US Geological Survey Grant: Buff-Breasted Sandpiper Monitoring & Conservation via Great Plains CESU

The ability to craft and deliver pro-active conservation and management actions for Buff-breasted Sandpipers is hindered by a lack of robust population size estimates and data on habitat use. Buff-breasted Sandpiper is a species of high conservation concern for federal and state land management agencies. The species occurs in grassland and agricultural habitats in the Western Gulf Coastal Plain ecoregion in spring and fall migration. Available data indicate large but uneven concentrations of the species. This project will develop a population and habitat survey protocol implemented by a volunteer network of observers to collect data across the region so that we are able to estimate population size and provide habitat use data on a species historically and currently dependent upon coastal prairie habitats.

This award provides for assistance to address the following objectives:

1) Conduct standardized ground surveys for Buff-breasted Sandpipers in the Coastal Plain of Texas and southwest Louisiana during peak migration periods.
2) Collect data on broad habitat associations for Buff-breasted Sandpipers in the grassland and agricultural habitats of coastal Texas and southwest Louisiana during spring migration.
3) Identify micro-habitat characteristics associated with Buff-breasted Sandpipers abundance in coastal Texas and Louisiana.