WILLISTOWN CONSERVATION TRUST

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
GIVE
  • About
    • HOW WE WORK
    • WHERE WE WORK
    • DIVERSITY, EQUITY & INCLUSION STATEMENT
    • OUR STAFF AND TRUSTEES
    • OUR NATURE PRESERVES
    • JOBS & INTERNSHIPS
    • STRATEGIC PLAN
    • FAQs
  • LATEST
    • BLOG
    • PUBLICATIONS
    • IN THE NEWS
    • PHOTOS
  • PROGRAMS
    • BIRD CONSERVATION
    • COMMUNITY FARM
    • EDUCATION
    • LAND PROTECTION
    • STEWARDSHIP
      • TRAILS
    • WATERSHED PROTECTION
  • EVENTS
    • EVENT CALENDAR
    • BARNS & BBQ
    • RUN-A-MUCK
    • WILDFLOWER WEEK
    • PLASTIC FREE JULY
    • RUSHTON NATURE KEEPERS (RNK)
  • Support
    • SPONSOR THE TRUST
      • CORPORATE PARTNERSHIP PROGRAM
    • JOIN THE SYCAMORE SOCIETY
    • LEGACY SOCIETY & PLANNED GIVING
    • CAMPAIGN FOR RUSHTON WOODS PRESERVE
    • WAYS TO GIVE
    • VOLUNTEER
    • OUR SUPPORTERS
  • Rushton Conservation Center

Our 1000th Bird – A Look at the Numbers

October 25, 2019 By Bird Conservation Team

At Rushton we do as the birds do and follow their seasons. Each season is unique in its own way, so when we look at the data, we look at each season independently. 

This fall we seem to be catching more birds than we have in the past. This does not contradict the recent reports of bird declines, it simply shows that during this small window of bird migration, over the short time span of 10 years, this is the most we have captured. It’s too soon to know why there are more birds this year; maybe the habitat is just right this year.  We changed the habitat slightly by increasing the shrub scrub due to a slightly altered mowing regime. We have also been able to band a little more this fall than in previous years, due to favorable weather. It could also be that we happen to be catching good migration weather, the best winds and on the right days. We have a set schedule of banding the same three days each week, but the birds travel when the weather is right, no matter what day!

A summary of 9 years of fall migration banding at Rushton:

We typically band from the last week in August until the first week in November, three days a week when conditions allow.

This year on October 10th we caught and banded our 1000th bird (a Black-throated Blue Warbler), at about halfway through the season, already surpassing our average total over the last nine years. Noting this great year, we hope this can become a tradition!

Our lowest year is likely due to fewer hours spent catching birds, more fairly, our lowest catch has been 893 birds and our highest in the last nine years was 1082 birds in 2013.

Looking forward, our winter residents and second most common bird of the fall season, the White-throated Sparrow, has yet to arrive, along with our tiniest fall migrant, the Ruby-crowned Kinglet, which combined, average another 200-300 birds, we can only begin to speculate how many birds we will total by November!

Table 1. Number of birds captured per year during fall migration.

Filed Under: Bird Banding, Bird Conservation, Bird ecology, migration

First Birds Nanotagged at Rushton Woods Detected by Chesapeake Bay Motus Tower

October 14, 2019 By Bird Conservation Team

Exciting news! The first birds ever to be fitted with Motus nanotags at Rushton Woods Preserve have been detected by a Motus receiving station in the Chesapeake Bay. The birds are adult female wood thrush migrating south for the winter, after having spent the breeding season at Rushton. Who knows where they are headed next? Hopefully the Motus network will tell us. Stay tuned!

Filed Under: Bird Conservation, Bird ecology, migration

Using Motus and Rushton to Study the Wood Thrush

October 2, 2019 By Bird Conservation Team

The flutelike song of the wood thrush is emblematic of summer mornings at Rushton Woods Preserve. Unfortunately, both the wood thrush population and places like Rushton, with over 50 acres of deciduous forest, are rapidly disappearing. The loss is so dramatic that wood thrush are one of eight species of conservation concern identified for study by a recent Competitive State Wildlife Grant awarded to the Willistown Conservation Trust. 

One of our nanotagged Wood Thrush caught on September 17th. Photo by Blake Goll

Under the direction of Lisa Kiziuk, the Trust’s Director of Bird Conservation, University of Pennsylvania graduate student Amanda Bebel is conducting research on wood thrush as her capstone project. Amanda’s work is contributing additional scientific information about the wood thrush’s complete life cycle. The focus of her research is to learn precisely where they go during the breeding season. Since they nest in Rushton Woods Preserve, it is an ideal place to conduct the study. And the newly expanding Motus network, which electronically tracks birds’ movement, is an ideal research tool.

