Monthly Meeting
7 PM September 24, 2019
First Lutheran Church
US 395 and Yelm, Kennewick
Gray Flycatcher Nesting Ecology in Pondeorsa Pine Forests
Jeff Kozma, Yakama Nation Wildlife Biologist
The Gray Flycatcher breeds in a variety of habitats in the arid and semiarid regions of the western United States. Detailed information on their breeding biology is lacking, especially in the northern portion of their range where they nest in ponderosa pine forests. During May through July, 2014-2015, Jeff Kozma monitored Gray Flycatcher nests and measured vegetation at nest sites in the Wenas Valley, Yakima county, WA. He and his co-authors found that predation accounted for 90% of failed nests. Also they found evidence of a positive association between daily nest survival and both nest height and distance of nest substrate to the nearest tree. No support for other habitat variables was found but evidence documented that period survival rate was higher during the nest building stage than the incubation and nestling stages. In addition to nest survival, Jeff will also present summaries of nest site characteristics and demographic variables (e.g., clutch size, number of fledglings, etc.).
Jeff Kozma is a Wildlife Biologist for the Yakama Nation in the Timber, Fish and Wildlife Program, within the Department of Fisheries Resources Management. He received a BS in Environmental Forest Biology from the State University of NY College of Environmental Science and Forestry and an MS in Wildlife Science from Texas Tech University. His main research interests focus on the life history and reproductive biology of birds and how habitat characteristics influence nest survival in managed ponderosa pine forests of the eastern Cascades of Washington.
Avian Research in Ponderosa Pine Forests