Kickoff of FFSS 2011!

Thank you to all the new and returning volunteers for joining us at the trainingon July 9, 2011 at the Yolo Wildlife Area. It was great to get out in the field with you and to check out those sandpipers! Here is some additional information regarding logistics and scheduling.

1. Sign up so you can add to this Blog and check it out often! Khara and I will be posting interesting information here and it is a great way for you to communicate with the FFSS team about the exciting things you encounter in the field. In addition, this is where you will find links to important items such as the Calendar, datasheets, and additional resources.

2. Don’t forget to sign-up for CADC if you do not have an account. Those of you with a CADC account will need to add the FFSS project if it does not appear on your list. For instructions, go to the FFSS blog and on the right hand side under Volunteer Resources, click the link for FFSS Documents then download the “FFSS_CADC_Data entry protocol_2011.pdf”

3. Visit the FFSS Calendar where we posted a live, interactive version of the schedule we created on Saturday. This can also be accessed from the blog on the right hand side under Volunteer Resources, click FFSS Calendar.

For more details about how to use and edit this calendar, please look under ‘Volunteer Resources’ where you will find a link to FFSS Documents which includes a 'How To Use the Google Calendar' document.

4. If you did not make it to the training session and need documents or you have not signed the waivers (all four of them!), please download them on the blog: Under ‘Volunteer Resources’ you will find a link to FFSS Documents, which will take you to a list of documents including the Audubon, PRBO, Yolo, and Cosumnes Volunteer Waivers. Please sign them and send them to:

Monica Iglecia
c/o Audubon CA
765 University Drive, Suite 200
Sacramento, CA 95825

Thank you to Darrell and Kathy for starting out the field season today with the bird counts at Field 68 at Yolo! Happy Birding!

Greetings FFSS Citizen Scientists-

As you know, last week was the last week of fallow field surveys at Yolo Wildlife Area and Cosumnes River Preserve and our surveys have now concluded. We truly appreciate all of the hard work you have put into making this project a reality.

Here are a few fun facts about this season; we’ll follow up with a complete update once all the data is entered.
1) Total number of shorebirds seen CRP: 8941 Yolo: 11323
2) Total number of shorebird species seen CRP: 14 Yolo: 12
3) Most abundant shorebird CRP: Dowitcher species (5564)
Yolo: Least Sandpiper (4605)
4) Acres surveyed CRP: 81 Yolo: 125
5) High count CRP: 800 Dowitchers Yolo: 760 Dowitchers
If there are specific things you would like summarized in the update, please send me an email and I will do my best to accommodate.

Remember to sign up for your one-year complimentary membership to PRBO Conservation Science by filling out the membership application in your training packet or visit http://www.prbo.org/cms/335. To join Audubon CA visit http://ca.audubon.org/index.php

Follow us on Facebook! http://www.facebook.com/PRBOConservationScience

Stay Involved! If you enjoyed surveying shorebirds in fallow fields, why not think about surveying shorebirds for the Pacific Flyway Shorebird Survey (PFSS)? The PFSS is a coordinated multi-partner monitoring program designed to guide the management and conservation of wintering shorebirds in the Pacific Flyway. This is the first year of a long term project and we are looking for dedicated volunteers who are willing to survey a route in the Sacramento Valley annually. For more information visit the PFSS website at http://data.prbo.org/partners/pfss/ or if you already know you are interested, take our online interest survey http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/pfssinterest

Thanks again!

Last Week of Surveys

This week marks the end of surveys on our fallow fields at the Yolo Wildlife Area and Cosumnes River Preserve. It seems that the fields held out just long enough to get in this week’s surveys. Thanks for hanging in there and continuing to conduct surveys even as the water levels dropped and the vegetation increased. Your data still informs how shorebirds use these fields! We’ll be in touch shortly with more information about what to do with your datasheets, a summary of observations and how you can stay involved. Thanks again for all of your hard work and dedication!

Yolo mostly grasslands now

Yolo field 61 is now all but entirely drained of water. Grasses have filled in the northwest third of the field. In the southeast, there remain large sections of exposed soil, but the ground was mostly dry and apparently not attractive to shorebirds as I failed to come up with even a single target species. Savannah Sparrows and Horned Larks were the only birds making regular use of the field.

FFSS training photos

Site Conditions

A couple of updates on site conditions:

Cosumnes
As you might have noticed, we are growing lots of weeds in the field at Cosumnes. Many of the survey areas are choked with vegetation except for fields B-6 and T-2. It appeared as though the water was off in T-2 and B-6 last week, however, and we are working with Holden, the wetlands manager at Cosumnes, and the rice grower to get the water turned back on. For now, please continue surveys in all of the fields at Cosumnes. The data still contribute to our knowledge of how shorebirds use fallow rice fields.

Yolo
There are some problems with mosquito abatement and half of Field 61 was drained last week. Unfortunately, mosquitoes are still being detected and the entire field will be drained. I am waiting to hear from Dave Feliz, the Yolo Wildlife Area manager, to see if there will be another field for surveying. Look for more information later this week. Please continue surveys of Field 61 at Yolo until further notice. As the field drains we will be documenting how shorebirds respond to the change in water levels.

Thanks for your patience as we sort through these issues.

Have fun surveying!

The new Yolo field

I did my first survey of field 61 in the Yolo bypass today. As reported, the roads here offer more difficult access than had been true at field 68. Everything appeared recently mowed and I had no problems getting in by the wetland route (turning left at the hunting check-in point), but it did require a bit of guess work to find the best path.

There was fairly limited activity in the fields. Half of my points turned up no species. Most of the fields are well flooded, some as deep as seven inches. A flock of several hundred peeps occupied a ridge of moist clods in point 497Y, but no other spot showed many birds. A fair number of ducks and gulls flew in and out of the middle of the field but they mercifully stayed beyond the 200m stake, sparing me from counting them. Highlights were the four red-necked phalaropes in site 363Y and watching the peregrine that is regularly hunting this area.