By attaching tiny nanotags (small radio transmitters) to six adults and three juveniles at Rushton Woods Preserve in Willistown and several more at Bucktoe Creek Preserve in Kennett Square, Amanda followed these birds during their breeding cycle with incredible geospatial precision. Throughout the summer, she used a hand-held tracking device to zero in on the birds to their physical location while general detections were consistently picked up by the local Motus automated receiver stations at both Rushton and Bucktoe. As the birds migrate south this fall, the broader Motus network that extends to South America will pick them up.

This work contributes more information to conservationists about how to better protect and manage wood thrush habitat. Pennsylvania plays a critical role in the conservation of the wood thrush as it supports a significant portion (approximately 8.5%) of the entire nesting population of the species.

What type of plants do they need for survival? How far do they go after they fledge? How much contiguous forest do they need? Where do they stop to rest and refuel on their migration path? We hope to learn more about these questions when Amanda completes her research in spring 2020. Stay tuned!

Filed Under: Bird Conservation, Bird ecology, Conservation, migration

Getting the Band Back Together

August 29, 2019 By Bird Conservation Team

Fall migration is just around the corner. And that means the banding station at Rushton Woods Preserve will be back in operation.

Bird banding is an important and powerful scientific tool in bird conservation. Understanding our reasons for banding and being able to relate those reasons to the public, along with proper training and the maintenance of high scientific standards is necessary for the success of our banding/outreach program.

Elementary school students observe banding at Rushton Woods Preserve

Rushton Woods Preserve (RWPR) lies within an Audubon Important Bird Area (IBA), offering a great opportunity for banding and allowing us to study the seasonal and long term population patterns and species diversity of migratory and breeding birds. The RWPR banding project contributes to continent-wide monitoring efforts and exemplifies the benefits of low-impact land management practices on bird populations. The RWPR station also allows us to train committed volunteers in the basics of bird banding and creates a setting for responsible nature education and conservation outreach.

In 1595, one of Henry IV’s banded Peregrine Falcons was lost in pursuit of a bustard in France. The falcon showed up 24 hours later in Malta, 1,350 miles away; thanks to banding, they were able to calculate that the falcon averaged a speed of 56 miles per hour. Duke Ferdinand placed a silver band on a Grey Heron around 1669 and the bird was then recovered by his grandson in about 1728, indicating that the heron had lived at least 60 years. In 1803, John James Audubon tied silver cord to the legs of a brood of Eastern Phoebes near Philadelphia and was reportedly able to identify two of the nestlings when they returned to the neighborhood the following year.

These centuries-old records are not only amazing, but gave inspiration to naturalists and scientists interested in understanding the mystery of migration. Today, bird banding is helping to answer questions not only about migration and longevity, but also site productivity, dispersal of young, metapopulations , site fidelity, survivorship, behavior, ecotoxicology and many other population ecology questions important to bird conservation and management around the world. In North America, banding is overseen by the US Geological Survey’s Bird Banding Laboratory (within the Department of the Interior) and the Canadian Wildlife Service. These offices issue federal permits, distribute bands, and compile all the data collected from bird banding. All of the data collected at the RWPR is sent here and is made available to researchers and other banders. Learn more at https://www.pwrc.usgs.gov/BBL/homepage/history.htm.

If you would like to observe the banding process and learn about the science, banding activities at the Rushton Woods Preserve banding station are open to the public on Tuesdays and Thursdays. See our events calendar for dates, time, and other details.

Filed Under: Bird Banding, Bird Conservation, Bird ecology, Bird Events

Banding Big Day

October 18, 2018 By Bird Conservation Team

[pdf-embedder url=”http://wctrust.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/BigDay_2018.pdf”]

Filed Under: Bird Banding, Bird Conservation

  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • Next Page »

OUR NATURE PRESERVES

Our nature preserves are open to the public 365 days per year from sunrise to sunset, providing natural places that offer peace and respite for all. Willistown Conservation Trust owns and manages three nature preserves in the Willistown area - Ashbridge, Kirkwood and Rushton Woods Preserve. We maintain these lands for the … Learn more about our nature preserves.

Upcoming Events

25 March

Partner Event | CRC’s 25th Annual Streams Cleanup

View Detail
25 March

Partner Event | 2023 Watershed Congress

View Detail
30 March

Stewardship Volunteer Thursday

View Detail
No event found!
Load More

DONATE TODAY!

Invest in Nature! ENGAGE CONNECT SPONSOR LEAVE A LEGACY   If you would like to make a gift of securities, such as stocks, bonds, or mutual fund shares, please contact us at 610-353-2562 for instructions. For more … Donate Today

CONTACT

925 Providence Road
Newtown Square, PA 19073
(610) 353-2562
land@wctrust.org

WHERE WE WORK

The work of the Willistown Conservation Trust is concentrated on 28,000 acres of Willistown Township … read more

JOIN OUR MAILING LIST

FAQs

Copyright © 2023 · WCTRUST.ORG