Fort Cavazos bird team takes part in international survey

FORT CAVAZOS, Texas - Although a majority of the people in the bird-science world are aware of the annual citizen science Christmas Bird Counts across the U.S. and beyond, some probably do not know about MoSI bird surveys also monitoring bird populations.

MoSI stands for "monitoreo de sobrevivencia invernal," or in English, "Winter Survival Monitoring (of migratory passerines)." Passerine is a formal name for perching birds.

The MoSI research goals include bird demographics, movements and habitat use, and the season runs from November 2024 to March 2025, consisting of four international surveys.

In November 2024, 15 trained bird scientists from Dallas to Austin, Texas, converged at Fort Cavazos to assist Directorate of Public Works Natural and Cultural Resources Management Branch field ornithologist Nick Glover, who organized a MoSI conservation bird project, to collect data about local birds.

In the early morning, four members of the 15-member team organized the field-data collection site by spreading out bird measuring tools. Tools included banding pliers, bird leg bands, mist nets, bird bags and scales to weigh birds along with data sheets to record the measurements and molt observations.

Traversing afoot, two teams of five separated to sample birds in two habitat types: upland and bottomland. One team went northward toward the creek bottom, and the other team headed south toward the higher upland to open or unfurl the bird mist nets they had preset earlier.

Songbirds are daytime creatures with many becoming active after sunrise. They create a nature-made matinee that lasts until early afternoon when the activity winds down.

While rotating 10 respective 30-minute net checks from 7:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., the science team brought the captures back in bird bags to the data collection site for data, recording bird leg-band data - band size and unique number along with weight, wing length, tail length, molt, etc. - before they get released.

"We used 16 nets to capture, measure and examine, then release, 30 birds across two half days of field effort," Glover said about the team's efforts. "One female ruby-crowned kinglet was banded on March 20, 2024, at 9 a.m. and recaptured in the same net at the same time on Nov. 20, 2024."

He explained in the eight months between, the kinglet, a bird that weighs 0.2 ounces and is about 7 inches wide from wingtip to wingtip in flight, would have flown to somewhere in the Rocky Mountains, Canadian shield or Alaska and at least attempted to raise a brood of young before returning to the exact same patch of scrub on Fort Cavazos' West Range area.

Another interesting bird catch was a yellow-shafted northern flicker, the second largest woodpecker in the U.S.

"Although they are common on Fort Cavazos in the fall and winter months, this is the first time a northern flicker has been banded here," Glover said.

The MoSI science program has scientists staffing stations from the southern U.S. to the tip of South America. The intent is to discover where migratory birds winter and to study the molt patterns on wintering and migration routes.

Twenty years ago, less was known about where birds wintered. Two decades of data collected by MoSI helps complete the story of migratory birds' journeys so that preserves and other protected lands can be established along these migration routes.

The Army Compatible Use Buffer program limits encroachments and other constraints on military installations as it pertains to military training, testing and operations partnering with nonfederal and nonprofit organizations.

This is increasingly important for birds and other wildlife on protected training lands due to the exponential developmental increases, especially as it pertains to Fort Cavazos and its surrounding areas.

Futhermore, an excellent habitat exists on Fort Cavazos and other development-free landscapes to accommodate the needs of these bird species.

It is the team's hope these birds will stay off any threatened and endangered lists, which can lead to military training restrictions. Though training is not currently restricted due to threatened and endangered species, the MoSI team's effort is one important step to keep restrictions at bay.

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