News from Scientists at the USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center
Monday, December 12, 2005
Chan Robbins to Retire after 60 years with DOI Chandler S. Robbins, one of our best known and loved scientists, will soon be retiring after 60 years of service at Patuxent. Chan has devoted his life to the study of migratory birds. A senior author of "The Field Guide to Birds of North America", Robbins is also credited with organizing the North American Breeding Bird Survey, assisting with the Maryland and District of Columbia Breeding Bird Atlas, and writing and editing hundreds of articles in journals and other publications. In addition to his work in Maryland, Robbins has done extensive work in Latin America, studying the many species of birds that migrate thousands of miles annually. Robbins is also known for his critical research on the effects of forest fragmentation on bird populations. In honor of Chan Robbins and his career, the USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center has dedicated a website that can be found at the following address: http://www.pwrc.usgs.gov/whatsnew/events/robbins/ Contact Lois Loges, Laurel, MD 301-497-5531 Nineteen endangered whooping cranes and their surrogate parents—four ultralight aircraft—reached Florida’s Gulf on December 13 after a 61-day trek of more than 1,100 miles through seven states. This is the fifth year that whooping cranes have followed ultralights to Florida from central Wisconsin. The Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership (WCEP), an international coalition of public and private organizations, is conducting this reintroduction effort to return this species to its historic range in eastern North America. The project has now placed 64 whooping cranes in the wild in five years. The U.S. Geological Survey’s Patuxent Wildlife Research Center in Laurel, Maryland, a primary partner in this coalition, is responsible for hatching and rearing the whooping crane chicks used in the project. Contact Kathy O’Malley, Laurel, MD,301-497-5782 |
CBS Sunday Morning with Chan Robbins Chan Robbins will be accompanied this Saturday (Dec. 17) at the Middle Patuxent Environmental Area near Clarksville, Maryland, by a film crew from CBS Sunday Morning as he begins his 72nd consecutive year of Christmas bird counting in collaboration with the National Audubon Society. Robbins, who has just completed his 60th year of wildlife research activities for the U.S. Department of Interior, will spend the day walking the same trails he has covered each Christmas since 1949, noting changes that have occurred in the landscape and in the winter bird populations. In the days following Christmas he will conduct similar counts at Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge, at Saxis Island, Virginia, in the Pocomoke River Swamp near Ocean City, Maryland, and finally at the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, which has been his home base for six decades. Contact Chan Robbins, Laurel, MD 301-497-5641 Reducing Uncertainties through Monitoring Joe Meyers, Clint Moore, Paul Sykes, and Bruce Peterjohn, all biologists at USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, met on December 6-8, 2005 with partners from US Fish and Wildlife Service, US Forest Service, the Atlantic Coast Joint Venture, state conservation agencies, and universities to plan monitoring designs and to identify research priorities for the eastern population of Painted Bunting. The Painted Bunting is a migratory songbird of conservation concern that breeds along the highly human-impacted Atlantic coast from Florida to North Carolina. On its wintering range in Mexico and Cuba, the brightly-colored males are captured for the caged bird trade. USGS scientists helped meeting participants identify the critical information needed for the proper international management of the bird, efficient designs for obtaining and managing the information, and uses of the data for reducing uncertainties about management. Primary outcomes of the meeting were plans for a periodic survey, conducted by a network of resource biologists and volunteers across the breeding range of the bird, for the assessment of breeding population size and the identification of research needs for better management of the species. Contacts: Clint Moore or J. Michael Meyers, Athens, GA, 706-542-1882
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