Grants and Contributions:

Grant or Award spanning more than one fiscal year (2017-2018 to 2018-2019).

Grassland birds are in steep decline throughout North America and these declines are caused mainly byx000D
regional habitat loss and degradation as a result of agricultural intensification. A key question is how canx000D
habitat quality be improved in agricultural landscapes to benefit declining grassland birds? Few studies havex000D
tested how different agricultural habitats impact the breeding success. There is also an urgent need to studyx000D
habitat selection of grassland songbirds in agricultural landscapes, both during and after nesting, to betterx000D
understand how habitat quality affects breeding females. Prior studies have been hampered by the high expensex000D
and difficulty of radio-tracking songbirds. We are studying Savannah Sparrows (Passerculus sandwichensis), ax000D
declining species in Canada and the U.S, near Guelph, ON. In 2016, funded by ENGAGE, we monitored 10x000D
nests from intensive agricultural sites and 26 from natural sites and found that nesting success was similar inx000D
these vastly different habitats. Adult body mass was also not significantly different between agricultural andx000D
non-agricultural sites for both males and females. We are also using innovative new technology (MOTUSx000D
automated telemetry array) to remotely track the dispersal and habitat selection of post-breeding adults overx000D
tens of kilometers and up until the point of fall migration. Birds radiotagged with uniquely coded Nanotags arex000D
automatically detected when they fly within 5-10 km of any of the dozens of receiver towers in southwesternx000D
Ontario. In 2016 we tagged 14 adults in agricultural sites and 18 in natural sites; movement data will bex000D
available in Feb 2017 for analysis. We will use GIS analysis of landscape features to monitor post-breedingx000D
habitat selection, and test if nesting habitat carries over to affect timing of fall migration. By continuing thisx000D
study in 2017, to increase sample sizes and to test for between-year effects (2016 was a drought year) ourx000D
research will identify which agricultural habitats can best sustain declining populations of grassland birds. Thisx000D
is expected to lead to management recommendations for farmers.