Pacific Southwest Research Station

Graphic by Gary Bloomfield

Bird research in our laboratory has been an ongoing effort since wildlife research began at the Redwood Sciences Laboratory in 1982. In the last 25+ years, we have conducted over two million censuses, captures, and field evaluations of birds and their habitats. Our study sites are primarily in northern California and southern Oregon, but we have also conducted studies in the states of Washington, Alaska, and Hawaii, as well as in Costa Rica and New Zealand.

• Landbirds
  We have been conducting landbird research in northern California and southern Oregon since 1982 and in Costa Rica since 1994. Working with others, we have been refining and standardizing both banding and censusing techniques. We are also researching the relationships between birds and their habitats, both in riparian corridors and with respect to the effects of fire on habitat use. Most recently, we have been working with the Avian Knowledge Network and others to make bird banding data accessible over the internet.
• Marbled Murrelets and Other Seabirds
  We began research on the Marbled Murrelet in 1987 shortly after we detected them during landbird surveys in old-growth forests in coastal northern California. Since then, we have worked with others in the seabird community to refine forest and marine survey techniques for this threatened seabird, and explored habitat relationships on a landscape scale. We have also had the unique opportunity to conduct marine surveys for seabirds after two marine oil spills occurred in our area and adapt our survey methods to inform the oil spill response.

Bird Monitoring Laboratory Publication List

Links to Cooperative Programs

• Avian Knowledge Network
• Klamath Bird Observatory
• Landbird Monitoring Network of the Americas (LaMNA)
• Partners in Flight Monitoring and Inventory Working Group

Last updated by L.L. Long

Research is being conducted by:

• Maintaining Faunal Diversity in Forested Ecosystems of the Coastal and Intermountain West (RWU-4251)