Terrestrial wildlife habitat inventory in southeastern Montana

Abstract

A wildlife inventory study on three areas of southeastern Montana (Otter Creek, Prairie Dog Creek and Hanging Woman Creek) encompassing approximately 105,200 acres was begun in April 1979. Field work was completed July 1, 1980. This report, will, among other things, be used to determine habitats unsuitable for mining according to the Secretary of the Interior's "unsuitability criteria." Game species observed on the Otter Creek study area include mule deer, white-tailed deer, antelope, sharp-tailed grouse and ringnecked pheasants. One hundred and ten bird species, including the golden eagle, Swainson's hawk, prairie falcon, upland sandpiper, mountain bluebird and Brewer's sparrow, were observed. Twenty-nine mammals including beaver, raccoon, black-tailed prairie dog and red fox were observed on the study area. Ten species of amphibians and reptiles were observed. The mule deer population structure in October 1979 was 8.7 percent bucks, 41.7 percent does and 49.5 percent fawns. Fawn production was extremely high at 118.6 fawns per 100 does. Antelope production, as observed in August 1979 was 64.4 fawns per 100 does. Twenty sharp-tailed grouse dancing grounds were located. Bird species composition was determined on grassland, sagebrush, ponderosa pinejuniper and riparian habitat types. The riparian type had the highest diversity, 31 species, while the sagebrush habitat type had the lowest diversity, 6 species. Prairie falcon aeries and red-tailed hawk nests were located. Small mammal trapping was conducted on 5 habitat types; grassland, sagebrush, ponderosa pinejuniper, deciduous tree riparian and marsh riparian. The deciduous tree riparian type had the highest number of captures, 63, and the sagebrush type had the lowest, 2. The Hanging Woman Creek area had mule deer, antelope, sage grouse, sharp-tailed grouse and ring-necked pheasants as resident game species. Seventy-eight bird species, including Cooper's hawk, ferruginous hawk, golden eagle and prairie falcon, were observed. Fifteen mammal species including the coyote, yellow-bellied marmot and black-tailed prairie dog were observed. Eight amphibian and reptilian species were observed. Over 1800 mule deer observations were made during the study period. Fawn production was observed to be 92.2 fawns per 100 does in October 1979. Antelope production, as observed in July 1979, was 67.4 fawns per 100 does. Three sharp-tailed grouse dancing grouncls and five sage grouse strutting grounds were documented. Bird species composition was determined on grassland and sagebrush habitat types. Numbers observed were highest on the sagebrush type while species diversity was highest on the grassland type. Small mammal trapping was conducted on the sagebrush and grassland habitat types. Fourteen prairie dog towns were located within or near the Hanging Woman study area.

Assessing Ecosystem Restoration Alternatives in Eastern Deciduous Hardwood Forests Using Avian Nest Survival

“…Nest searches were initiated between 06:30-07:30 and continued until midday, when bird activity tapered. We used standardized protocols for locating nests [45,46], which were modified for the FFS program. Most nests were located by observation of the behavior of the parent (following parent to the nest, flushing incubating or brooding parent off nest, parent feeding young), behavior of the young, or searching areas where nests were located in the previous year.…”

“…Most nests were located by observation of the behavior of the parent (following parent to the nest, flushing incubating or brooding parent off nest, parent feeding young), behavior of the young, or searching areas where nests were located in the previous year. We monitored nests and recorded development following the Breeding Biology Research and Monitoring Database (BBIRD) [45,46] and FFS protocols. Different paths were taken to and from nests during each observation to avoid attracting predators [45].…”

Short-Term Effects of Fire and Fire-Surrogate Treatments on Avian Nest Survival: A National-Scale Analysis

“…Nests were then visited periodically (median observation interval was 3 days) to monitor success or failure. We considered a nest successful during an interval between visits if at least one egg or nestling was alive, or one nestling had fledged, by the following visit [20].…”

“…Because the timing of both treatments and data collection varied by site, our data set contains observations from multiple calendar years and ranges from 1-6 years post-treatment. We estimated daily nest survival using standardized nest searching and monitoring protocols [20] which were consistent across the study site network and between field seasons. Nests were located through the use of either systematic searching, the behavior of adult birds as cues to nest locations (e.g., direct flights with food), or fortuitously flushing incubating and brooding adults.…”

Striped-tailed Yellow-finch nesting success in abandoned mining pits from central Brazilian cerrado

“…For those nests we found during incubation period in which at least one nestling hatched, we estimated nest age by subtracting incubation and laying period from hatching day. In cases in which the nests we encountered were depredated during the incubation period, we estimated nest age using the following formula modified from Martin et al (1997;Equation 1):…”