Douglas:
Some of your questions are answered at http://web4.audubon.org/bird/iba/
Although someone told me that nesting was the crucial criterion for IBA
designation, when I glanced through http://web4.audubon.org/bird/iba/ I
didn't see that to be true. As our neotropical migrants only spend a small
portion of the year in their nesting area, habitat, preserving only nesting
habitat would have to be short sighted. The problem with that site was that
after reading through it I wasn't sure just the exact criteria are. On that
note I will forward this thread to someone in National Audubon Society who
deals with this sort of thing for her comments.
Later!
Steve
Stevan Hawkins
San Antonio TX
-----Original Message-----
From: Minnesota Birds [mailto:MOU-NET@LISTS.UMN.EDU] On Behalf Of Douglas H
Johnson
Sent: Tuesday, March 01, 2011 10:04 AM
To: MOU-NET@LISTS.UMN.EDU
Subject: [mou-net] Names for migratory bird habitat
I think some of the terms suggested for a migration stopover site can be
misleading. An ?Important Bird Area,? for example is a semi-official
designation given by the American Bird Conservancy or National Audubon
Society to a site, which may not even be a migrational use area. It could
be important as a breeding site or wintering area.
?Migration stations? or ?waysides? sound like possibly human-established
sites along designated bird ?highways.?
The term ?oasis? has a distinct meaning, which often does not apply to a
migrational use area.
?Critical migration stopover? implies something that is generally not
known; certainly not all stopover sites are critical. And, if they are
critical, to whom? Determining that a particular site is critical would
be an enormous feat.
Even ?migration stopover? is usually considered an action, rather than a
place.
The term ?staging area? is used when masses of birds concentrate during
migration, such as sandhill cranes along the Platte River in Nebraska
during spring, but it is not applicable to most migration use areas.
I have been using here the term ?migrational use area,? so I must like it.
?Migrational stopover site? is good, too. Perhaps too bland for some
tastes, but reasonably accurate.
Thanks to Pastor Al for proposing another thought-provoking question!
*****************************************
Douglas H. Johnson
Research Statistician
USGS Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center
Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology
204 Hodson Hall
1980 Folwell Ave.
University of Minnesota
St. Paul, MN 55108
Phone: 612-624-4716
Fax: 612-625-5299
Email: Douglas_H_Johnson@usgs.gov
*****************************************
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