Since 1998, SSRS has operated a MAPS bird banding station from May to August on Audubon California’s Kern River Preserve. The MAPS (Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship) program is a continent-wide collaborative effort organized by the Institute for Bird Populations (https://www.birdpop.org/pages/maps.php) to assist the conservation of birds and their habitats through bird banding research. MAPS data is publicly accessible (MAPS Data Exploration Tool) and is currently being used to estimate demographic rates, such as productivity (young produced per year) and the annual survival of young and adult birds. These parameters are then used to identify which parts of the annual cycle limit population growth or drive population declines. Since 1989, more than 1,200 MAPS stations spread across nearly every state and Canadian province have collected more than 2.5 million bird capture records.
In addition to the valuable banding data collected at our station, we also collect feathers from birds that visit our nets and send hundreds of feather samples to the Bird Genoscape Project (birdgenoscape.org) each year. The Bird Genoscape Project then extracts genetic information from the tips of feathers to link genetically distinct populations between their breeding grounds, migratory routes and wintering grounds.
Our banding station is open to visitors at the Kern River Preserve visitor center, providing a great opportunity to educate the public about songbird conservation.
Our MAPS station is currently completely self-funded, which means we rely on donations to keep it running. We are currently in great need of funding for our 2024 season. Because we already have equipment and infrastructure, we can run an entire MAPS season for $8,000. Please consider giving a donation LINK HERE to help us keep our banding station open. Long term studies like this one are some of the most ecologically critical, but also the hardest to continue funding. Every dollar helps!
