Field Notes:
Attwate's Prairie Chickens Sent to Texas Refuge
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Putting on a collar

Banding

Measuring wings

The Attwater's Prairie Chicken (APC) has been the most endangered bird in America for quite a while now. Last year's discovery of a remnant population of Ivory Billed Woodpeckers in Arkansas has, at least temporarily, moved those birds up to most endangered status.

The first order of the day was to catch the birds to be sent to the Refuge. This is not an easy task. That job fell to Janet Johnson, head of our Avian program here at Fossil Rim, Julia Watson, APC staff, and Cara Burch, an APC intern for 2006 who had already completed her term and moved home but willingly came back to voluntarily assist in this endeavor. Then the work began in earnest. Each bird was weighed, sexed, had its wings measured, body condition and feet assessed and bands applied to the legs. Each bird has a unique set of bands with different color arrangements, so the Refuge workers can identify them. The workers use spotting scopes, as the birds are not likely to be close enough for normal observation. The birds also had feathers collected, to be used in an isotope study to check nutritional issues. At this time the females received radio transmitters so their whereabouts can be kept up with on the refuge. Males are more readily spotted when in the tall grass prairies they call home.

Once these release birds reach the refuge they will go into what is called a soft release program. For the first two weeks they will be in pens with their food and water provided. Afterwards, the doors to these pens are opened and the birds are free to decide where to go. Food and water are still offered outside the enclosures.

Mike Morrow with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said "Without captive rearing and release the Attwater's would have been extinct by now." He stated that survival in general has been very good for the Attwater's in comparison to other bird release programs that have been attempted. The biggest limiting factor he sees is that the hens are not raising chicks in the wild.

In order to help the mother hens the interns at the refuge put protective "fences" around nest sites when the eggs are laid. When chicks are hatched a pen is set over them and their mom for two weeks to give the young a better chance at survival.

We send our best wishes with these birds. One year the populations will hopefully tip toward survival and they will be heard on the prairies once again.