Bobolinks, Bolivia and Rice

Location: Yapacani, Bolivia
Weather: Approx. 95 degrees F, over 80% humidity (!)

Greetings from the place of continuous sweat! I teamed up with my
colleages from the Museo de Historia Natural del Noel Kempff Mercado
(Santa Cruz) last week, and we have had a very productive field season so
far. We returned to a rice farm that we had visited last year where
Bobolinks feed, much to the chagrin of the farmer. We have found flocks of
up to 3,000 in this farmer´s fields, where the sweetest variety of rice is
grown and shipped off to Japan for sushi. The Bobolinks are considered a
pest by the farmers here. Their pest staus in South America presents a
conflict between conservation measures in North America and control
efforts in countries like Bolivia. Our aim is to learn more about the
ecology of Bobolinks in all habitats on their wintering grounds, with a
special focus on agroecosystems, where the potential threats to Bobolink
populations are greatest.

We have been in the field for only a week, but we have already netted and
banded 130 Bobolinks. We often hear farmers´ firecrackers, one of few
tools they have to try to keep the birds from literally eating their
profits. The farmers don´t quite know what to do with us, they are not
used to ornithologists having any interest in their farms.

The crew, Ana Maria, Patricia, Harold, and our driver Alberto are all in
good spirits despite the incredibly oppressive heat and long days. We will
remain here in Yapacani for a few more days. We hope our luck continues!

eBird Milestone Reached!

Location: Woodstock, Vermont
Weather: ugly - rain and wet snow

Each year thousands of birder watchers carefully record notes on which species they saw, where, and in what numbers. Where will these important and irreplaceable records end up? How will they be used?

For the first time in the history of bird watching, these records can now be made immediately available to researchers, educators, conservation biologists, and other birders, thanks to Vermont eBird, an online checklist of Vermont birds. Created and managed by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and VINS, Vermont eBird enables birders to submit sightings from anywhere in Vermont at anytime over the Internet to a vast database of bird records. The records are stored for easy access by anyone with curiosity about the population status, locations, migratory timing, and many other aspects of a particular bird species' life history.

I would like to thank all of you for helping us reach a major milestone for eBird. We passed the 20,000 submissions per month mark this past Friday evening and it looks like we'll end up with over 22,000 checklists submitted in January. This number includes checklists submitted from the eBird website, as well as all the other portals like Vermont eBIrd. Nearly 500 checklists came via Vermont eBird alone!

We were able to reach this milestone due to your efforts. Thank you very much! At the rate we are going it is not inconceivable to imagine 50,000 checklists submitted during the Spring migration nationwide and perhaps 1,000 for Vermont!

Birders of all skill levels are invited to use eBird, from beginners to experts, from school children to professional biologists.
Go to http://www.ebird.org/VINS

Kent McFarland
Conservation Biologist
Vermont eBird Coordinator

VINS Biologists Arrive in Dominican Republic

Location: Woodstock, Vermont
Weather: 24 °F / -4 °C, clear

VINS Biologists Chris Rimmer and Juan Klavins
have arrived in the Dominican Republic where we
have been studying birds since 1994. They are
currently traveling by pickup truck to our study
site in Baoruco National Park on the border with
Haiti. They will spend the next week studying
Bicknell's Thrush and a suite of highly
endangered endemic bird species. The team will
then travel to Haiti to complete the third year
of assessments of bird habitat in the mountains
of southwestern Haiti. Read more about this
project at
http://www.vinsweb.org/cbd/hispaniolaconservation/index.html
and check back for messages directly from the team.

Kent McFarland
VINS Conservation Biologist

Biologist now in Bolivia

Location: Woodstock, Vermont
Weather: 24 °F / -4 °C, clear

Roz Renfrew is now in eastern Bolivia working
with Bobolinks, a small migratory bird that
breeds in North American grasslands and winters
in South America. The main objective of this
project is to determine Bobolink distribution,
habitat use, and foraging ecology in the winter,
in order to assess potential threats to
populations. Roz Renfrew is working with
collaborators in Paraguay, Bolivia, and Argentina
to determine how to best conserve Bobolink
wintering habitat. Read more about her project
at http://www.vinsweb.org/cbd/Bobolink.html and
check back soon for updates from her directly from the field.

Kent McFarland
Conservation Biologist