http://hdl.handle.net/1957/8288 2013-05-22T16:46:25Z 2013-05-22T16:46:25Z Bayer, Range D., 1947- http://hdl.handle.net/1957/8430 2008-08-26T22:36:50Z 2003-02-01T00:00:00Z

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.

2003-02-01T00:00:00Z Bayer, Range D., 1947- http://hdl.handle.net/1957/8429 2008-08-26T22:36:58Z 1986-01-01T00:00:00Z

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.

1986-01-01T00:00:00Z Bayer, Range D., 1947- http://hdl.handle.net/1957/8428 2008-08-26T22:27:35Z 1989-01-01T00:00:00Z

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.

1989-01-01T00:00:00Z Faxon, Darrel Bayer, Range D., 1947- http://hdl.handle.net/1957/8419 2010-04-27T14:39:55Z 1991-01-01T00:00:00Z

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.

1991-01-01T00:00:00Z