http://hdl.handle.net/1957/8288 2012-05-16T11:42:20Z 2012-05-16T11:42:20Z Bayer, Range D., 1947- http://hdl.handle.net/1957/8430 2008-08-26T22:36:50Z 2003-02-01T08:00:00Z

Review : bird predation of juvenile salmonids and management of birds near 14 Columbia Basin dams Bayer, Range D., 1947- Bird predation of juvenile salmonids and/or bird predation control are reviewed for 14 of the 18 mainstem dams on the Columbia and Snake Rivers, but there was little information for some of these dams. California gulls, ring-billed gulls, Caspian terns, double-crested cormorants, American white pelicans, and several other bird species have been reported as predators of juvenile salmon and steelhead at these dams. Most estimates of the amount of this predation have been 2% or less of salmonids passing a dam. This is less than the percentage of juvenile salmonids killed during dam passage, and it has not been determined what proportion of salmonids taken by birds were already dead or mortally injured from dam passage. Thus, it is not clear what portion of bird predation is of viable salmonids that would have otherwise survived. Further, it appears that most juvenile salmonids in the Columbia Basin are not federally listed as threatened or endangered, so it is not known what impact bird predation at dams may have on listed salmonids. Nevertheless, predation may significantly affect certain salmon stocks, so it cannot be dismissed as unimportant. Bird management includes installing wires above the water at dam tailraces. Closely spaced wires are effective in keeping out flying birds. However, not all areas where birds feed on fish below dams can be covered with wires, the wires have sometimes been placed too far apart to keep out flying birds, and nonflying birds can go under wires. Consequently, Wildlife Services (which was known as Animal Damage Control prior to 1998) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture has also nonlethally harassed and lethally taken birds at dams after it has been requested to do so. Studies by staff of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have shown that nonlethal and lethal control by Washington Wildlife Services at The Dalles and John Day Dams needed to be repeated because birds would return. During 1997-1998, Wildlife Services dispersed at least 20,682 birds (mostly gulls) and lethally took at least 3,143 birds at these two dams. Most juvenile salmonids migrate past dams from April through early June, although many subyearling chinook migrate during July and August. Thus, bird control to protect juvenile salmonids would be most effective during April-July and perhaps through August for subyearling chinook. Beginning in August, many juvenile American shad are also migrating over lower Columbia dams and then can be more abundant than migrating salmonids; however, few shad pass Snake River dams and at least one mid-Columbia dam. Washington Wildlife Services' bird control has been during April-September at mid-Columbia dams and apparently during spring through winter at lower Columbia dams, so its control may sometimes occur when few juvenile salmonids are migrating. Although bird management at some dams has occurred since at least 1992, it has not yet been determined if this control is cost effective (i.e., the costs of bird control are less than the costs of predation). Washington Wildlife Services asserts that the cost of bird predation can be estimated by the cost of controlling predation. With this circular logic, Wildlife Services could spend a considerable amount of taxpayer or electric ratepayer money controlling predators that may be taking an insignificant number of viable juvenile salmonids and justify doing so because it has spent so much money. Consequently, it is important for there to be realistic evidence for the need or benefits of predator control, so that control is cost effective. Washington Wildlife Services has not been forthcoming in answering general questions about its activities at Columbia Basin dams and asserts that a federal Texas court case precludes disclosure of information. However, it seems that Wildlife Services may be using that court case to avoid scrutiny because the court ruled that Wildlife Services not provide information that could identify cooperators with Wildlife Services, not that it withhold all information about its activities. Further, Wildlife Services appears to have violated this court decision by providing other agencies with reports of its predator control activities that identifies specific cooperators, so Washington Wildlife Services seems to have selectively chosen when to use the court ruling as an excuse to not give out general information. Fish-eating bird control has proceeded very differently in the Columbia Estuary than at Columbia Basin dams. In the Estuary, bird predation was quantified in 1997 to establish a need for bird control; agency, tribal, and public consultations about a management plan were conducted, management actions began to be implemented in 1999, and predation reduction began to be quantified in 2000. At dams, Washington Wildlife Services assumed bird predation to be significant, initiated bird management before the amount of predation was measured, appears to have done less consultation with the public, other agencies, or tribes about its management actions; and assumed that its predator control actions have significantly reduced predation.

