A team from Bird Conservancy of the Rockies, the Forest Service and Wild Connections bnaded rosy finches in March at Misi and Bob Ballard's cabin in South Park. (click the image to enlarge) Ballard's feeders routinely attract hundreds of Rosy-Finches during the winter.
Brown-Capped Rosy-Finches' breeding range is almost entirely in Colorado, and their numbers have declined 95% over the past 50 years. The data collected will help the Bird Conservancy better understand this alarming decline and relationships among populations of the three Rosy-Finch species (Gray-crowned, Black and Brown-capped.)
Overpasses and underpasses help pronghorn navigate their 6,000-year-old migration route between Grand Teton National Park and the upper Green River basin. This strategy is being applied in many states in North America.
SPACER
M-56 Wolverine met his end in N. Dakotata
M-56 was spotted on Mt. Bierstadt in 2012 by Cameron Miller, wildlife photographer.
After trekking from Grand Teton National Park through Wyoming and Rocky Mountain National Park, M-56 was seen by Cameron Miller on Mt. Bierstadt in 2012. M-56's radio collar was still working and so wildlife officials could positively identify him. Later his collar stopped functioning and no one knew where he was. By spring 2015 he had traveled back north to end up in N. Dakota where he was shot by a rancher who alleged the critter was harassing his cattle. He was positively identified as M-56.
His journey of several thousand miles shows how resilient and vigorous these animals are and also highlights the need for protected cores and connecting wildlife passages to ensure that they will be around in the future.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife Releases Wildlife Priorities Plan
The Denver Post reported: "Colorado unveiled wildlife-saving priorities for the next decade, aiming to ensure survival of 210 imperiled species including lynx, wolverines, prairie chickens, frogs, ptarmigan, and spotted bats.
A state "Wildlife Action Plan" calls for increased monitoring and research, and habitat restoration, to reach the goal of not having to list the species for federal protection under the Endangered Species Act.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials have signed off on Colorado's plan, making the state eligible for $1 million a year in federal grants.
"Our primary goal is to keep common species common — to preclude the need to list them as endangered species," said Colorado Parks and Wildlife biologist Eric Odell, manager of species conservation programs for the state."
