Raptor Research and Management Techniques Raptor Research and Management Techniques Edited by DAVID M. BIRD and KEITH L. BILDSTEIN Assistant Editors DAVID R. BARBER and ANDREA ZIMMERMAN ISBN 978-0-88839-639-6 Copyright © 2007 Raptor Research Foundation Cataloging in Publication Data Raptor research and management techniques / edited by David M. Bird ... [et al.]. First ed. published Washington, D.C. : Institute for Wildlife Research, National Wildlife Federation, 1987 under title: Raptor management techniques manual. Includes bibliographies and index. ISBN 978-0-88839-639-6 1. Birds of prey. 2. Birds of prey—Conservation. 3. Wildlife management. I. Bird, David M. (David Michael), 1949- II. Title: Raptor management techniques manual. QL696.F3R366 2007 639.9’789 C2007-904971-0 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of Hancock House Publishers. Printed in China — SINOBLE Copy editing: Theresa Laviolette Production: Ingrid Luters Cover design: Ingrid Luters We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Book Publishing Industry Development Program (BPIDP) for our publishing activities. Published simultaneously in Canada and the United States by HANCOCK HOUSE PUBLISHERS LTD. 19313 Zero Avenue, Surrey, B.C. Canada V3S 9R9 (604) 538-1114 Fax (604) 538-2262 HANCOCK HOUSE PUBLISHERS 1431 Harrison Avenue, Blaine, WA U.S.A 98230-5005 (604) 538-1114 Fax (604) 538-2262 Website: www.hancockhouse.com Email: [email protected] Contents Foreword . 7 Preface . 8 Acknowledgments . 10 1. The Raptor Literature . 11 Lloyd Kiff, Rob G. Bijlsma, Lucia Liu Severinghaus, and Jevgeni Shergalin 2. Raptor Identification, Ageing, and Sexing . 47 William S. Clark 3. Systematics . 57 Michael Wink 4. Study Design, Data Management, Analysis, and Presentation . 73 James C. Bednarz 5. Survey Techniques . 89 David E. Andersen 6. Migration Counts and Monitoring . 101 Keith L. Bildstein, Jeff P. Smith, and Reuven Yosef 7. Behavioral Studies . 117 Giorgia Gaibani and Davide Csermely 8. Food Habits . 129 Carl D. Marti, Marc Bechard, and Fabian M. Jacksic 9. Habitat Sampling . 153 Luis Tapia, Patricia L. Kennedy, and R. William Mannan 10. Accessing Nests . 171 Joel E. Pagel and Russell K. Thorstrom 11. Assessing Nesting Success and Productivity . 181 Karen Steenhof and Ian Newton 12. Capture Techniques . 193 Peter H. Bloom, William S. Clark, and Jeff W. Kidd 13. Marking Techniques . 221 Daniel E. Varland, John A. Smallwood, Leonard S. Young, and Michael N. Kochert 14. Spatial Tracking A. Radio Tracking . 237 Sean S. Walls and Robert E. Kenward B. Satellite Tracking . 242 Bernd-U. Meyburg and Mark R. Fuller C. Stable Isotopes and Trace Elements . 249 Keith A. Hobson 6 15. Energetics . 257 Charles R. Blem 16. Physiology A. Gastrointestinal . 267 David C. Houston and Gary E. Duke B. Hematological . 278 Deborah J. Monks and Neil A. Forbes C. Reproductive . 286 Juan Blanco, David M. Bird, and Jamie H. Samour 17. Pathology A. Disease . 293 John E. Cooper B. Ectoparasites . 311 James R. Philips C. Endoparasites . 318 Oliver Krone 18. Toxicology . 329 Charles J. Henny and John E. Elliott 19. Reducing Management and Research Disturbance . 351 Robert N. Rosenfield, James W. Grier, and Richard W. Fyfe 20. Mitigation . 365 Richard E. Harness 21. Captive Breeding . 383 Joseph B. Platt, David M. Bird, and Lina Bardo 22. Augmenting Wild Populations and Food Resources . 401 Juan José Negro, José Hernán Sarasola, and John H. Barclay 23. Rehabilitation . 411 Patrick T. Redig, Lori Arent, Hugo Lopes, and Luis Cruz 24. Public Education . 423 Jemima Parry-Jones, Mike Nicholls, and Gail C. Farmer 25. Legal Considerations . 437 Brian A. Millsap, Margaret E. Cooper, and Geoffrey Holroyd Appendix . 450 Index . 453 The Editors . 462 7 Foreword This is the RAPTOR RESEARCH FOUNDATION Welcome to the 2nd edition of the Raptor Management George Balanchine put it, “Behind every good idea lies Techniques Manual, now renamed Raptor Research and horrible, exhausting work. You knock your brains out Management Techniques. I can think of no more appro- and nothing comes. ... But after you’ve worked hard priate undertaking for The Raptor Research Foundation, enough, the work gradually starts taking shape.” Inc. (RRF) than to update this terrific reference, first (Volkov 1985, page 199 in Balanchine’s Tchaikovsky: published by the National Wildlife Federation in 1987. Interviews with George Balanchine. Simon and Shuster, RRF’s purpose is to stimulate the dissemination of New York, New York, USA.). Take advantage of the information concerning raptorial birds among interested experience gathered in these pages. For established parties worldwide and to promote a better public under- practitioners, this is a tremendous resource to brush up standing and appreciation of the value of birds of prey. on technique and review recent developments. For Thus, no other endeavor could be more central to RRF’s those at the start of their careers, this is a toolbox with raison d’etre, or