MTRI is passionate about supporting associated research projects and programs. In today’s technological and economic climate, the old mind-set of “singular research” has to be set aside in the name of progress. MTRI is dedicated to the idea of getting research data out in order to promote a healthy understanding of what is happening in our environment as well as sparking the desire in the next generation of natures caretakers.
MTRI as part of this ideology, we assist in anyway we can on other research projects in that we understand the amount of energy and project discipline it takes to collect go data. In this section we will highlight other research that is taking place that MTRI was able to assist in. We hope that you will look this over and see what others are doing to understand the complex world of raptors, and the people behind this work. As we are made aware of other great research we will update this section to keep people aware of what great things are happening.
American Bird Conservancy, Northern Rockies raptor migration census
Diet study of urban Peregrines; United Kingdom
Research links
Fun with yet another raptor species. As some of you know, Denver Holt, Director of the Owl Research Institute (ORI.org), has offered his lab, knowledge, and invaluable oversight to our research projects, and this past fall I was able to lend a hand to the Owl Institute. Mat Seidensticker, who is studying Flammulated Owls in Montana, wanted to get a look into an owl nest cavity at two different locations to get pictures and measurements of the interior of the nests. There are so many research projects, that no one can do it all and when the call for assistance goes out, it is always good to know that you can do something to help out.
Photo By: Caroline Deppe
With the great equipment provided by John Branagan, and Sterling Ropes, we were able to get Mat up to the first nest cavity and Mat grabbed a great look inside. At the second nest cavity, I just wasn’t as lucky as the tree was a standing dead with a totally rotten truck. It was all over the place and to ensure that the owls would return (and have a tree to return to) I bailed off. Better luck next time.
Keep your eyes out for Mat’s research though. He presented at the 2008 annual conference of the Raptor Research Foundation in Missoula.
Phhoto By: Caroline Deppe
 This past fall I was privileged to have been invited by a friend of mine, Diane Lundgren, to assist in a raptor migration point count, in the Jewel Basin. It was a project that Daniel Casey, Northern Rockies BCR Coordinator for the American Bird Conservancy, with assistance from a variety of volunteers, ran from the top of a ridge. Dan conducted daily counts and broke each day down by hours / number of flyovers / species. No easy undertaking in the least. He accumulated a lot of data for the first year-considering some of the weather windows that volunteers sat through. I am not posting any data due to the fact that Dan has some good publication data there. It was fantastic to see Sharp-shinned Hawks and Cooper’s Hawks come right over you. I was looking for, and hoping to see, a migrant Gyr, but missed out. Other lucky one’s observed Goshawks. If you are interested in volunteering next year, you may contact Dan at dcasey@abcbirds.org. Keep in mind the weather may be bad, and you may be on the ridge for extended periods of time. It was a great time. Dan even had an “end of project dinner” to go over his data, and share pics. It was great!
As a note, for those of you who know me, while Diane and I were up on the ridge one day, author / photographer Chris Peterson (Glacier Park Magazine, The Hungry Horse News and Boy Wonder and the Big Burn) came up to photograph some of the raptors and if you think I carry a lot of equipment, well I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves. Enjoy
Migration Research:
Canadian Peregrine Foundation
Falcon Research Group (FRG)
Raptor View Research Institute
Raptor Studies:
Biodiversity Research Institute (BRI)
Canadian Peregrine Foundation
Falcon Research Group (FRG)
Owl Research Institute
Raptor View Research Institute
http://www.plym-peregrines.co.uk
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Mat Seidensticker: Flammulated Owl Study;