2010 Annual Report - Ventana Wildlife Society

Goal:Keep common birds common. Ventana WildlifeSociety monitors wild populations of birds inCentral California to identify declines before theybecome critical or irreversible.Ventana Wildlife Society monitors wild birdpopulations throughout Monterey County.We have operated a bird banding lab since1992 at Andrew Molera State Park alongthe Big Sur coast. We capture, band, andrelease hundreds of migrating and residentsongbirds each year to determine populationtrends, identify movement patterns, and studysurvival. Recently, we calculated trends over a17-year period for several riparian specialists,including Warbling Vireo, a species for whichwe have documented local declines.Tracking and Monitoring Wild Bird PopulationsThrough monitoring, we can promptlyidentify factors responsible for declinesand recommend appropriate managementresponses.Ventana Wildlife Society’s banding lab is oneof the few stations that provides unrestrictedpublic access, helping to educate the public,especially young people, about theimportance of wildlife conservation.Elsewhere, we work with a variety of partnersto monitor birds. In 2009, we continuedannual point count surveys for Santa LuciaConservancy at the Santa Lucia Preservein Carmel Valley. Grassland, riparian, andraptor surveys helped assess the currentstatus of several bird species of concern.We also surveyed birds along the CarmelRiver to evaluate how the restoration effortsof Monterey Peninsula Water ManagementDistrict have affected bird populations.In 2008, wildfires ravaged a portion of LosPadres National Forest along the Big Surcoast, raising concern for local wildlife,including California Spotted Owl. Under acontract with the USDA Forest Service, weconducted California Spotted Owl surveysat 250 locations in the forest. By comparingdetections in 2009 with results from oursurveys at the same locations in 2006, wedocumented a decline in Spotted Owlnumbers in the surveyed area andprovided current distribution data to helpensure the protection of remaining owls.9