Zach Peery Surveys Owls in Northern Sierras

Moss Landing Marine Labs Research Affiliate M.  Zachariah (Zach) Peery, also an associate professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, has been awarded more than $300K by the California Department of Fish and Game to conduct surveys of barred owls in the northern Sierra Nevada. 横斑猫头鹰 colonized almost the entire range of the northern spotted owl over the past 20 years, and are now a threat to California’s spotted owl population.

Graduate Research Assistant Connor M. 木材、部门. of Forest and Wildlife Ecology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, hands off a barred owl to a technician.

Dr. Peery’s team is deploying GPS tags on barred owls to track their 运动. 这 will facilitate the development of sound owl management plans, as well as provide broader ecological insight into how species expand into new areas. 标签上传 their data via satellite, providing the team relatively current picture of the birds’ 运动.

“Understanding the density and distribution of barred owls in the Sierras will be essential for the successful management of both the California spotted owl and the 横斑猫头鹰，”博士解释说. Peery.

University of Wisconsin-Madison Ph.D. student Connor Wood and a team of technicians are also deploying passive acoustic monitoring units across the northern Sierra Nevada, the forefront of the ongoing barred owl expansion. The project’s first field season is under way, and the team has begun processing the several terabytes of data that 每周积累. Preliminary results suggest that the recording units, which are a new method for owl research, will be an effective survey tool for both owl species 还有其他森林鸟类.

Dr. Peery oversees the project, in collaboration with Drs. Rocky Gutiérrez, John Keane, 和MLML的Dr. Jim Harvey, and several government agencies, including the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and the U.S. 林务局.

Before deploying a unit (above), the team checks the settings to ensure that the date, time, and recording parameters are correct.

2017