Lightening the Load for Longshot

The weather forecast for last Wednesday (April 15th) was for rain and thunderstorms. We had five volunteers signed up to come help with our Prothonotary Warbler banding project (better known as Project PROTHO), and when they all arrived at the visitor center at Francis Beidler Forest, it was pouring rain. We were nearly ready to cancel.

Things have a way of working out, though, and Mother Nature obliged for about six hours that day, giving us enough time to try to catch Longshot. If you haven't heard about the Prothonotary Warbler that retired Audubon South Carolina State Director Norm Brunswig affectionately named "Longshot," see our previous post here. Amazingly enough, this tiny bird (weighing about 14 grams) wore a small device called a geolocator (weighting about 0.4 grams) for the last 10 months, flying to somewhere in Central or South America during that time. It is our hope that the device itself will answer that precise question - where did he go? Geolocators take light level readings to infer a relative position, thus enabling researchers for the first time to track the long-term movements of a small bird.

Staff and volunteers transport banding equipment on the boardwalk. Photo courtesy of Mac Stone.

Before last week, we'd already tried once to catch Longshot without success. Imagine our worry: he travels 2,000-3,000 miles wearing this device, and then we can't catch him to take it off when he's 20 feet away from the boardwalk at Beidler Forest! Last week was our second chance at trying, and our fear was that he might become shy of our net and decoy, thus making him even more difficult to catch.

Sure enough, we arrived at his "spot" on the boardwalk around 9:00 a.m. and tried unsuccessfully to catch him once again. After about 30 minutes of trying, we admitted defeat and left to try to catch a few other Prothonotary Warblers that were unbanded.

We had much more success doing that! The pictures below are a few taken by our talented volunteers of the banding process.

Every bird that we band receives a silver, aluminum band from the United States Geological Survey. This band contains a number that corresponds to a national database, so that if this bird is ever captured again somewhere else, whoever catches it can learn exactly where and when it was originally banded. We also add color bands in a unique, three-color combination so that we can identify birds individually. Photo courtesy of Mac Stone.

These are the color bands that we'll be using in 2015. Each color corresponds with a number, and in addition to the silver USGS band that every bird gets, we can assign a unique alphanumeric combination to each bird. The red-yellow striped band has a slightly different number - this band will be used on every bird we catch this year (the 15 stands for 2015), but will not be used in subsequent years.

The bands don't hurt the birds and are extremely small/lightweight (see picture above for scale). This bird's new name will be A1500, based on the colors used and their arrangement on the bird.

In addition to leg bands, a standardized set of measurements is taken from every bird that we capture. This information will be compared with data from researchers in several other states that are capturing Prothonotaries and performing the same measurements. Photo courtesy of Marcie Daniels.

Once the birds are processed, we try to take a few documentary pictures and then release them as quickly as possible. Here, a volunteer releases a newly banded bird. Photo courtesy of Mac Stone.

We banded three new birds for the day, taking us through lunchtime. Near the end of our field day, we decided to take one more chance at catching the Prothonotary with the geolocator. We set the net up in PRECISELY the same spot that we banded him in July 2014, and.....bingo!!

"Longshot," the Prothonotary Warbler that's been carrying a geolocator since July 2014, is finally captured! Photo courtesy of Mac Stone.

Once he was removed from the net, we were able to get a close up look at the geolocator (pictured in center). This device was attached to the bird as a harness, looping around his upper legs using Stretch Magic. A simple snip with a pair of scissors and it was off! Photo courtesy of Mac Stone.

The recovered geolocator from "Longshot," lightening the load he has to carry by 0.4 grams! The right end of the device is the light sensing stock, the gray portion contains the battery and storage unit, and the brown string is the cut harness. Photo courtesy of Mac Stone.

A914, aka Longshot, before his release last Wednesday. A truly remarkable story! Photo courtesy of Marcie Daniels.

Once we captured and removed the geolocator, we released Longshot and packed up our gear. About 20 minutes after arriving back at the center, the rain set in again. We had a fortunate day of weather that allowed us to catch a very lucky bird!

Now that the geolocator is back in our possession, we're going to send it off to our Audubon colleagues in Louisiana who can hopefully use software to analysis the data. If it all works out, are fingers are crossed that his "backpack" will tell us not only where he spent his winter, but how he got there too.

Stay tuned to this blog for more updates on Longshot and our other banded birds!

