Grassland Habitat Monitoring for Wintering Chestnut-collared Longspur

For over ten years, the Tucson Audubon Society has collaborated with Audubon Southwest through the Important Bird Area (IBA) program to develop a protocol that protects the Chestnut-collared Longspur (Calcarius ornatus; CCLO). They monitored the CCLO population through volunteer-led in-person surveys and audio recordings, analyzed the conditions of cattle tanks, and documented the presence of invasive Lehmann’s lovegrass. The survey team assessed 59 tanks where they found that those with sparse short grass and few trees were preferred by CCLO. They also estimated a 0% and 20% presence of Lehmann’s lovegrass. The use of audio recorders reduced the disturbance on CCLO and increased survey effectiveness.