Live-streaming camera offers unique viewing experience

PHOENIX — Sandhill cranes by the thousands have once again returned to their wintering grounds at the Whitewater Draw Wildlife Area in southeastern Arizona.

For the next few months, viewers can observe almost 20,000 of these fascinating birds on a live-streaming camera installed by the Arizona Game and Fish Department. The live stream can be viewed at www.azgfd.gov/sandhillcranes.

The cranes will begin to leave the wildlife area between late February and the middle of March. By April, all of the birds will be on their way to their northern nesting grounds, some as far away as Siberia.

“Whitewater Draw Wildlife Area has once again sprung to life with thousands of sandhill cranes,” said Jeff Meyers, the department’s watchable wildlife program manager. “It’s truly a pleasure to offer this unfiltered view of our state’s wildlife directly to the public, giving them a chance to see the migration of this species in action.” Read more

Salt Lake City, UT: The Mule Deer Foundation (MDF) welcomes the release of the new U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) report Ungulate Migrations of the Western United States: Volume 1. The report brings together the findings of migration research across the West and documents critical information that will help guide conservation of the most important big game seasonal habitats. The coordinated mapping effort is a result of the implementation of Department of the Interior Secretary’s Order 3362 that has targeted efforts to manage and conserve big game migration corridors and winter ranges. The state fish and wildlife agencies in Arizona, Idaho, Nevada, Utah and Wyoming worked closely with the USGS to produce the maps that provide a detailed picture of the annual movements of ungulates, including mule deer.

“We greatly appreciate the hard work of the U.S. Geological Survey and the collaboration with state fish and wildlife agencies for publishing this impressive volume on western big game migrations,” commented Mule Deer Foundation President/CEO, Miles Moretti. “The implementation of SO 3362 has been a top priority for the Mule Deer Foundation over the last two years through our Migration Corridors and Winter Range Initiative. The ability to visualize where the highest priority areas for conservation action are will help MDF and our partners make achievable improvements in the places that will make the biggest difference for mule deer.”

MDF and Arizona Game and Fish Department cooperative mule deer biologist, Lucas Olson, has been focused on this mapping effort. In his role, Olson participates on the USGS Corridor Mapping Team, a team of scientists and spatial analysts that have developed the methods used to analyze and map big game migration corridors and winter range. The Corridor Mapping Team uses analytical tools such as the Brownian Bridge Movement Model to create heat maps, which represent ‘hot’ and ‘cold’ spots as probabilities of animals using certain areas. Models like the Brownian Bridge are powerful tools that can help wildlife managers identify road crossing hotspots, movement bottlenecks, or critical winter range within a population of mule deer and prioritize these areas for conservation.

“Science indicates mule deer migration routes are legacies passed down through cultural knowledge in a population. When migrations are lost, it may take decades for a population to re-route, or re-learn a migration,” commented Olson. “Through early landscape planning efforts and science-based assessments, there are opportunities to mitigate negative impacts and conserve these migratory traditions. The work MDF and state fish and wildlife agencies are doing with USGS through the Corridor Mapping Team will help us address these conservation challenges. Today’s technology allows us to understand these migration corridors with fine detail, and this effort is just the beginning of more great work to come.”

“The new Ungulate Migrations of the Western United States report is a tremendous compilation of migration data and will help establish the road map for our conservation activities in the coming years. We thank the USGS and our state partners for their hard work to develop this critical tool,” concluded Moretti. Read more

CHEYENNE — The Wyoming Game and Fish Department has confirmed a new hunt area where an elk has tested positive for chronic wasting disease (CWD).

CWD was confirmed in Elk Hunt Area 1 with a positive test from a targeted bull elk. Elk Hunt Area 1 is located in the Black Hills and borders Elk Hunt Area 117 where CWD was detected in 2008.

A new study confirms that most birds synchronize their migratory movements with seasonal changes in greening vegetation. Expansive plant green-up in the spring is controlled by changes in temperature and precipitation; while during fall die-back of vegetation is controlled by temperature change and reduced hours of daylight – all important factors in the timing of bird migrations. This was the first study of its kind to cover the Western Hemisphere during the year-long cycle of North American migratory birds that feed on plants, seeds, flower nectar, insects, or meat.

Ornithologists from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology used data collected by satellites to estimate the greenness of vegetation year-round and cross-referenced that information with eBird observations for 230 North American migratory bird species from 2006 through 2018. The results were published today in the Journal of Animal Ecology.

”As you might expect, migration synchronization with vegetation greenness is strongest for birds that eat vegetation, seeds, or both, during spring and fall migration, but especially during spring,” explained lead researcher Frank La Sorte with the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. “You could say they follow the ‘green wave’ north in the spring, then follow it in reverse during the fall, keeping pace with a wave that is retreating ahead of the North American winter.” Read more

Planning to take advantage of nice weather to get rid of fall leaves and yard debris? The warm, dry fall weather also means the fire risk is higher than usual.

With the lack of rainfall in the state over the past week, grasses and leaves have become dry. This weather pattern is expected to continue through the weekend. Read more

Even though the weather has gotten cooler, black bears are still active throughout the fall as they prepare for hibernation and search for foods rich in calories to build up their fat reserves.

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources advises northern Michigan residents to be aware of this autumn bear activity and take steps to avoid conflicts with bears.

In Michigan, bears typically enter their dens for hibernation by December, but timing can vary depending on food availability. Read more