2003-02-01T08:00:00Z Bayer, Range D., 1947- http://hdl.handle.net/1957/8429 2008-08-26T22:36:58Z 1986-01-01T08:00:00Z

1884-1923 Oregon coast bird notes in biological survey files Bayer, Range D., 1947- The purpose of this work is to make available reports and letters for the Oregon Coast that were in the files of the Biological Survey and that are now in the files of the Biological Survey's successor, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. I have changed outdated bird names to those that are used today, so that the reader can more easily understand the reports. But this monograph does not analyze these reports or letters; that is left to the reader. Not all of these reports were done for the Biological Survey. The reports in 1884 and 1885 were for the American Ornithologists' Union Committee on Bird Migration, reports in 1886-1890 were for the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Division of Entomology, Investigations in Economic Ornithology; reports in 1891-1896 were for the USDA, Division of Economic Ornithology and Mammalogy or Division of Ornithology and Mammalogy; reports in 1897-1905 were for the USDA, Division of Biological Survey; and reports in 1906-1923 were for the USDA, Bureau of Biological Survey. Ira N. Gabrielson and Stanley G. Jewett both worked for the Biological Survey and used some of the unpublished information in the Biological Survey files in writing their classic 1940 book. They discussed the work of the Biological Survey in Oregon on their pages 56-58. The observations in the Biological Survey files and those cited by Gabrielson and Jewett (1940) are sometimes the only information available about birds in some parts of Oregon prior to 1940. Unfortunately, it has not been widely known that at least some of the files accumulated by the Biological Survey still exist and are on microfilm ("Bird Migration Schedules, Reel 17, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, and Ohio") at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Patuxent Wildlife Research Center Library in Laurel, Maryland. Upon request, the Patuxent Library may loan out the microfilm reel through Interlibrary Loan to an established library, where the reader can then peruse the contents.

1986-01-01T08:00:00Z Bayer, Range D., 1947- http://hdl.handle.net/1957/8428 2008-08-26T22:27:35Z 1989-01-01T08:00:00Z

Records of bird skins collected along the Oregon coast Bayer, Range D., 1947- In spite of imperfections, this monograph is useful in locating bird skins collected along the Oregon Coast that are stored in about 80 museums. This monograph lists over 11,000 records of skins for 279 bird species and 192 records of skeletons for 52 bird species. Each record includes the species, subspecies (if given), sex or age class, date of collection, location of collection, collector, and museum number. Most bird skins were collected in Tillamook County, but most bird skeletons were from Lincoln County. 62% of the bird skins were collected in the 1930's and 1940's with five collectors accounting for 74% of the skins. 61% of the bird skeletons were collected in the 1970's and 1980's with the top five collectors collecting 65% of the skeletons. Each record is indexed by species, subspecies, collection site (i.e., county, beached or pelagic specimen, offshore island, lake, and/or shell mound), and collector.

1989-01-01T08:00:00Z Faxon, Darrel Bayer, Range D., 1947- http://hdl.handle.net/1957/8419 2010-04-27T14:39:55Z 1991-01-01T08:00:00Z

Birds of the Coast Range of Lincoln County, Oregon : v.1. Birds of Thornton Creek Faxon, Darrel; Bayer, Range D., 1947- Incidental to his outdoor activities such as farming, fern-picking, and horse logging, Darrel Faxon made 17.4 years of detailed observations at Thornton Creek during 1973-1990. He determined bird presence, not bird abundance, and made about 99,800 records, where a record is one bird species found during one day. Depending upon the calendar month, Faxon averaged 19-24 observation days/month, 13-34 bird species/day, and 34-66 species/month. He noted an average of 101 species each year. Faxon found 12 species only during casual observations prior to 1973 and 179 species in 1973-1990. He detected 47 waterbird species, so most birds he noted were terrestrial. 30% of waterbird species and 20% of terrestrial species were recorded in only one year, and just 16% of the waterbird species were seen in 16-18 years. However, Faxon noted the majority (50.4%) of terrestrial species in 16 or more years. For each species, daily relative frequencies of occurrence for each month and average monthly relative frequencies of occurrence for the 1973-1981 and 1982-1990 periods are given. Further, arrival and departure dates are listed for each species for each year, if appropriate. Faxon's records indicate that many migratory terrestrial species are often not present in the 10 days following their arrival or prior to their departure. Thus, determining arrival or departure dates may be very dependent upon daily observation effort. For example, if there are inadequate daily observations, then the actual arrival date may be missed, and it may be several days or a week before the species may re-appear. This inconsistency of presence after their "arrival" results in many species not being found on their "average" arrival date. Although Faxon did not record a spring migration wave, he usually noted a major movement of passerines during August-September. In fall, his records also indicate that some raptors appeared to be migrating through. In addition to his bird observations, Faxon recorded daily precipitation from 1975-1990, and monthly totals are given.

