Babes and Bugs

We have reached a critical time in the world of west desert breeding birds. For those breeding species of birds who nest in the desert brushlands, rather that the lush wetland conditions found at places like Fish Springs, Gandy marsh, or near some of the irrigated hay fields, June is often make or break time.

Salt Desert Scrub Uplands


These birds, almost with out exception, produce young that are entirely dependent on insects for a food base during some or all of the brood rearing stages. Many of these species may be predominantly vegetarian in their diet as adults, but a vegetarian diet simply can not provide the protein necessary to fuel the rapid growth that nestling require if they are to be successfully fledged. A steady flow of insects is critical, something that is not an easy task for those birds whose young are not mobile but are rather, confined to the nest until they are capable of flight. This would include nearly all of our song birds.

Black-throated Sparrow


Studies have shown that in most desert areas, and the Great Basin is no exception, that many insects species have hatching cycles that are tied to Spring or Summer rainfall events. Such rainfall occurrences typically fuel a concurrent flowering or vegetative growth surge among many of our native plants and there is no doubt that the insect hatches and these plant flowering and growth surges are close correlated. The plants often depend on a specific or just a few species of insects for pollination and the insects depend on the plants for the pollen or actual growth for a food source.

Western Tanager


So far this year, we have had a sequence of recurrent rainfall events that have been well spaced. I am hopeful that after two relatively poor years of avian production from the shrublands in our part of the world, we will see a great hatch with good survival to the wing this year. Last year, here at the Refuge, we had only 1.33" of rain from April 1 to late July when the monsoons finally brought some relief. In the last 10 days, we have been blessed with nearly an inch! If we can get just a few more storms to gift us with rain (It does not take much. As little as .15" can do the job) it should prove a banner year for our dryland nesting birds!

Chukar


I always call June "the month of ducklings" here at the Refuge. The peak hatching of our waterfowl broods will occur during the month and it is a great time to travel our tour route to see the bright yellow balls of fluff! Our "no seeums" and mosquitos are doing quite well so bring your insect repellent!

Canvasback brood

In a previous post, I talked about the Refuge preparing to celebrate our 50th birthday as a unit of the National Wildlife Refuge System. That event, held on May 8-10, was a tremendous success and I'd like to thank the hard work of the Refuge staff and an incredible cadre of Refuge volunteers that made it happen. I received a lot of favorable comments about the weekend and I am confident that those who were here probably learned something about the Refuge they did not know before they came for the event. A very well done article appeared in the Tooele Transcript-Bulletin and I will post the link in this blog. A big thanks to Refuge supporter Earl Nelson for many of the wonderful photos, including the full moon during our Refuge birthday celebration for this blog piece.