more expressive of the manner in which to build a life’s body of work, implements shaped which knowledge within our profession is carefully for your use by those who have walked the road you are passed from one generation to the next. The foundation standing on. of our professional capability is and always will be I am proud and delighted that RRF has taken on technique: the methods we apply to craft our investiga- responsibility for this manual. I thank the National tions and management programs, to understand and Wildlife Federation for the legacy they have passed to conserve birds of prey. us, congratulate David and Keith on a job well done, Editors David Bird and Keith Bildstein, experts in and bow in appreciation to the authors who have made their own right, have assembled a distinguished team of this 2nd edition a reality. authors. The techniques they have synthesized are the product of hundreds of lifetimes of hard-won experi- ence, thousands upon thousands of hours of trial and LEONARD YOUNG, President error, and tedious experimentation. As the ballet master, The Raptor Research Foundation, Inc. 8 Preface In 1987, the Raptor Information Center of the National Management Techniques is a bound work that is loose- Wildlife Federation published the Raptor Management ly modeled after the highly acclaimed Bird Census Techniques Manual. The work, which was edited by Techniques, second edition (2000) by Colin Bibby, Neil Beth Giron Pendleton, Brian Millsap, Keith Cline, and Burgess, David Hill, and Simon Mustoe. Raptor David Bird, was a 420-page manual consisting of 19 Research and Management Techniques is not intended chapters divided into three sections: Field Research to be an all-inclusive manual or detailed “how-to” book, Techniques, Management Techniques, and Laboratory but rather a review of the field with up-to-date informa- Research Techniques. Each chapter was authored by tion on various techniques that is designed to provide one or more experts in the field, and each was reviewed readers with a general overview of the field. That said, by two independent referees. Priced at $25 U.S., the each chapter has numerous references that will direct book sold out quickly. Although the Raptor Manage- readers to additional sources for details and cautions ment Techniques Manual was published in binder for- regarding various field and laboratory techniques and mat with the expectation that individual chapters would management tools. be updated and replaced as warranted, this never The first four chapters, one each on the raptor liter- occurred. The Raptor Information Center was disband- ature, raptor systematics, raptor identification, and ed in the 1990s. study design, data analysis, and the presentation of In 2000, the Raptor Research Foundation (RRF) results, provide a general overview of the field of raptor approached the National Wildlife Federation and was research. The next ten chapters provide insights into given permission to pursue the publication of a thor- field-study techniques, including surveying and moni- oughly updated version of the manual. RRF then asked toring, behavioral studies, diet analysis, habitat sam- the two of us to solicit authors for individual chapters, pling, accessing nests and assessing nest success, cap- edit the new work, and oversee its publication. The ture and marking techniques, and spatial tracking. Four book before you, Raptor Research and Management additional chapters provide information on the energet- Techniques, is the result of these efforts. ics, physiology, pathology, and toxicology of raptors; When we as editors took on this task, our aims and five more cover reducing management and researcher objectives were to produce a comprehensive work that disturbance, mitigation, captive breeding, the augmen- reflected the state of the art in raptor research and man- tation of wild populations, and rehabilitation. The work agement techniques, and to increase the geographic concludes with chapters on public education and legal scope of the book beyond North America. We also considerations. Although the book focuses on questions wanted to produce a high-quality, attractive, and reason- of importance to management and conservation, the sci- ably priced book that would be used globally by raptor entific approach laid out at the beginning of the work, researchers and conservationists and natural-resource and the field and laboratory study techniques described managers. Unlike its predecessor, Raptor Research and thereafter, provide researchers with important tools for PREFACE 9 better understanding the basic biology of the birds as Management Techniques as a way to enhance standard- well. ization in the field, and in so doing, increase our ability We use the recommended English names of birds to compare our findings with those of others. We also (Gill and Wright 2006, Birds of the World: recommend- view the book as a way to share both past successes and ed English names.