Project PROTHO - 2015 update and the return of "Longshot"

In 2008, Audubon South Carolina began what is still known today as Project PROTHO, a citizen science endeavor to learn more about the population of Prothonotary Warblers living in the swamp at Francis Beidler Forest. This project has continued off and on since then - for a comprehensive history of Project PROTHO, see past posts written by former Education Director Mark Musselman here: http://beidlerforest.blogspot.com/2013_04_01_archive.html.

After a gap in 2012 and 2013, this project picked back up in 2014 with our interest in geolocator technology. A geolocator is a light-sensing device that is (currently) the most advanced technology available to track the movements of a small bird like the Prothonotary Warbler. These devices take light level readings each day that are ultimately used to determine the bird's estimated latitude/longitude position. The geolocators are worn as a "backpack," with a harness securing the geolocator to the bird and a small light stock sticking out of the end. The biggest catch with using geolocators is that they don't work in real time - birds must be caught, fitted with a geolocator, then captured again the following year to have the device removed!

So why use these devices at all? There's a big question that Audubon SC hasn't been able to answer: where do our birds go when they leave the swamp? We like to think that we keep the swamp a healthy place for these warblers, but we only host them for less than half of the year. In the winter, Prothonotaries spend their time in Central and South America (see our previous post here about a recent trip to Panama to see these birds). But what area specifically? Is it a healthy ecosystem? Is it threatened by development as so many coastal mangroves are? Is there something that we could be doing in another country that would help these birds?

There are many questions still to answer, so in 2014 we began banding birds again to establish a population of known individuals that we could potentially use as candidates to wear geolocators. The permitting and timing in 2014 left us in a bit of a bind so while we were planning to deploy four geolocators as part of a pilot project, we were only able to deploy one.

A Prothonotary Warbler about to be fitted with the only geolocator we deployed. We captured, attached the geolocator, and released this bird in July 2014.

The odds of ever seeing a banded bird again once it leaves to migrate are very low, less than a 1% chance. Prothonotary Warblers, however, make good candidates for geolocators because they show high site fidelity (fancy term meaning that they like to return to the same wetlands from year to year).

Imagine our surprise when a group of bird-watchers saw this very special bird on April 4th, 2015....in EXACTLY the same spot on the boardwalk where we captured it last July! This bird likely traveled a round-trip flight of approximately 3,000 miles - only to come back again to the same section of Beidler Forest. And for the first time ever, he's carrying technology that will hopefully tell us precisely where he went...and how he got there!

Our returning "geolocated" bird (aka Longshot) seen on April 4th at Francis Beidler Forest. Note the small white blob on his back - that's the light stock of the geolocator!

Like male Prothonotaries are apt to do, here's a picture of our geolocated bird carrying nesting materials to a cavity. Males usually arrive at Beidler before the females and will choose a handful of cavities to line with mosses and other materials...then they let the females choose which one they like best!

Another angle of "Longshot" and his geolocator. Note that he, like many of the birds we're studying, is color banded. Each bird gets a unique 3-band combination so that we can identify each one individually.

So, remember the "catch" that we mentioned? That's right, we still have to catch this little guy again to get the geolocator off before we can learn anything. We'll be trying to do that this week, so stay tuned to this blog for updates!

Prothonotaries & Panama: Building Conservation Partnerships Across the Americas

This winter, I was fortunate enough to travel to Panama to study the Prothonotary Warbler with a group of researchers from Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU). The Prothonotary Warbler is a brilliant yellow bird of the eastern United States, and for those of you that have been to Beidler Forest any time from April through August, you may have caught a glimpse of this bird that has long been called the "canary of the swamp." Like many migratory species, the Prothonotary is absent from our landscape during the winter; instead of hanging around in the cold, these birds fly more than a thousand miles to the balmy tropics of Central and South America. Once there, they prefer to spend their time in coastal mangrove forests ranging from Mexico south to Colombia and Venezuela.

Why Prothonotary Warblers? Other than their beautiful plumage and feisty temperament, this species is a denizen of eastern wetland ecosystems, and even more, is a metaphorical "canary" for the health of these forest types. Prothonotaries prefer to nest over or next to standing water, and subtle changes in water levels (like, for example, altering or withdrawing flow) can affect their success. Equally as important is their food source, which is often the aquatic larvae of many insects, namely mayflies, as well as spiders, caterpillars, and other tasty insects. Put the aspects of its breeding life cycle together, and the Prothonotary emerges as a good indicator of ecosystem health.