1991-01-01T08:00:00Z Bayer, Range D., 1947- http://hdl.handle.net/1957/8418 2008-08-26T22:27:21Z 1989-01-01T08:00:00Z

The cormorant/fisherman conflict in Tillamook County, Oregon Bayer, Range D., 1947- The cormorant/fisherman issue is not limited to Tillamook County in 1988-1989 but is symptomatic of a widespread conflict of some fishermen with fish-eating animals. Predators, specifically cormorants, have been blamed for the "ruin" of the Tillamook fisheries, but the effects of cormorant predation have been exaggerated. Actually, current salmon and steelhead catches are similar to or greater than many catches prior to 1972, when several "predators" (including Double-crested Cormorants) were not protected by law. Although it is clear that cormorants can eat some smolts in Tillamook Bay, it is unreasonable to assume that they eat as many as has been suggested. For example, when figures that appeared in a Tillamook newspaper are added up, cormorants in Tillamook Bay in 1988 were suggested to eat nearly three times as many smolts as were released there! Because a few Tillamook County fishing guides and fishermen felt that cormorants were destroying their salmon and steelhead fisheries, they pressured the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) into giving them permits to harass (but not kill) cormorants in the spring of 1988 on public waters of Nehalem and Tillamook Bays. The permittees were not supervised to be sure that they did not disturb or harm nontarget wildlife (i.e., wildlife other than the targeted cormorants) or did not kill cormorants. After the ODFW announced in late November 1988 that they would not be issuing cormorant harassment permits in 1989, a few Tillamook fishing guides and fishermen worked to pass House Bill 3185 during the 1989 Oregon Legislative session. House Bill 3185 would have allowed cormorant harassment along the entire Oregon Coast any time during the year, but the Bill failed. Then, in July 1989, the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission refused to consider granting harassment permits to fishing guides and fishermen. Thus, cormorant harassment in 1989 was not legalized, although some harassment apparently occurred illegally. Cormorant harassment in Tillamook County does not currently meet the requirements to justify an animal damage control program. For example, one criterion of such a program is that there be minimal compensatory predation (i.e., prey saved from the controlled predator is taken by noncontrolled predators). But if cormorants are harassed, there are many other predators that could eat the "saved" smolts, including adult coho and chinook salmon, steelhead, cutthroat trout, and striped bass that may eat millions of salmon and steelhead smolts along the Oregon Coast each year. Current information indicates that documented smolt losses from cormorant predation may not compensate the economic, biological, aesthetic, and social costs of harassment. Biological costs include disturbance to nontarget wildlife such as waterfowl or threatened and endangered birds like the Bald Eagle and Brown Pelican; disturbance would unavoidably accompany cormorant harassment. One social cost of interest is that predator control of cormorants to "save" salmon is arbitrary and capricious, since salmon are themselves a significant predator of young Dungeness crabs and fish important to other Oregon commercial and sports fishermen. Alternatives to cormorant harassment exist and would address all smolt predation, not just that by cormorants. These alternatives include changing hatchery practices, so that smolts survive better after release. These alternatives should be at least considered. Biologists may have somewhat defused the cormorant harassment issue if they were more able to communicate with nonbiologically-trained fishermen, but even so, there are a few fishing guides and fishermen who refuse to believe any information that does not agree with their own opinions.

1989-01-01T08:00:00Z Bayer, Range D., 1947- http://hdl.handle.net/1957/8417 2008-08-26T22:27:19Z 1988-01-01T08:00:00Z

Oiled birds : how to search for and capture oiled birds at Oregon intertidal areas Bayer, Range D., 1947- This is written primarily as a step-by-step guide for the person(s) responsible for organizing searches of oiled birds and/or for training volunteers to handle oiled birds. It also gives details that can be useful to anyone that catches or handles birds, whether oiled or not. This monograph is based on the author's field experience after an oil spill along the Oregon Coast. But its findings are also applicable elsewhere, if the appropriate governmental agencies are substituted as necessary for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service or Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. Perhaps the most significant point made is that a bird's legs should be fully supported when it is picked up. If supported, the bird remains calmer, and the bird won't be able to use its feet to scratch a volunteer. Photographs illustrate the correct way to handle an oiled bird from capture until it is transported in a box. This publication does NOT include information about rehabilitating oiled birds.

