As Brent points out, things change day to day and certainly year to year so
it is difficult to interpret the available data. This spring was quite
wet, with lots of suitable habitat that could have had the birds more
spread out. It is now dryer and the birds returning this fall may be more
concentrated. Also, there used to be a lot of rice in the 'Rice Belt' of
Texas and now there is much less for obvious reasons but I won't go
there.... Depending on the crops planted in the area (and sometimes the
farmers available time) tilling of field may occur in or outside of the
migration window for BBSA. One thing to watch is how a recent small move
in some areas to 'no till' or 'low till' methods may affect BBSA
preferences.
My observations (certainly not scientific) over the last few years in
Matagorda County suggests that BBSA use sod farms, plowed ag fields and
edges of waterfowl or fish farm impoundments, in that order of preference.
Also, as many of you know, not all sod farms, plowed ag fields or
impoundments are created equal. Some hold birds while others that look
equally good (to a birder), do not. The birds very quickly find where
there is food and safety (large and or secluded fields). That is where
they tend to get reported at least in my area.
Once the best survey protocols are determined, I'm sure there are lots of
us who would very much like to pitch-in to improve the understanding of
populations, foraging and resting preferences of these amazing and
beautiful birds. Keep us posted.
Bob Friedrichs
Palacios
On Fri, Jul 24, 2015 at 10:47 AM, Brent Ortego <brentortego@xxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
What is characteristic of most Buff-breasted Sandpiper reports is that
they are very patchy. Birds reported in a few discrete sites but typically
they are not reported widespread across the landscape.
There are biases in all forms of surveys. We need to recognize this and
use the data with that knowledge. EBIRD reports typically are where people
have access and where birds have been reported to be found. They are
definitely not random.
Marc Ealy and I conducted surveys for Buff-breasted on the Central Coast
during spring 2005. We sampled for 4 weeks 9 different habitats which
included 5542 acres of plowed ag, 2116 acres of short ag crops, 1402 acres
of short grasslands, 226 acres of bare and dry rice fields, 220 acres of
bare and wet rice fields, 1230 acres of short rice, 164 acres of turf, and
48 acres of waterfowl impoundments. We only found Buff-breasted on 3 of
the habitats during 9 survey trips. Short rice fields had 4 BBSA per 100
acres, waterfowl impoundments 3 per 100 acres and turf 8 per 100 acres.
I have found BBSA using the other habitats in this study at different
times and seasons. But during this study, this was where they were.
Use of each habitat is likely dependent on conditions of the sites at the
time of migration and this can change daily. This makes it very
challenging trying to figure out population size of any species which could
be occupying many millions of acres on any given day.
Researchers will be placing various forms of hardware (geolocators and
satellite transmitters) on BBSA to determine migration routes and timing to
help develop a sampling frame to produce population estimates from field
surveys in spring and fall.
I will keep you updated as this research progresses.
Brent OrtegoTexas Parks and Wildlife DepartmentVictoria, TX
Date: Fri, 24 Jul 2015 09:58:21 -0500a
Subject: [texbirds] Re: Buff-breasted Sandpiper
From: jim.sinclair@xxxxxxxxx
To: rgibbo3@xxxxxxxxx
CC: brentortego@xxxxxxxxxxx; texbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx; podoces@xxxxxxxxx
I agree with Richard's view. Several years ago Tom Langschied and I had
single flock of several hundred at the edge of a flooded field on thewrote:
Laureles division of the King Ranch.
On Fri, Jul 24, 2015 at 9:47 AM, Richard Gibbons <rgibbo3@xxxxxxxxx>
but
Thanks Brent. I wonder how much of this is sampling bias. Short grass
habitat is in short supply and they definitely are fond of turf farms,
difficult toI've seen equally impressive numbers in wetland areas and plowed fields
along the Gulf coast. Turf farms are disproportionately sampled for
"grasspipers" and understandably so given the ease with which
interesting tofind species are encountered at these locations. It would be
plannedhave a directed shorebird migration survey wherein observers sampled
working wetlands, ag lands, and natural habitats. Is that what is
morning.for Buff-breasted Sandpipers?
Richard Gibbons
Houston, Texas
On Jul 24, 2015, at 8:53 AM, Brent Ortego <brentortego@xxxxxxxxxxx>wrote:
Saw my first Buff-breasted of the season on turf at Dacosta this
in theThis is a species that much is not known. Researchers from SouthAmerica, U.S. and Canada will be conducting research on this species
beennext couple of years to determine a population estimate.
I summarized Buff-breasted Sandpiper EBIRD data for Texas recently aspart of this work. 25% of the reports for this species are on turf and
they support 76% of the birds. EBIRD sites with highest numbers have
Mostin the Dallas area, and many places from College Station to the Coast.
permissionwill migrate through in August and September.
Brent OrtegoTexas Parks and Wildlife DepartmentVictoria, TXpermission
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