2025 Conservation Ranching Bird Monitoring Results in the Rockies

Audubon Rockies and the group of wildlife biologists from Precision Wildlife Sources accomplished this yr’s avian monitoring, spanning 545,000 acres throughout 13 Audubon Licensed Chicken-Pleasant ranches. With over 6,000 miles travelled by this superb group of scientists, there have been only a few roads not pushed!  

Vegetation sampling and hen surveys have been carried out between mid-Might to early July throughout licensed ranches in Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana. Favorable climate then adopted all through the spring and summer season, and made journey between survey places environment friendly and the fieldwork particularly rewarding in 2025.   

Birds have been counted at 634 survey places representing fourteen main habitats, starting from open grassland and sagebrush-steppe rangelands to pinyon-juniper woodlands. A complete of 129 hen species and over 11,000 particular person birds have been documented. Grassland and rangeland hen detections have been among the many most prevalent, with species such because the Western Meadowlark, Lark Bunting, Brewer’s Sparrow, Vesper Sparrow, Cassin’s Sparrow, and Grasshopper Sparrow composing 5 of the ten most recorded species. Though we didn’t see a Yellow-bellied Flycatcher, Grace’s Warbler, or a Crested Caracara this yr like another fortunate people in Wyoming, distinctive species that have been recognized included Pinyon Jay, Black-throated Gray Warbler, Burrowing Owl and sage-grouse.  

Clearly, the ranches enrolled within the Audubon Conservation Ranching Program function a bastion of hope and sources for ongoing and future conservation of those species, along with the multitude of different area of interest species that have been recorded in 2025 and in years prior.  This long-term monitoring dataset is integral to evaluating and persevering with to implement efficient administration methods on these lands. With these science-based administration choices, avian populations can proceed to profit from concerted stewardship of the lands’ ecological richness.  

Yearly, Audubon Rockies and Precision Wildlife Sources supply free trainings to workers and volunteers to be taught in regards to the complete Built-in Monitoring in Chicken Conservation Areas (IMBCR) protocols which can be the spine of those surveys. To be taught extra, attain out to Audubon Rockies Conservation Ranching Director Dusty Downey at dusty.downey@audubon.org.