Field and Collections- based Research Program...

The Foundation makes available its staff and resources to conduct conservation research projects in areas that have been degraded. Our projects include inventorying and monitoring of bird species and restoring habitat. For example, currently we are conducting a bird inventory project in Guatemala, and we plan to initiate a long-term monitoring project there. We also continued assisting the California Condor Recovery Program, and in 2006, began working with the National Park Service to monitor birds locally. With our Research Associate Pete Bloom we are also conducting population monitoring of threatened birds on Seal Beach Naval Weapon Station, in San Diego, to determine the impacts of habitat changes, predation, and parasitism on these species.

In some instances, our research may involve the collection of a limited number of specimens (eggs, nests, and birds) to document the presence of a species in a particular area or to test for contaminants. The information gained by collecting such specimens provides crucial information for our conservation efforts without hurting bird populations. Information from bird specimens can provide important data about population biology, and conservation decisions must be based on the biology of species, rather then our guesses about them.

A lot of data can be obtained from specimens, including information about breeding, sex, molt, diet, distribution, and habitat use. Also, field guides use museum specimens for bird illustration; land purchases for conservation are often based on inventories of species present in an area; and wildlife authorities use museum specimens to identify illegal traffic in birds. Museum specimens are now used for genetic analyses, to determine if species classifications are correct, and specimens collected a century ago can be analyzed for levels of toxic chemicals for comparison with current levels. For example, our egg collection was used for analyses of DDT/DDE levels in the California Condor, Brown Pelican, Peregrine Falcon, and many other endangered species. The results of these investigations led to a ban on the production of DDT in the U.S., and contributed to the recovery of these species.