Like many birds, though, the Prothonotary is a species of bird causing concern. While their global population is not currently plummeting (like many birds), they have exhibited a slow, long-term decline over the last few decades. This is despite increased funding and protection given in recent years towards wetlands of many kinds in the U.S. A knowledge gap that could (we hope) potentially explain this discrepancy emerges from the fact that we know very little about the migratory and winter habits of this species.

Cue this trip to Panama. Researchers from VCU, Arkansas State, and Ohio State, in conjunction with Audubon efforts here in South Carolina and in Louisiana, have tasked themselves with trying to understand the full life cycle of this bird. Our VCU colleagues have been working with Prothonotaries in Virginia for years (see http://www.vcu.edu/rice/research/research-warbler.html), and for the past five years have taken a group of students to work in the mangroves of Panama to study this species.

They were gracious enough to invite me along as part of the trip this winter, with the hopes of learning the opportunities and challenges of working in the tropics, as well as get some firsthand experience with this species in the winter. Below is a photographic journey of sorts, which details our work from December 27th - January 9th.

If you're reading this and find yourself wondering "how can I help the Prothonotary Warbler?", feel free to contact me about it (mgjohnson@audubon.org). We are always looking for partners!

Welcome to the mangroves! There were three dominant species of mangrove at both of our study sites. The mangroves pictured above are Black Mangroves - this species was by far the most common at our first field site on the Pacific coast of Panama. This area had very little standing water, but the high water table and recently-finished wet season made for muddy conditions throughout our time there.

How do you catch a small, flying, avian critter? The answer: mist nets. This lightweight netting is hard for birds (and people, believe me) to see, and is strong enough to catch a bird but light enough not to injure it during the process. Birds are extracted from nets and then banded, measured, photographed, and released. Here, some of the students work with a VCU professor to set up nets at our first field site.

There were some Red Mangroves at our first field site, which are easy to identify by their dense tangle of prop roots. In the picture above, you can compare both Black Mangroves (far left and right of photo) and Red Mangroves (middle of photo). Maybe more so than any wetland ecosystem, mangroves are threatened across most their range, oftentimes destroyed or fragmented by coastal development.

On the second day at our first field site, the VCU professors and the Panama Audubon Society arranged for a group of primary school students to join us in the field. This was a real treat for everyone, including the students, who got to learn about our project, watch us band, and even release some birds!

These students are looking at the feathers of a woodcreeper that was captured to learn how we can tell the age and gender of certain species.

This lucky student is taught the proper way to release a banded Prothonotary Warbler.

An important part of the banding process is analyzing a captured bird's feathers. The wear, shape, and color of certain feathers can tell us a bird's age and gender. Other measurements are also taken that offer clues to the health of birds in certain areas and, in turn, allow us to make predictions about the health of their habitat too. It was a great experience to learn from some real Prothonotary experts! 

A male (left) and female Prothonotary Warbler captured at our second field site. Males are always much brighter (especially on the head/crown), and have more extensive white tail spots.

Our banding station at our second field site along the Caribbean coast. The mangroves at this site were more a mix of all three species (Black, Red, and White), and there was much more standing water. Even in knee-high boots, hardly anyone went through the day with dry feet!

An uncommon capture for us at the second field site was this adult male Golden-winged Warbler. Like the Prothonotary, the Golden-winged Warbler migrates to the U.S. to breed, preferring open habitats in the mountains over wetlands.

Our lodging and meal accommodations were terrific. We stayed in a home owned by Advantage Tours Panama owner Guido Berguido (http://advantagepanama.com/) that bordered the edge of Soberania National Park in Gamboa, Panama. When we weren't in the field, we had a great spot to lounge and bird-watch. I highly recommend Guido and his staff for any guiding needs in Panama!

From left: our chief guide and Advantage Tours Panama owner Guido Berguido, guide and Panama University student Alex, and guide + birder Ovidio. These guys are amazing!

Pictured here (and below) are just a few of the birds that I was able to photograph at Guido's house. This is a beautiful Blue-gray Tanager.

The very dinosaur-like Gray-headed Chachalaca

The left-hand hummingbird is called a White-necked Jacobin. The smaller hummer on the right is a Violet-bellied Hummingbird. Our "lodge" was a great place to watch and photograph (with the right level of patience) hummingbirds.

