<< Back 8/7/02 MAPS project tallies resident Purchase fowl By Don Hendershot “Gonzo birds!” came the cry from the second mist net last Thursday morning. Paul Super, science coordinator at the Great Smoky Mountains National Park’s Appalachian Highlands Science Learning Center at Purchase Knob, and assistant MAPS station manager Les Saucier were in the field with volunteers and interns for the last day of the 2002 MAPS project. MAPS stands for Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship. The MAPS project is one of numerous scientific and educational programs in place or scheduled for the Purchase. According to Super, approximately 40 researchers have worked on projects such as rare birds, beetles, slime molds, reptiles and amphibians, moths and butterflies and the effects of ozone on native plants so far, this year. These researchers include faculty from nearby Western Carolina University, Southwest Community College and Appalachian State University as well as scientists from as far away as England and Russia. Student interns from Tuscola, Swain and Asheville high schools and interns from University of North Carolina Asheville plus participants from summer science camps, upward bound groups and Summer Ventures worked side by side with the researchers. Super said the projects at the Purchase accomplish two goals. They provide a great hands-on science education for students, interns and volunteers while teaching them how science is used to better understand and protect the park’s natural resources. They also provide real data the scientists must have to complete their research. The MAPS work is a great example of how these programs work. Interns and volunteers under the guidance of Super and Saucier unfurled the 10 mist nets at 6:40 a.m. The fine mesh nets are about eight feet high and between 35 and 40 feet long. Net sites were selected by Super and Saucier to get a broad cross sampling of different habitats. Birds fly into the mesh and become entangled. Researchers check the nets every 30 to 45 minutes to try and insure that the birds don’t injure themselves. However, some mortality is expected. Super said the average mortality for a MAPS station is 1 percent of birds captured. The skill and dedication of the Purchase MAPS crew resulted in lower than average mortality. They lost one bird out of 317 captures. MAPS workers quickly and deftly extricate the birds from the nets and place them in small breathable cloth sacks. The sacks are taken back to the MAPS processing table and hung from a “clothes line.” There are two stations at the table. Super and Saucier take the birds from the bags and work them up while interns record the data. Work ups include banding and various measurements and examination to determine species, age, sex and general health of each individual. Macro invertebrate like mites are also collected and sent away for study. Sean O’Connell, a microbiologist from WCU, has also been working with the Purchase crew this year, collecting fecal sacs to study for internal parasites. Super also takes a couple of tail feathers from certain species for DNA studies. “We want to learn about the genetics of the birds we have at the Purchase, plus determine if birds from the Southern Appalachians can be linked with other eastern populations of the same species. “MAPS is an effort to learn things about birds that breed here. Things you cannot learn without knowing them as individuals. We need to have them in hand and band them so we know when we have that individual in hand again,” Super said. The data being gathered now is the beginning of a database. “MAPS stations need to run for three years before we start to get an adequate baseline,” Super said. Some of the questions the MAPS station at the Purchase will help answer include: Do the same individuals (residents and/or migrants) return to the same site to nest? What is good, average and/or poor productivity for the different species that nest at the Purchase? Was a particular year a good year or a bad year for avian productivity? Are any species exhibiting any definable population trends? Are there changes in population distribution? This information will help resource managers better understand the dynamics of avian life in the Smokies. Super said they know one gray catbird has made his way back to the Purchase to nest. A catbird banded as a juvenile, in a different location in the Purchase, in 2000 when Super was doing parasite studies was recaptured this year as a breeding adult at the MAPS station. The nets were set and checked for six hours a day, eight times during the 2002 MAPS season at the Purchase. The first day was May 24 and the last day was Aug. 1. Super said it is counterproductive to run the nets any later in the year because captures begin to include migrants and that will skew the data. “The idea is to capture birds that breed in the area,” Super said. Four new species for 2002 (house wren, blue-headed vireo, brown-headed cowbird and hooded warbler) were added to the Purchase list Thursday, bringing the total to 317, representing 32 species. There will be many opportunities, including teacher workshops and science field trips this fall and in the future for volunteers and students to participate in Purchase programs. Super encourages anyone interested in volunteering or learning more about the Appalachian Highlands Science Learning Center to call 828.926.6251.