1988-01-01T08:00:00Z Bayer, Range D., 1947- Lowe, Roy W., 1953- http://hdl.handle.net/1957/8416 2008-08-26T22:35:04Z 1988-01-01T08:00:00Z

Waterbird and mammal censuses at Siuslaw Estuary, Lane County, Oregon Bayer, Range D., 1947-; Lowe, Roy W., 1953- At the Siuslaw Estuary or some adjacent areas, U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) Biologists John Annear, John Cornely, and Roy Lowe conducted 67 censuses; Maureen Woolington made 90 censuses, and Range Bayer completed 429 censuses. Unfortunately, these censuses do not give a complete picture of the seasonality, abundance, and distribution for all waterbirds or mammals at Siuslaw Estuary because USFWS biologists mainly censused waterfowl, Bayer pooled all gulls and "peeps," only Bayer censused mammals, no one censused the entire Siuslaw Channel for all birds, and no one made many censuses in summer. Further, only Woolington sometimes censused nonwaterfowl in intertidal salt marshes. Nevertheless, there are sufficient censuses to greatly elucidate the status and distribution of many species. Highlights are given in the rest of this paragraph. Humans, especially those with hunting dogs, sometimes disrupted bird activity. Harbor seals regularly rested in the water or hauled out at two embayments in the lower Siuslaw Estuary during high tide. Brown Pelicans were uncommon. The Siuslaw region is a very important area along the Oregon Coast for wintering Tundra Swans, but their abundance sometimes changes from year to year. Great Basin Canada Geese (which were released here in 1983) now nest at the Siuslaw and appear to be permanent residents with some migrants sometimes swelling the population. Dabbling ducks and diving ducks were most abundant in January-March. Osprey and Bald Eagles were occasionally present in low numbers, but no Peregrine Falcons or Snowy Plovers were reported. American Coot numbers averaged less than 10/census. Yellowlegs and Whimbrels were only recorded during spring and fall migrations. Sanderlings were the most common "peep" in winter with as many as 260 recorded. Western Gull nesting was not apparent in the Estuary. Crows were abundant in intertidal areas in November-March, and Common Ravens were not numerous but were seen surprisingly often. Several birds normally considered as "terrestrial" were occasionally found on intertidal rocks, mudflats, or sandflats. It is also clear from these censuses that there can often be significant within-day (i.e., tidal), within-month, seasonal, and yearly variation in bird numbers. If possible, there should be several censuses each month under similar tidal conditions, so that the range in monthly variation can be determined. Unless monthly variation is measured each year, apparent differences in animal numbers between years may not represent real yearly variation in animal populations but may simply be artifacts of inadequate censusing. Unfortunately, it may not be feasible to do more than one census each month. But if the results are cautiously interpreted, one census/month is valuable and is certainly better than none. Because of the different censusing methods of Woolington, Bayer, and USFWS Biologists; it isn't possible to robustly compare their different study areas at the Siuslaw. However, a few comments about specific areas are in order. Many waterbird taxa (especially waterfowl) were more abundant east of the Highway 101 bridge at Florence than west of the bridge. The South Jetty Deflation Plain was the most important area at the Siuslaw for Tundra Swans. Site 8 (which is proposed to become a boat marina) was used by a greater variety of birds and usually more birds than the two adjacent, potential mitigation sites. Finally, Wendson Pasture received the heaviest use by Canada Geese and dabbling ducks of any area that was censused at the Siuslaw.

1988-01-01T08:00:00Z Bayer, Range D., 1947- Ferris, Reed William, 1901- http://hdl.handle.net/1957/8414 2008-08-26T22:29:33Z 1987-01-01T08:00:00Z