One of the popular and numerous non-avian sightings was the Central American Agouti. You can liken this rodent  to a tropical version of our house cats (agoutis are native, however). We saw them often, especially in Gamboa, lounging in the yard and crossing the street.

Rufous-tailed Hummingbird

The great thing about staying in Gamboa is that we were equidistant from both of our study sites, but were also only a few minutes away from one of the best birding sites in central Panama: Pineline Road in Soberania National Park. Here are a few of the birds we found on an afternoon trip there. This is Broad-billed Motmot.

Slaty-tailed Trogon

A distant, blurry shot of a Chesnut-mandibled Toucan

White-tailed Trogon

Peek-a-boo!

Non-bird sightings included monkeys, sloths, Leaf-cutter Ants, anteaters, a few species of squirrel, and more. Here is a Three-toes Sloth that actually moved!

Howler Monkey

Silky Anteater curled up sleeping.

On New Year's Eve, our guides took us into the historic location of Panama City (Panama Viejo) for some sight-seeing and dinner. It gave us a great view of the current heart of Panama City as we overlooked the marsh. The bay formed here on the Pacific side of Panama is one of the most important wintering locations for shorebirds in Central America. The Panama Audubon Society played a key role in the protection of this bay (www.audubonpanama.org/).

Almost forgot to mention...apparently there is canal in Panama. We stayed right next to the Panama Canal while in Gamboa, and were able to watch ships move through it every day. Question: how long does it take a ship to traverse the canal? Answer: about 10 hours.

On our last night in Panama, I was invited by my VCU colleagues and the Panama Audubon Society to give a presentation on our work in South Carolina. It was an honor to be a part of this, and I am deeply grateful to Lesley, Cathy, Rosabel, and everyone else for this invitation.

Overall, it was an amazing trip and I am very happy to have been a part of it. It was inspiring to see the work being done for Prothonotaries outside of South Carolina, and I arrived home even more energized to do continue to do our part. We've done some great work and come a long way, but there's still much to do. I hope this trip is just the beginning for us, as we expand into the tropics to help protect the full life cycle of the Prothonotary Warbler and other important neotropical migrating birds.

Spring? Spring? Anyone?

We have not posted lately from the Audubon Center at Francis Beidler Forest, because the weather has kept things relatively quiet in the swamp over the last ten days.  The weather has also kept our camera indoors, so we have gone to the files for this entry's images.

Overcast skies and cool weather continue today and have kept reptile sightings at a bare minimum.   Based on our observations, there do not seem to be as many Prothonotary Warblers (Protonotaria citrea) around the boardwalk.  Normally, there would be plenty of male-vs-male battles for territory and mates.  However, the territories around the boardwalk are relatively quiet and behavior is civil.  Therefore, we suspect that all residing Prothonotary Warblers have ample space and mating opportunities and have no need to waste energy in confrontations.  Meanwhile, plenty of Black-throated Blue Warblers (Setophaga caerulescens) have been seen along the edge of the swamp and behind the nature center as they linger along their migration north.

Black-throated Blue Warbler - Mark Musselman

Several of the Prothonotary Warblers around the boardwalk are banded birds from previous years.  We have begun to create individual pages for those banded birds, so if visitors spot a banded bird or previous visitors have images of banded birds, they can see their bird's Beidler Forest history.  This week, A037 has been battling for territory in the area near Goodson Lake, A250 has been absent, A048 appears to have an unbanded mate in the area around #7, and A012 and his unbanded mate have a nest and four eggs in the nest box behind the sign at #18.

Prothonotary Warbler (A037) - Mark Musselman

Unfortunately, the nest in the cypress knee near the tower at Goodson Lake previously used by A026 appears to have been cleaned out by a raccoon.  Visitors had been reporting activity at the nest site, but yesterday nesting material could be seen hanging from the cavity entrance as well as floating in the shallow water below the cavity.  Both the unbanded male and female visited the nest site with the female repeatedly entering and exiting the cavity.  The fact that the male was bringing caterpillars to the nest site and feeding them to the female outside of the cavity leads us to believe that there were quite recently chicks to feed.  If a snake had visited the nest, it would have consumed the eggs or chicks without tossing the nesting material.  Raccoons are not as subtle as they reach into the cavity to remove what they seek to eat.

