Wildlife managers have long used water, especially in the arid Southwest, as a tool to help support healthy animal populations. What began as a handful of managed water sites for quail and mule deer around 1940 blossomed into some 6,000 sites intended to increase populations and benefit overall health for dozens of mostly game species in 10 western states by the close of the 20th century. Provisional water – contained in troughs, large tires, basins, open tanks and dammed up pools – is now used to support a vast range of wildlife management and species conservation work, from increasing mule deer and other game populations to recovery efforts for endangered Sonoran pronghorn and desert bighorn sheep.

A new study, however, reveals that in some cases, use of the common wildlife management tool can be fine-tuned to optimize benefits for targeted species by reducing risk from predators that are likewise drawn to the same water sources. Published in PLOS One, the Public Library of Science’s peer-reviewed open-access scientific journal, the research represents significant implications for other like-minded wildlife management efforts.

Conducted by biologists from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Department of Defense and others, the study examined when endangered desert bighorn sheep, as well as deer, puma and coyote visit managed water sources (drinkers) in three distinct Southwestern desert ecosystems.

“Desert bighorn sheep visit water when it’s hot and dry,” says Fish and Wildlife Service biologist Grant Harris. “Mountain lions visit water year-round. Take home: Provide water only when bighorn sheep are likely to visit, which could reduce mountain lion range expansion and predation on sheep.”

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For six-and-a-half years, from July 2009 through December 2016, Harris and fellow researchers analyzed imagery from remote cameras set up at 105 drinkers throughout the Chihuahuan, Sonoran and Mojave deserts. By calculating the mean proportion of visits to water catchments per month for each site, the team was able to hone in on exactly when desert bighorn sheep, mule deer, coyote and mountain lions visited the sites.

The research revealed that in the Chihuahuan Desert, 70 percent of all desert bighorn sheep visits occurred from April through August; In the Sonoran, 85 percent of sheep visits occurred during May through August; And in the Mojave, 83 percent of sheep visits occurred from May through September. Read more

This season’s BirdSpotter contest is celebrating teachers and students who attract birds with feeders and bird baths outside their classroom windows as an impetus to learn about birds. While many schools are operating remotely this year, some students are homeschooled outside the public and private school systems with students involved in most of their education activities at home. Whether schooling remotely or homeschooling, in both cases, students are spending more time at home, and many have welcomed Project FeederWatch as part of their studies – as curriculum or extra-curricular activities. Read more

Bozeman, Montana. December 28, 2020. Today, wild sheep advocates are celebrating a successful trap and transfer and the establishment of a new bighorn population in Montana’s Little Belt Mountains, which occurred this past Tuesday and Wednesday.

The Wild Sheep Foundation (WSF), Montana WSF (its state chapter), domestic sheep producers, and Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks have been working for the past several years to reintroduce bighorn sheep into new suitable habitats. Recently, fifty bighorn sheep we helicopter captured in HD482, south of the Missouri Breaks, and safely released into the Little Belts.

“In the year of Covid, wild sheep conservation doesn’t stop – nor does WSF, and now we all have something to celebrate,” said Gray N. Thornton, President, and CEO, Wild Sheep Foundation. “WSF is proud to work hand in hand with Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks, Montana Wild Sheep Foundation, Bass Pro Shops and Cabela’s Outdoor Fund, and many other partners to restore bighorn sheep to an area where they have been absent since the early 20th century.

This effort showcases WSF’s successes in partnering with agencies, industry, and chapter and affiliates to help restore and manage wild sheep and other wildlife throughout the world. It is how we put and keep wild sheep on the mountain.” Read more

(Kaunakakai, Moloka‘i) – Surveys and investigations by the DLNR Division of Forestry and Wildlife (DOFAW) staff suggest that recent instances of deer dying on Moloka‘i are due to severe drought conditions. DOFAW began receiving reports earlier this month of deer being found both on roadways and on private lands in West Moloka‘i.

Staff have conducted surveys and investigations to determine the causes of death. At this time, the animals appear to be dying of starvation due to the extreme drought that the island experienced over the summer. On Dec. 28, a visit by a veterinarian from the Hawai‘i Dept. of Agriculture (DOA), Division of Animal Industry, confirmed DOFAW staff observations. Read more

Washington — The Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies (AFWA) is excited to announce the recent publication titled “Best Management Practices for Trapping Furbearers in the United States” in Wildlife Monographs. This new publication is a culmination of over two decades of scientific research – by far the largest trap testing study ever conducted. The article is a product of AFWA’s Furbearer Management and Best Management Practices (BMPs) for Trapping Program, a program created to improve animal welfare in U.S. trapping programs by identifying traps that achieve internationally acceptable injury thresholds while remaining efficient and safe, and promoting their use among trappers, researchers, and managers who use traps to capture wildlife.

“We are excited to see the largest trap research ever conducted published in this prestigious journal,” said Sara Parker Pauley, Director of the Missouri Department of Conservation and President of the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies. “The Association is also pleased to see the program’s continuing dedication to address societal concerns of modern regulated trapping and furbearer management.” Read more

Now that you have your feeders stocked and ready for “winter finches” to appear, according to a new article that’s hot off the “electronic presses” of the American Birding Association (ABA), feeding stations in many areas are already experiencing some exciting visits by northern finches, such as Purple Finches, Pine Siskins, Evening Grosbeaks, Pine Grosbeaks, Red Crossbills, White-winged Crossbills, Hoary Redpolls, and Common Redpolls. Perhaps you are already hosting one or more of these species, as this winter’s “invasion” progresses.

Here is an update from the ABA: Birders in the eastern United States and southeastern Canada are reporting a banner year for irruptive boreal birds, including remarkable records and a “super-flight” of finches. Typically, only some of the irruptive finch species found in the East will undergo an irruption, but in super-flight years, the search for food drives representatives of all 8 species south, An enormous movement of northern finches was recorded from in late summer into fall at migration hotspots like the Tadoussac Bird Observatory in Quebec, Cape May in New Jersey, and Hawk Ridge in Duluth, Minnesota. By mid-fall, a Common Redpoll made it to Albuquerque, New Mexico; Evening Grosbeaks were spotted in the Florida Panhandle; Pine Siskins were reported in northern Mexico and into the Atlantic to Bermuda; and Hoary Redpolls visited Cleveland, Ohio.

These birds rely on the seed production (masting) cycles of trees in the core of their ranges. Entire populations of trees will synchronously produce millions seeds some years, but produce no seeds other years. Irruptive “finch” movements follow these seed cycles, but birders in the United States usually don’t see many finches in years when there is food in the boreal forest. Southward movements correspond with years of mast failure, when these birds must search for alternate foods, including seeds of ornamental plants and well-stocked bird feeders. The latter are particularly popular with Pine Siskins, Purple Finches, Evening Grosbeaks, and Common Redpolls. Read more