Bird Banding in Eastern Idaho
Presented by: Austin Young

Thursday, April 6th, 7:00 PM

Room 201, Shields Building
College of Southern Idaho

Austin is a homegrown Idahoan with lifelong passion for wildlife and fish, especially wild birds. He graduated in 2020 with a B.S. in Biology (emphasis Ecology and Conservation Biology) from Idaho State University, Pocatello, ID. and is currently working on his Master’s Degree at ISU in Biology. He will share information about his field research with us….

For decades Intermountain West birders have recognized eastern Idaho as a landbird migrant hotspot. Record bird diversity and abundance in comparison to the rest of the state has been well documented. Three locations in particular have consistently ranked high with regard to migrant landbird use and fantastic birding. They are Camas NWR, Market Lake WMA, and Mud Lake WMA. However, multi-dimensional issues of aquifer shortages, habitat management choices, and declines in many migrant landbirds lead to questions about the effects on these locations and current role of these hotspots in the big picture of landbird migration. What does this mean for migrant landbird communities of the Intermountain West? How should the managers of these important migration stopover sites respond? What does this mean for eastern Idaho birding?

Austin is currently trying to find answers to these questions through his Master’s research. He hopes to replicate an Intermountain Bird Observatory point count and banding study at these sites from the mid-2000’s and use comparative analyses in order to detect any shifts in bird migration variables that have occurred in the recent past. With two seasons of point count data in the books and lots more data to be collected soon, Austin is beginning to understand how the birds at these sites have responded to the dynamic pressures experienced over the last 15 years.