and population segregation among willets breeding in the western Great Basin

Western Willets (Catoptrophorus semipalmatus inornatus) were banded (n = 146 breeding adults and chicks) and radio-marked (n = 68 adults) at three western Great Basin wetland complexes to determine inter- and intraseasonal space use and movement patterns (primarily in 1998 and 1999). Birds were then tracked to overwintering sites where migratory connectivity and local movements were documented. Wi
Authors
Susan M. Haig, Lewis W. Oring, Peter M. Sanzenbacher, Oriane W. Taft

Sources of variation in breeding-ground fidelity of mallards (Anas platyrhynchos)

Generalizations used to support hypotheses about the evolution of fidelity to breeding areas in birds include the tendency for fidelity to be greater in adult birds than in yearlings. In ducks, in contrast to most bird species, fidelity is thought to be greater among females than males. Researchers have suggested that fidelity in ducks is positively correlated with pond availability. However, m
Authors
P.F. Doherty, J. D. Nichols, J. Tautin, J.E. Voelzer, G.W. Smith, D.S. Benning, V.R. Bentley, J.K. Bidwell, K.S. Bollinger, A.R. Brazda, E.K. Buelna, J.R. Goldsberry, R.J. King, F.H. Roetker, J.W. Solberg, P.P. Thorpe, J.S. Wortham

Re-evaluating Bay-breasted Warbler breeding range: Nine-years presence in Lower Michigan

he breeding range of the Bay-breasted Warbler (Dendroica castanea) is thought to include only the northernmost portions of six northeastern and northcentral states in the United States. During a 10-year banding study of Kirtland's Warblers (Dendroica kirtlandii) in northern Lower Michigan, we caught 44 Bay-breasted Warblers outside of their reported migration dates during 9 of the 10 years. Two bi
Authors
Kevin Ellison, Paul W. Jr Sykes, Carol I. Bocetti

Atlantic Flyway review: Piedmont-Coastal Plain, Region IV, Fall 2001

The Hollywood, Butler Island, and Wekiva Basin stations did not operate this year, but we welcome back Jekyll Island, GA, with its flagship species, Western Palm Warbler (835); and we are glad to have a report from Rock Springs Run State Reserve in Florida to replace the Wekiva Station. Except for a couple of good rains in August, the second half of the year was droughty in Maryland and Virginia,
Authors
Chandler S. Robbins

Test for age-specificity in survival of the common tern

Much effort in life-history theory has been addressed to the dependence of life-history traits on age, especially the phenomenon of senescence and its evolution. Although senescent declines in survival are well documented in humans and in domestic and laboratory animals, evidence for their occurrence and importance in wild animal species remains limited and equivocal. Several recent papers have
Authors
I.C.T. Nisbet, E. Cam

Re-analysis of a banding study to test the effects of an experimental increase in bag limits of mourning doves

In 1966-1971, eastern US states with hunting seasons on mourning doves (Zenaida macroura) participated in a study designed to estimate the effects of bag limit increases on population survival rates. More than 400 000 adult and juvenile birds were banded and released during this period, and subsequent harvest and return of bands, together with total harvest estimates from mail and telephone survey
Authors
D. L. Otis, Gary C. White

Atlantic Flyway review: Piedmont-Coastal Plain, Region IV, Fall 2001: Patuxent powerline right-of-way (390-0764)

After one of the quietest Septembers since this station opened in 1980, a record high number of birds was captured in October, making the seasonal total almost identical to that in fall 2000. Capture totals exceeded 100 on eight mornings between 9 and 24 Oct, and a new daily high was set on 14 Oct, when 203 birds, including 105 Myrtle Warblers, were banded. Capture totals for several species set r
Authors
Deanna K. Dawson

Atlantic Flyway review: Piedmont-Coastal Plain, Region IV, Fall 2001: Robbins Nest, Laurel, MD (390-0765)

I continue to band before and after work and all day on weekends on my two and a half acres along the Patuxent River gorge between highway 1-95 and the Laurel city limits. Our kids have long since flown the coop, so I have no one to run the station when I am out of town; thus, I miss some of the best flight days. The chief changes in habitat over the years have been replacement of pines by young d
Authors
Chandler S. Robbins

Home range and territoriality of two Hawaiian honeycreepers, the 'Akohekohe and Maui Parrotbill

Hawaiian honeycreepers have radiated into a diversity of trophic niches and patterns of space-use. We investigated space-use in two honeycreeper species, the ‘Ākohekohe (Palmeria dolei), an endangered nectarivore, and Maui Parrotbill (Pseudonestor xanthophrys), an endangered wood excavator, by mapping the home ranges and dispersion of color-banded individuals at a study site in relatively undistur
Authors
Thane K. Pratt, John C. Simon, Brian P. Farm, Kim E. Berlin, James R. Kowalsky

Reproductive ecology and demography of the 'Akohekohe

The ‘Ākohekohe (Palmeria dolei) is an endangered Hawaiian honeycreeper endemic to the montane rain forests of east Maui in the Hawaiian Islands. We investigated ‘Ākohekohe nesting ecology using color-banded birds for the first time as a background to understanding the species' conservation. From 1994–1997, we color-banded 78 individuals, located and monitored 46 active nests, and took behavioral d
Authors
John C. Simon, Thane K. Pratt, Kim E. Berlin, James R. Kowalsky

Southwestern willow flycatchers recaptured at wintering sites in Costa Rica

An adult Southwestern Willow Flycatcher banded in summer 1998 at Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge, Nevada, was recaptured the following winter in Santa Cruz, Costa Rica, then relocated at Ash Meadows during the 1999 breeding season. Another Southwestern Willow Flycatcher banded in 1999 as a nestling at Roosevelt Lake, Arizona, was recaptured in January 2000 on its wintering grounds in Bolsen,
Authors
Thomas J. Koronkiewicz, Mark K. Sogge