NEBRASKAland Magazine is dedicated to outstanding photography and informative writing with an engaging mix of articles and photos highlighting Nebraska’s outdoor activities, parklands, wildlife, history and people.
Issue link: http://mag.outdoornebraska.gov/i/736554
NOVEMBER 2016 • NEBRASKAland 49 before, was right up her alley. "Energy production is continuously expanding across the nation driving changes in land use. But, if you change a landscape, how does it affect the wildlife living there?" Smith said. Data From subzero temperatures to scorching 100-degree weather to watching tornado-producing cells racing across the plains, the field researchers worked in all sorts of weather from early spring through summer. The dramatic variability of Nebraska weather was one of the things that surprised Smith most. "I fell in love with the prairies. When you get out there, it's beautiful and the biodiversity is so great. It's a fascinating system to work in," Smith said. To study bird movement, field workers captured and banded 79 female and 70 male prairie chickens. A few of the banded birds ended up being shot by hunters during the September through January hunting seasons. These bands were returned to the Commission to provide the researchers with additional information on bird movement. Seventy-nine females total were radio- or satellite-tagged to keep track of nesting and brooding; 69 females had traditional VHF radio-transmitters while 10 were tagged with more expensive satellite tags. Additionally, five males were radio-tagged. Once per day, field technicians had to drive out with an antenna to determine the locations of radio-tagged birds. Satellite tags, however, provided more convenience. They were programmed to send signals to a satellite 10 times per day, which the researchers were able to receive on their computers. To record sound, a grid of microphones was set out on leks to record male prairie chickens booming during the mating season. Whalen wanted to see if male vocalizations changed in frequency or duration as they danced near the wind turbines. In the 2013 field season, Whalen also recorded behavioral observations with video cameras. Once mating was completed, the researchers then followed the fate of nests. Radio- or satellite-tagged females were located by telemetry to record the number of eggs at each nest, how many eggs hatched, and by the end of August, how many chicks survived. In addition to nest data, information on vegetation and nest locations relative to turbines was also recorded. But in foggy and cold conditions, researchers were prohibited from entering the wind farms. "Water freezes on the blades and as the weather warms up, ice can slip off and it could kill you," Powell said. "You have to wear hard hats. When there's ice, they don't let anyone on the property." Although that may have put a stop to the study on some mornings, the researchers usually had other tasks to catch up on, such as checking trail cameras for mammalian predators and scanning the skies for raptors. Smith spearheaded those parts of the project, which explored more indirect effects on the survival of prairie chickens. "I evaluated predation across the landscape, with the idea that the wind farm can change the distribution of predators and that could have a knock- on effect on the chickens," Smith said. Are avian predators avoiding wind Microphones were set up to record sounds on leks to determine changes between calls closer and farther away from wind turbines. PHOTO BY JENNY NGUYEN