Streaked Horned Lark Monitoring, Habitat Manipulations, and a Conspecific Attraction Experiment PDF Format - [5.37MB] Related Links: Washington State Status Report for the Mazama Pocket Gopher, Streaked Horned Lark, and Taylor's Checkerspot Range-wide Streaked Horned Lark (Eremophila alpestris strigata) Assessment and Preliminary Conservation Strategy Streaked Horned Lark (Eremophila alpestris strigata) Fecundity, Survival, Population Growth and Site Fidelity Acknowledgments Funding was provided by Department of Defense (Ft. Lewis and McChord) to The Nature Conservancy, US Fish and Wildlife Service, and Washington Department of Natural Resources. The following agencies provided access to research sites and logistic support: Port of Olympia (Olympia Airport), US Army (Ft. Lewis), US Air Force (McChord Air Force Base) and US Fish and Wildlife Service (Leadbetter Point). The following individuals provided invaluable logistic support and encouragement: Sam Agnew, Sally Alhadeff, Alan Clark, Col. Steele Clayton, Britt Cardwell, Dave Clouse, Pat Dunn, Valerie Elliott, Dan Grosboll, Tim Lael, Angela Lombardi, Jim Lynch, Ron Pratt, Joe Reasoner and the Ft. Lewis fire crew, Russell Rogers, and Todd Zuchowski. Without the excellent field assistance from Hannah Anderson, Tara Chestnut, Andrew Emlen, Heather Halbritter, Mark Hopey, Morgan Pett and Cyndie Sundstrom this work would not have been possible. Derek Stinson created the cover layout. Valerie Elliot and Jim Lynch provided helpful comments on a previous draft of this document. Thank you all!

Streaked Horned Lark Monitoring, Habitat Manipulations, and a Conspecific Attraction Experiment Scott F. Pearson, Hannah Anderson and Mark Hopey October 2005 Introduction The Streaked Horned Lark (Eremophila alpestris strigata) is a rare subspecies of the Horned Lark that breeds and winters in Oregon and Washington. Recent Streaked Horned Lark research has focused on documenting changes in the subspecies breeding range (Rogers 2000), inventorying and locating current breeding (Altman 1999, Rogers 1999, MacLaren and Cummins 2000, Pearson and Hopey 2004, 2005) and wintering (Robinson and Moore unpubl., Pearson et al. 2005) populations, identifying the important characteristics of breeding and foraging habitat (Altman 1999, Rogers 2000, Pearson 2003, Pearson and Hopey 2004, 2005), and experimenting with methods to improve Lark habitat (Pearson and Hopey 2005). In addition, British Columbia recently completed a status report on the Lark (Beauchesne and Cooper 2003), another has been drafted by Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (Stinson 2005), and a range-wide population assessment and conservation strategy was written by Pearson and Altman (2005). The goal of this work is to build upon our previous monitoring and habitat selection research and to investigate methods for improving Lark habitat and methods for creating new populations. The specific objectives of this research are: Describe breeding phenology of birds in the Puget Lowlands, Coastal Washington and Columbia Islands. Survey known and/or potential breeding locations along the Washington coast, lower Columbia River, and on Ft. Lewis for breeding larks. Determine number of breeding territories at the following locations: Damon Point, Midway Beach, Whites Island, Gray Army Airfield, 13th Division Prairie, and McChord Air Force Base. Assess nest survivorship rates for Damon Point, Midway Beach, Whites Island, 13th Division Prairie, McChord Air Force Base and Gray Army Airfield. Use Conspecific attraction (broadcasting recorded Lark songs) to lure breeding larks into apparently suitable but unoccupied habitat. Assess the effectiveness of herbicide and fire treatments for improving Lark habitat using an experimental approach. Examine population trends