Cypress Knee Nest Cavity - Mark Musselman

On a brighter note, the Red-shouldered Hawks (Buteo lineatus) are reusing the nest they had last year in the bald cypress near #154 on the boardwalk.  No chicks were observed and the adult remained on the nest.  Earlier this week, we searched for the Swallow-tailed Kite nest that we are sure exists as these kites are spotted above the eastern half of the boardwalk on a daily basis.  Using Google Earth, we captured the coordinates for trees that appeared to be above the rest of the canopy.  We visited those trees, but did not find anything that would be considered a nest.  The weather was overcast, cool and windy, so it was not a great day for soaring kites.  A kite flying to the nest would have made discovering the nest much easier.  We will keep plotting Swallow-tailed Kite sightings on the map in hopes that the nest location will become apparent.  You can help with Swallow-tailed Kite conservation by reporting your sightings to the Center For Birds of Prey website.

You can help ornithologists by monitoring nests you discover.  The procedures, to protect you and the birds, can be found at the Nestwatch site.  Currently, only two Prothonotary Warbler nests are being monitored and they are both at the Francis Beidler Forest.

The rainy weather did not bother every living thing.  Mac Stone and friends were out in the swamp on Sunday and captured some amazing images (see Mac's here), including a White-tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) fawn resting near a cypress.

Fawn - Mac Stone Photography

Birds on the Boardwalk

The winter chill appears to have finally departed the old-growth swamp at the Audubon Center at Francis Beidler Forest and the flora and fauna are responding!  We were out on the boardwalk looking for banded Prothonotary Warblers (Protonotaria citrea) and found several, including A048 pictured below.  Prothonotary Warblers are still not back in great numbers and, as in previous years, most are beginning the season higher in the canopy than can be expected once territories are established.  Additionally, Prothonotary Warblers have yet to push out from the edge of the swamp, so they are only seen between #3 and #7 (tags #114 to #133).

Prothonotary Warbler (A048) - Mark Musselman

Near #131, a large bird flew through our peripheral vision and caught our attention.  Upon inspection, an American Crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos) had landed on a nest (circled in the image below).

Nest high in a cypress - Mark Musselman

Initially, it appeared that the crow, known to raid other birds' nests, was pecking at the chicks in the nest.  While pondering what species may have a nest like we were observing, a Swallow-tailed Kite (Elanoides forficatus) soared overhead and a pair of Red-shouldered Hawks (Buteo lineatus) called as they circled above the canopy.  We have been trying to locate the Swallow-tailed Kite nest that we are sure is nearby and the thought of the kites' chicks becoming a crow meal was unsettling.  Fortunately, after twenty minutes of observation, a murder of crows came calling, all flew off, and the heads of the two American Crow chicks popped up over the nest edge.

American Crow on nest - Mark Musselman

American Crow chicks - Mark Musselman

American Crow chicks - Mark Musselman

Just before #7 on the boardwalk and unusually low in the canopy, we encountered a Northern Parula picking meals from a spider web.

Northern Parula - Mark Musselman

Northern Parula - Mark Musselman

Northern Parula - Mark Musselman

The reptiles were also out.  Spotted Turtles, Eastern Mud Turtles, Yellow-bellied Sliders, Five-lined Skinks, Banded Water Snakes, and the attractive Eastern Cottonmouth shown below.

Eastern Cottonmouth - Mark Musselman

As the sun lowered in the sky, a shadow crossed our path and we caught a glimpse of a soaring Swallow-tailed Kite.

Swallow-tailed Kite - Mark Musselman

Obviously, the many branches and leaves between us and the kite made getting a quality image nearly impossible.  Possibly sensing this, the kite accommodated us by landing on a snag and preening.  Initially, the bird was between us and the setting sun, which allowed us to produce nothing but silhouettes.  Fortunately, the bird waited patiently as we moved around the boardwalk in order to put the sun at our back.

Swallow-tailed Kite - Mark Musselman

Swallow-tailed Kite - Mark Musselman

At long last, the kite decided to move on, but not before giving us a clear shot of it in flight.

Swallow-tailed Kite - Mark Musselman

No matter how many times we have walked the boardwalk, we always see something new, or see it some place new, or doing something new, or simply allowing us a better photographic opportunity.  Although every season has its strengths, spring definitely provides a target-rich environment!