By Ben Neary
NMWF Conservation Director
Researchers tracking the population of Rosy-FInches on the Sandia Mountains – the southernmost winter range for three North American species of the bird – have seen population declines in recent years and believe climate change may be the cause.
Rio Grande Bird Research, Inc., a local nonprofit, runs an ongoing study of the Rosy-FInches. Staff and volunteers have government permits allowing them to trap birds, fit them with identification bands and track their movements.
Jason Kitting, with Rio Grande Bird Research, Inc., will speak on the ongoing Rosy-Finch project at the March “Wildlife Wednesday” event hosted by the New Mexico Wildlife Federation. The free event starts at 5:30 p.m. March 12, at Marble Brewery’s Northeast Heights Taproom, 9904 Montgomery Blvd., NE.
“Our winter banding, which is part of the Rosy-Finch project, is trying to understand what birds are coming back every winter to the habitat that’s here in central New Mexico,” Kitting said.
In addition to its work on the Rosy-Finch Project, Rio Grande Bird Research does projects at the Rio Grande Nature Center and at the Valle de Oro National Wildlife Refuge, south of Albuquerque. The company has contracts with state and federal agencies that include bird-banding as well as survey work.
“We mainly use mist nets or traps to capture the birds and then put aluminum bands on the birds that have a specific number on them and that turns into essentially that bird’s Social Security number,” Kitting said. “We basically do that, and track the birds over time.”
All bird-banders across the country and across North America report their data to the United States Geological Survey’s bird-banding lab, which pools all the data.
The three types of Rosy-Finches that winter on the Sandias are the Black, the Gray-crowned and the Brown-capped. The Rosy-FInch project is well known among birders, Kitting said. Many birders travel to the area to add all three species of Rosy-Finch that exist there in the winter to their life list of birds that they’ve seen.
“They’re a high-elevation, alpine species that is adapted to cold,” Kitting said of the Rosy-Finch. “The Sandias is the southernmost reach of their winter range, and also it’s kind of a unique place because it’s one of easiest places in the world to get all three species of North American Rosy-Finch.”
Research into the presence of the Rosy-Finch species on the Sandia Crest has been ongoing for about 20 years, Kitting said. He said research focuses on understanding how important the site is for the birds’ winter grounds. He said it also looks at “the dynamics of the flocks and what it is over time, and how climate change is going to affect that which unfortunately seems quite negative.”
“Because these birds are pushed down this far because of snow, what we’re seeing is fewer and fewer birds and not all of the species always show up like they used to,” Kitting said. “In the past, the average sized flock each winter was several hundred, and now we’re lucky if we get 50 or 60 in a lot of years. Sometimes we get a couple hundred, but some of our biggest years before I was part of the project, they had I think 5,000 birds up there.”
Researchers are trying to establish whether the flocks on the Sandias are diminishing because the overall bird populations have dropped, or because the birds are wintering elsewhere.
“That’s kind of the big question, actually, and we’re not entirely sure,” Kitting said. “We think it’s a combination of both. Their population is probably going down, they’re getting more restricted where they breed because most of them are at mountaintops. But also they just may not be coming as far south. They may not have to leave their breeding grounds as they did in the past.“
Kitting said both the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish are working to determine what steps to take to conserve the birds
Kitting has been working with the organization for 14 years. He said he started volunteering soon after he graduated from high school, before he received a degree in biology and statistics from the University of New Mexico.
Rio Grande Bird Research has a core group of about six people on each project while another 15 volunteers come and go, Kitting said. He said the finch-capture operation on the Sandias takes at least three people and said work generally lasts from December through March, “or until they leave, which is unfortunately getting earlier and earlier.”
So far this year, the project has banded a little over 100 birds, Kitting said.
“These animals have always fascinated me my entire life, so the satisfaction is better understanding how this relates to our entire ecosystem as a whole, and how that impacts us as humans,” Kitting said of his work.
Calling the Rosy-Finches a “unique jewel,” Kitting said, “it’s cool to better to understand how New Mexico works and how it’s really a crossroads for people, cultures, habitats and species.”
RIo Grande Bird Research has a constant need for volunteers to help in the field, Kitting said. He cautioned that some projects are in difficult areas. “But for the most part, especially the Rosy-Finch project because it’s up at the Crest where it’s public, anyone can show up.”
Volunteers usually start by recording data, Kitting said. “A lot of people just want to jump in and touch birds, but they are very delicate, so we usually take a while to train people before we get them handling birds. But we’re always open to volunteers.” he said.