Reed Ferris' 1930-1943 bird banding records and bird observations for Tillamook County, Oregon Bayer, Range D., 1947-; Ferris, Reed William, 1901- This monograph gives a brief biography of Reed W. Ferris and discusses his vocational and avocational work at the Beaver cheese factory in Tillamook County, Oregon. From 1930 to 1943, Ferris banded nearly 33% of the birds banded along the Oregon coast that were later recovered. Ferris banded 8,000 seabirds (including 4,996 gulls and 2,820 Common Murres), 3,042 terrestrial birds (including 1,089 Dark-eyed Juncos) at Beaver, and 61 Song Sparrows and Red-winged Blackbirds at Daley Lake. Ferris also colorbanded many terrestrial birds at Beaver. Except for the gulls, details about the recoveries of all birds banded by Ferris are given. Highlights of Ferris' bird work include: Lewis' Woodpeckers were abundant at Beaver, Bank Swallows nested near Beaver, Western Bluebirds were being driven out of nest boxes at Beaver by House Sparrows long before Eurasian Starlings arrived, Song Sparrows banded at Beaver included one population of permanent residents and another population of winter residents, White-crowned Sparrows (mostly immatures) were uncommon in winter at Beaver, Peregrine Falcons were probably nesting at Haystack Rock, 27% of the banded Common Murre chicks were found south of the colony where they were banded, murre chicks began appearing off the outer coast of Washington in August and in British Columbian waters in September, American Coots nested at Daley Lake, and Red-winged Blackbirds banded at Daley Lake were later found elsewhere in western Oregon. Ferris' very limited incidental bird observations in Clatsop, Yamhill, and Lincoln counties are also incorporated.

1987-01-01T08:00:00Z Bayer, Range D., 1947- http://hdl.handle.net/1957/8413 2008-08-26T22:29:45Z 1986-01-01T08:00:00Z

A guide to the bird notes of Grace McCormac French of Yamhill County, Oregon Bayer, Range D., 1947- This monograph gives a brief biography of Grace McCormac French (1881- 1957), who was the "Bird Woman" of the Carlton and Dayton area in Yamhill County from about 1925 to her death. She wrote articles for newspapers, gave talks on radio stations, and spoke at many clubs about birds and conservation. Although it was not feasible to summarize her 45 volumes of bird notes in this monograph, the arrivals and/or departures of 43 bird species she noted in Yamhill County are included as are a partially annotated listing of the 116 bird species she reported. Records of the people she came into contact with are also incorporated, so this monograph gives details about some of the people involved in Oregon ornithology near Portland in her time. The purpose of this monograph was only to be a "Guide" to Grace's work. Hopefully, someone will use this guide to go through her notebooks and work up her bird notes, so that we can learn from what she saw and faithfully recorded.

1986-01-01T08:00:00Z Bayer, Range D., 1947- http://hdl.handle.net/1957/8359 2008-08-26T22:27:18Z 2000-01-01T08:00:00Z

Cormorant harassment to protect juvenile salmonids in Tillamook County, Oregon Bayer, Range D., 1947- The goal of the Oregon Plan is to restore wild coho and wild steelhead runs. Under the federal Endangered Species Act, wild coho salmon along the Oregon Coast are listed as Threatened and wild Oregon Coast steelhead are a candidate for listing. Although cormorants have been hazed at the Nehalem Estuary for at least 10 years and at the Tillamook and Nestucca Estuaries for at least three years, spawning ground counts of wild coho salmon, winter steelhead, and fall chinook have averaged less since hazing began. Thus, hazing does not appear to be useful in recovering wild salmonids. Hazing is not correlated with consistently improved hatchery returns. The survival of Coded Wire Tag marked coho smolts at the Nehalem was about the same whether hazing occurred or not, the percent return for coho smolts was not significantly greater at the hazed Nehalem than at the nonhazed Salmon River, and the number of returning adult coho salmon was significantly greater with hazing at the Nehalem hatchery but not at the Trask hatchery in the Tillamook Basin. For winter steelhead, the number of returning adults to the Nehalem and jacks to the Cedar Creek hatchery in the Nestucca Basin did not increase significantly with hazing, but the number of jacks returning to the Nehalem did. Changes in fisheries subsequent to hazing are mixed. Coho catches increased with hazing at the Nehalem but not at the Tillamook Basin. Nehalem steelhead catches averaged less with hazing, but chinook fisheries have grown. However, the increase in chinook catches occurred as the number of wild chinook at spawning areas declined, so the larger catch may be a consequence of a greater harvest of wild chinook rather than hazing. Returns may not have increased with hazing because it was ineffective in substantially reducing predation, because smolts saved by hazing died anyway, or because other factors such as unfavorable ocean conditions may have been much more important in affecting smolt survival than hazing. In any case, hazing does not appear to be a panacea for salmonid recovery, and it has costs. During 1996-1999, the Oregon Legislature spent $100,000 for cormorant hazing, and a biological cost of hazing is the disturbance of wildlife other than cormorants.

2000-01-01T08:00:00Z