Using GPS technology to track Oregon Vesper Sparrows from multiple breeding populations throughout their full annual cycle

Klamath Bird Observatory
$20,000

Oregon Vesper Sparrow is one of the most imperiled birds in North America, and is an Oregon Conservation Strategy Species. Current research is focused on breeding habitat needs, nest success, annual survival, and recruitment; more information is needed about the non-breeding season to complete a full assessment of conservation issues. Disentangling the potential causes of population decline requires understanding what threats Oregon Vesper Sparrows face in different parts of their annual cycle – and thus, the first step is understanding where those locations are. To address this critical knowledge gap, we deployed miniaturized, archival GPS tags on 10 Oregon Vesper Sparrows at our Rogue Basin study site in 2020; results from 3 birds recaptured in 2021 have provided the very first precise information about where Oregon Vesper Sparrows spend the non-breeding season, and a proof-of-concept for using GPS technology with this subspecies. Here, we propose to expand this study and deploy GPS tags on 20 Oregon Vesper Sparrows (10 in the Willamette Valley region, and 10 in the Rogue Basin region) in 2022 to further uncover migratory routes and wintering locations, and describe the degree of migratory connectivity (i.e., overlap in winter geography) between these two populations. This work will importantly double our sample size for the Rogue Basin breeding population, and provide the first GPS data identifying migratory stopover and wintering sites used by birds breeding in the Willamette Valley. We will use this novel spatial information to identify potential threats originating on the non-breeding grounds, and develop appropriate conservation strategies.

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