The Center is an affiliate of the College of William & Mary and its purpose is to discover innovative solutions to environmental problems that are both scientifically sound and practical. To do this the Center's strategy is to integrate the cornerstones of conservation: research, management and education. While the scope of the Center's work extends far beyond bird study on Virginia's Eastern Shore, it has close ties to K.E.ST.R.E.L. Two Center staff, Drs. Bryan Watts and Mitchell Byrd, serve on the K.E.ST.R.E.L board.Further, Center staff as well as students are not only K.E.ST.R.E.L volunteers, but they generously share their professional knowledge, methods and perspective to improve the field study of all volunteers.

      Two recent Center studies will be of particular interest to K.E.ST.R.E.L members. The first of these is a study of habitat use by Fall songbird migrants. Understanding the habitat preferences of these migrants is the first step in management to support successful migration on Virginia's Eastern Shore and elsewhere. Following is a summary of this study:

During the Fall of 1996, a combination of banding operations, point counts and intensive behavioral observations was conducted. Point counts were used to investigate the importance of stand type and understory presence on migrant distribution. Both pine and deciduous forest patches with, and without, understories were sampled over the course of the season. Both habitat factors had a significant influence on both the diversity and abundance of neotropical migrants. Deciduous forests supported two and a half times more species and nearly four times more individuals than pine forests. Understory removal resulted in a considerable reduction in migrants supported. Interestingly, however, some ground foraging migrants such as the Northern Flicker were more than five times more abundant in patches with understory removed. Overall, the study has documented the diversity of Fall migrants passing through the study sites including 24 species of warblers. Analysis of habitat and foraging data is continuing.

      The second study, conducted by Center student and K.E.ST.R.E.L volunteer Mike Wilson used many years of records from the Kiptopeke Songbird Banding Station to determine the timing and extent of the Bicknell's Thrush migration.

      The Bicknell's Thrush has recently been defined as a species separate from the Gray-cheeked Thrush. One of the differences between the species is wing chord length. Using this measure, Mike analyzed bird banding records to separate Bicknell's from Gray-cheeked Thrush. These are his findings:

The majority of Bicknell's Thrushes migrate through the lower Delmarva in a relatively short time period between 20 September and 15 October. Peak capture dates were consistently within the first week of October. The timing of the migration for Bicknell's Thrush was indistinguishable from that of the Gray-cheeked. On average, one Bicknell's Thrush was captured for every three Gray-cheeked Thrushes. Comparing this capture rate to other long-term banding stations within eastern North America, it appears that the Atlantic coast is a primary migration corridor for the Bicknell's Thrush.

      You can support the Center's work and receive information on their over 20 recent projects, including a 30-year of the Bald Eagle in Virginia. To do so, send a donation to:

Mitchell A. Byrd Fund
Center for Conservation Biology
The College of William & Mary
P.O. Box 8795
Williamsburg VA 23187

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