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Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge: Masked Bobwhite Monitoring in Known and Potential Habitat in Sonora, Mexico Objectives: (1) Regularly survey/monitor masked bobwhite quail in the vicinity of Rancho El Carrizo at Benjamin Hill, Sonora; (2) Locate potential masked bobwhite habitat in northern/central Sonora and survey it for presence of the species; (3) Create a report and database of numbers and locations of birds surveyed, locations of new populations discovered or verified, and an assessment of hte potential for habitat enhancement/preservation; and (4) locate areas of appropriate habitat to which birds could be translocated. Project Description: Masked bobwhite (Colinus virginianus ridgewayi) is one of the most endangered birds in North America. With fewer than 100 birds estimated in the wild on Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge and a suspected population of 300 birds in Mexico, this species is at its lowest numbers in decades. Prolonged drought conditions accompanied by continued grazing of its desert grassland habitat have made this species vulnerable to extinction in the heart of its range in Mexico. A Mexican biologist will be hired to survey/monitor known populations of the endangered masked bobwhite and to investigate historical and rumored bobwhite locations to verify their existence. The Mexican biologist will also make landowner contacts and acquire permissions for surveys, and begin the process of acquiring cooperation from landowners in the masked bobwhite reintroduction effort. Contact: |
